Private school in Eagle promotes the arts

By Katy Moeller - kmoeller@idahostatesman.com
Edition Date: 08/19/07

Jeff Romero is a classical pianist who has put his carpentry skills to work on ArtsWest, a new private arts school in Eagle that will open Aug. 27. The piano teacher helped pour sidewalks last week and lent a hand Saturday morning on getting six modulars prepared for an open house for parents and students later in the day. "I told them last week, ‘You couldn't pay me to do this,' " said Romero, whose jeans, T-shirt, hands and face were dusty Saturday morning. "I only do this because I believe in the school." Students in grades 7 to 12 will attend ArtsWest, which will operate in modulars on Flint Drive near Eagle High School until a school is built. ArtsWest is at the site of the Rivendell Music Academy, a music school founded by Ken and Mary Cenell. About 300 students take lessons at the academy, a large house with rooms converted into studios. The Cenells' dream to expand the music academy turned into ArtsWest, a school where students will spend up to three hours a day studying the arts of their choice — dance, drama, music, visual arts, creative writing and media. Taz Goretoy, a 16-year-old who speaks English, Russian and Ukrainian, is one of 72 students who are enrolled in ArtsWest. He's a violinist who typically practices two to three hours per day during the traditional school year; he's been home-schooled for the past five years. Goretoy was helping get the modulars and landscaping set up for the open house Saturday. "I just try to come out here every day," he said. ArtsWest teachers and students will get acquainted at a retreat at Cascade Lake next week. "There will be skits, bonfires and bonding," Mary Cenell said. "Each teacher from each discipline was challenged to think of some activity that includes their discipline." ArtsWest is in Eagle, but the school has enrolled students who live all over the Valley, including Nampa, Middleton, Star and Boise. June Sparks, who lives in Boise's North End, believes her 13-year-old daughter Darby will thrive at the arts school. She describes the younger of her two daughters as spirited and creative girl who prefers to learn by doing. "At ArtsWest, students will excel at whatever subject they want to," Sparks said. "They will build their own curriculum." Sparks likes that ArtsWest will use the Harkness Method, which proponents say encourages students to prepare and participate in group discussion. Students sit around an oval table, rather than in rows. Mary Cenell said construction on the actual school building will begin when student enrollment reaches 90. She expects that will happen by the second semester of the first school year and students will move out of the modular classrooms. Developer Tom Ahlquist, who has a son who will attend ArtsWest, plans to build the $2.5 million school. The Cenells will initially lease the building, though they do plan to buy it. Sparks knows there's some risk in sending her daughter to a brand new school, which may or may not fly. "I'm willing to go out on a limb and wrap my arms around it and get in on the ground floor," said Sparks. Sparks, a former TV news anchor/reporter in Phoenix and Los Angeles, will teach media studies at Arts West. Tuition at ArtsWest is $9,800 a year, but scholarships are available.

Private Fine Arts School
to Open in Eagle

By Katy Moeller, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

Mar. 26--Teachers from around the country are being hired, scholarships have been donated and students are enrolling in a new private arts school scheduled to open this fall in Eagle.

Now all ArtsWest needs is a permanent facility.

The fine arts school will open in modulars on Flint Drive in west Eagle while a $2.5 million, 20,000-square-foot academy is built near what is to become the new entrance to Eagle Island State Park.

"Our financing is in place," said Mary Cenell, who co-founded the school with her husband, Ken.

Tom Ahlquist Jr., who has partnered with Gardner Development Co. on large commercial projects in Salt Lake City, told the Idaho Statesman that ArtsWest will be part of a 22-acre mixed-use project along Idaho 44.

"It's going to have a campus feel," said Ahlquist, who was not ready to discuss details of the rest of the development. He said the project will go before Eagle Planning and Zoning in a couple of weeks.

The Cenells, owners of Rivendell Music Academy, have dreamed for years of constructing a top-notch music school in western Ada County.

Rivendell's afterschool program links 21 music teachers with about 300 students. The music academy operates in a large house with rooms converted into studios; several out-buildings also are studios.

The Cenells' dream for Rivendell morphed over the past year into a broader goal of creating a fine arts school for students in grades seven to 12.

ArtsWest will offer traditional college-prep English, math, science and social studies classes.

What's unique is that students will devote three hours each school day to studying the arts of their choice. Choices will include dance, drama, music, visual arts, creative writing and media.

In imagining what ArtsWest will be like, Mary Cenell conjures up the popular early-1980s movie and TV series "Fame." Walnut Hill in Boston, a noted secondary school for the arts, also was a model for ArtsWest, she said.

ArtsWest will serve a maximum of 220 students with a teacher-student ratio of about 1 to 10, she said. Enrollment will be capped at 100 the first year.

"The interest level is extremely high," she said of community feedback.

ArtsWest won't be an exclusive school for gifted students only, nor will it be only for students whose families can afford the $9,800 in tuition.

Eagle community members have donated to help fund scholarships, the Cenells said, and they'll be looking to local businesses to help fund partial scholarships for students who need them.

They plan to award two full scholarships and five partial scholarships each year.

Justin Nielsen, a jazz pianist who teaches at Rivendell Music Academy, said the vision for ArtsWest is to create a school that prepares students to enter college with the best students from the East Coast.

"I would have done anything for a school like this," said Nielsen, who grew up in Rexburg. He is married to the Cenells' daughter Rebecca, also a teacher at Rivendell.

Justin's father, Kendell Nielsen, plans to leave his job at BYU-Idaho to teach at ArtsWest. He teaches aural skills, music theory, elementary music and brass methodology.

Ken Cenell said they're still looking for a social studies teacher and an experienced administrator to run the school.

They plan to seek accreditation from the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools.

Contact reporter Katy Moeller at kmoeller@idahostatesman.com or 377-6413.