by Alina Qasim

Many public high schools do not have the ability to offer students’ opportunities to study the arts in depth. Educational Center for the Arts (ECA) is the place to be if students want to practice their love and talents in the arts.

ECA consists of students from high schools all around Connecticut meet in New Haven to share their similar passions in the arts. Dance, art, music, writing, and theatre all come together to form one single school.

Abby Nelson, a Woodland sophomore, is in her second year in the ECA dance department and she loves how unique the community is.

“ECA is a very diverse community,” says Nelson. “At ECA everyone is really friends with each other, and you don’t really want to go home.”

Nelson stressed how different it is than the regular high school. “There’s no drama or fights, and you actually want to be there,” she added.

ECA is a school where high school students can practice their skills in the arts from one to four on Monday through Thursday. They leave their primary high school around noon and arrive at ECA in New Haven a little before classes begin at one.

The students who go to ECA however, have responsibilities to their primary schools. Students going to ECA from Woodland are still required to take all of their core classes.

Electives are taken out of their schedules therefore, they can only have one half year elective. If a Woodland student takes a dance class at ECA they are not required to take a gym class.

Students at ECA still have homework given to them by their teachers, and still have the responsibility of doing homework from both their primary schools and ECA.

ECA students don’t just study one form of art for every class. One day of the week students participate in a chosen elective for about two hours. Combat Theatre, African Dance, and Radio Show are a few examples of the electives offered.

“ACES ECA seeks students from a diversity of cultural backgrounds, experiences, and interest in the arts,” according to, ECA’s website, “The course work provides for a balance of training in technical skills and in imaginative and creative skills – challenging each student to create works of their own design, to perform those works and the works of others, and to evaluate this work.”

The music department is the second largest department at ECA. Chloe Chapba, a sophomore in the music department, loves how different the teachers are.

“All of the teachers are practicing musicians,” says Chapba, “So they’re getting the real world experience while teaching us how to get the real world experience.”

Corine O’Connor, a sophomore in the theatre department agrees the gives something better than some primary schools have to offer.

“The teachers have seen it all, and directed so many productions,” says O’Connor, “They have that first hand feedback and they give us real world advice.”