Richland Northeast High School wins
Creative Ticket National School of Distinction Award

“Given that South Carolina has had a national winner for the past three years, this is one honor I wasn’t expecting,” said Ralph Schmidt, RNE’s principal. “It shows how strong and well-regarded our arts magnet program has become in just four years. Remember that last year Hand Middle School was a national winner - this is the first time that the Kennedy Center Alliance has chosen two schools from the same city in successive years.”

The KCAAEN is a coalition of 43 statewide, nonprofit Alliances for Arts Education working in partnership with the Kennedy Center. Its purpose is to strengthen and support policies, practices, programs, and partnerships to further the arts in education. RNE’s national award was announced on September 16 at the South Carolina Alliance for Arts Education conference in Columbia, a statewide arts development meeting at which the school also received its state-level award as a Creative Ticket School of Excellence. State alliances may honor as many schools as they wish; of these, up to five receive national recognition from the KCAAEN.

“We are thrilled and deeply honored to receive national recognition for the Palmetto Center for the Arts and the arts programs at Richland Northeast High School,” said Donna Wilson, PCA director and head of the magnet’s Theatre Program. “It is so wonderful to have the hard work and vision of our teachers, school and district administrators, students, and parents appreciated on such a grand scale. It challenges us to climb to new heights in our efforts to provide a world class program in the arts for all of our students.”

About Richland Northeast High School
Richland Northeast High School, in Columbia, South Carolina, is home to the Palmetto Center for the Arts (PCA), the Richland School District Two Fine Arts Magnet for highly talented students of dance, music, theatre, literary arts, and visual arts. As an arts conservatory, PCA’s mission is to challenge these students to develop their creative and academic potential through a rigorous, comprehensive, and integrated curriculum that prepares them for advanced study and careers in the arts. The magnet’s extensive four-year standards-based and sequential course of study includes an interdisciplinary component to engage students in schoolwide thematic projects. In addition to serving students in the magnet program, Richland Northeast offers the general school population a comprehensive, sequential, and innovative curriculum in the belief that a quality arts program is essential to the core education for all students. With an enrollment of more than 1620, Richland Northeast has more than 70% of its students enrolled in an arts class. Richland Northeast is a twice-named Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, a National School of Promise, and a South Carolina Palmetto Gold school that has been twice recognized by Newsweek as one of 1,000 best high schools in America. It consistently receives an Excellent rating for “Opportunities in the Arts” on the school’s state-issued report card and has been selected as an “Arts in Basic Curriculum” (ABC) site by the South Carolina Arts Commission.

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