The Coronado School of the Arts in the News

Arts Program Faces Funding Challenges

Full Focus, KPBS Apr 13, 2006

For ten years, the Coronado School of the Arts, or CoSA as it’s called, has provided students with an extended-day arts curriculum mixed with regular high school academics. Located at Coronado High School but open to all San Diego County students, the school’s story is indicative of the struggle arts programs face throughout the state. Tobin Nageotte, has more.

San Diego Union-Tribune: School’s Next Act

Coronado Arts Campus to Unveil New Theater By Chris Moran November 29, 2006

“CoSA, as it’s known, plans to hold a party Jan. 20 to celebrate its 10th anniversary as a school-within-a-school at Coronado High. It will also be – for a school that has for a decade held classes in trailers and performances in other campuses’ theaters– an opening night of sorts.

The event will unveil a $12 million building with a black-box theater, scene shop, music and drama rooms, and a fly loft.

Just as performers need to pay the bills, so do schools. CoSA founder Kris McClung hopes to parlay the school’s new facilities into financial security for the arts school.”

San Diego Union-Tribune: A Stage in Their Lives

Disney has made it a pop-culture phenomenon, but musicals have cast a spell on high-school thespians for years. By Karla Peterson, November 26, 2006

“Musical theater is one of the only places kids can express themselves. There aren’t too many places in school where you can do that,” said Ashley Masula, a 16-year-old junior at the Coronado School of the Arts at Coronado High School. “You can have so much fun up there showing pieces of yourself while you’re just putting everything you have into the music. Once you’re hooked into musical theater, there is no letting go.”

Kris McClung Receives 10News Leadership Award

September 14, 2006

10News honors Kris McClung for founding the Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA). Kris founded the program in 1996 on the campus of Coronado High School and is currently the director. The CoSA was finalized after three years of hard work and planning by Kris, volunteers, and sponsors. This “school within a school” now offers enrichment programs in areas such as dance, instrumental music, musical theatre, drama, technical theatre, and visual arts.
After realizing the lack of programs offered in the arts, McClung decided to take action in creating a school for students interested in creative education. After planning and hard work, the school opened in September of 1996 with a student body of 60. As the director and a teacher at the CoSA, McClung contributes her talents in inspiring and teaching creative minds through a nontraditional form of education. Her efforts have not only inspired creative minds, but have also inspired the learning abilities of her students.