The Vancouver School of Arts and Academics (VSAA) is a public arts magnet school for grades 6 to 12 in Vancouver, Washington, United States. It is part of the [Vancouver Public Schools](https://b[l](https://bliptext.com/articles/music)iptext.com/artic[l](https://bliptext.com/articles/music)es/vancouver-pub[l](https://bliptext.com/articles/music)ic-schoo[l](https://bliptext.com/articles/music)s) and in addition to traditional academic studies, the school's curriculum has an in-depth elective study of the performing, literary, musical l, theatrical and visual arts, as well as film studies (called "moving image arts" at the school).

History

The VSAA was established in 1996. From 1929 to 1995, the building originally housed Shumway Junior High School. Leslie Durst has been a substantial donor to VSAA since the school's beginning, supporting the arts and maintenance of the school building itself. The Royal Durst Theatre was funded by Leslie and named after her father. Recently, she funded the replacement of the seats in the Royal Durst theatre. Leslie continues to be a part in helping art students succeed by giving out the Leslie B. Durst scholarship to VSAA students that will continue to pursue the arts in college.

Motto

The Latin motto "Ars Longa, Vita Brevis", originally from Greek, translates to "Art Is long, Life Is Short". Although, staff at the school frequently translate it to the somewhat less metaphorical and marginally erroneous "Life Is Short, Art Is Forever". The school has a monthly newspaper called Vita Brevis, and a yearbook called Ars Longa, both named after the quote.

Extracurriculars & Sports

The Vancouver School of Arts and Academics is home to many clubs and after-school programs, most notably Vancouver School of Arts and Academics is the only school in the Vancouver Public School District with an undefeated football team. The Fighting Mimes have gone undefeated since the school’s opening in 1996. This event was covered by community-led newsletter "Voices of Vancouverites."