Greetings! It is with great pride, pleasure and enthusiasm that I welcome our new and returning Center for the Arts students and families to the 2023-2024 school year! On behalf of the CFA faculty and staff, we look forward to another exciting and productive school year. As always, we are dedicated to our mission of fostering artistic success, as demonstrated in our CFA Showcase performances and Visual Arts galleries. We also re-affirm our commitment to encourage and support student academic achievement. The CFA program strives for both artistic and academic excellence for all of our students.
We are also excited to welcome our CFA teachers back for the 2023-24 school year. We are pleased to announce that Mr. Stuart Harnsberger will be our third CFA Visual Arts teacher at Henrico HS this year! While we will miss Ms. Scurlock, who retired at the end of last school year, we are excited to have Mr. Harnsberger join our team! Our teach-ers spent the summer performing, attending conferences and workshops, traveling and learning new skills so that they can challenge and support their students in their quest for excellence in the fields of visual and performing arts. We look forward to continuing these traditions and providing as many opportunities as possible.
In thinking of goals for the CFA for this coming year, three immediately come to mind. One of our top priorities for all CFA students is continued artistic and academic ex-cellence. To that end, we are challenging our CFA students to obtain and maintain the required 2.7 GPA for continued academic success in the program. We are also expanding the course offerings within the CFA program with the addition of this year’s new Stagecraft and Production course (taught by Mr. Ritter); the Entertainment, Design and Technology course (which will debut in the 2024-25 school year); and the Dual Enrollment Humanities courses, taught by Ms. Dowdy, which were launched last school year. Finally, we continue to build relationships and strengthen community involvement and awareness with the help of our CFA faculty, staff and students, and with the assistance of our Friends of the Center for the Arts (FCFA), our support organization.
As I embark on my fifteenth year as Director of the CFA program, I am humbled not only by the extraordinary talents and abilities of our students, but also by the personal challenges and sacrifices that many of you continually have to overcome. It is a testament to your persistence, perseverance and passion that enables you to surmount these person-al challenges and to achieve greatness. Never lose sight of your high quality work ethic, your academic discipline, your cooperative spirit, and your strong sense of self, all of which are needed for success during your tenure in the CFA and in the years following. Finally, remember that you have been accepted as a member of the CFA community; it is now your responsibility to meet these challenges and to make a full commitment to these principles. Your artistic side will flourish if it is nurtured by hard work!
Best wishes for a productive and creative year!
Stephanie Poxon, Ph.D.
Director, Center for the Arts