February/March 2019 61
budding performers. ARTS
TK TK TK TK TK TK TK TK TK TK TK TK
South Bay
private
schools
put the A in
STEAM.
BY BRANDON YU
At Archbishop Mitty
High School in San
Jose, the school day
begins early. Zero period starts barely
after dawn, and on this Thursday
morning, the school’s jazz band is
rehearsing—a raucous kickoff to a
day that, all across campus, will see
a staggering variety of arts classes and
programs play out.
After jazz band, students might step
into classes in drama or visual arts—
standard fare perhaps for a high school.
But here, such offerings only constitute
a small sample of the tantalizing menu
of options, from the school’s several
choir groups and renowned musical
theater program to animation and
cinema arts classes. Students might
be meeting up in the dance studio or
rehearsing after school with the school’s
improv sketch comedy team, Pardon
My French. Today’s rehearsal, though,
is cancelled, as Rickey Tripp, a seasoned
Broadway performer who has starred in
musicals like “Hamilton,” will be visiting
and giving advice to the school’s