Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) is proud to celebrate 117 seniors in the Class of 2023 who earned fine arts seals on their diplomas. Students who have demonstrated high levels of proficiency in the Arizona Arts Education Standards through personal expression and creative experiences receive the Arizona State Seal of Arts Proficiency.

Students focus on one or more artistic disciplines: visual arts, theatre, music, dance, and media arts. In addition to completing four years of fine arts courses, this year's recipients also completed at least 80 hours of arts extra-curricular hours and a successful capstone project.

Capstone project examples include choreographing and teaching dances, blocking and directing scenes for plays or musicals, directing and producing a short film, and teaching art or dance classes to younger children in the community. Students created art displays and works of art exploring a chosen theme. Students also created original musical compositions, and prepared and performed music pieces for junior high and elementary schools.

This year, two students at Perry High School earned two seals.

"We are extremely proud of our seal recipients, and we're especially impressed with their commitment to the arts and their projects throughout the challenges of the pandemic during their time in high school. Many of our students plan to pursue higher education in the creative industry sector and have also become advocates for the role of the arts in our communities. We are proud to say that our students earned the third-highest number of fine arts seals in the state two years in a row. Thank you to the fine arts mentor teachers who supported the seal recipients throughout the process. Our students couldn't have done it without you," said CUSD Fine Arts Academic Coach Angela Storey, who leads the seal opportunity in the district.

Fine arts opportunities align with CUSD's Portrait of a Learner initiative by teaching students valuable skills like communication, critical thinking, and more. Visit cusd80.com/portraitofalearner for more details on our traits.

High School Breakdown

Arizona College Prep High School - 5 students

Basha High School - 13

Chandler High School  - 19

Casteel High School - 18

Hamilton High School - 26

Perry High School - 36 students earning 38 seals

119 total seals for CUSD for 2023 

In the last few years, the fine arts program and the number of students who earned seals at CUSD grew. In the 2021-2022 school year, 80 CUSD students received fine arts seals. In 2020-2021, 38 students earned the fine arts seal.