SCS integrates the arts and cultural education into the core curriculum, and we provide direct instruction in these areas as well. All students attend music classes twice weekly for one semester and art classes twice weekly for one semester. One class each week is devoted to art history or music theory, while the other is devoted to studio art or musical performance. All students also attend Mandarin Chinese classes twice weekly throughout the school year. The foreign language program is supported by the Confucius Institute (see http://www.chinese.cn/) in partnership with Presbyterian College.

Data support that in addition to studying the arts and other cultures for their own sake, experiencing other cultures and making works of art benefits students in their intellecutal, personal, and social development and can be particularly beneficial for students from economically disadvantaged circumstances and those who are at risk of not succeeding in school (for a review see Deasy, 2002).