By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — There were growing pains for teachers who remember assembling their own classroom furniture and only having part-time schedules. There were growing pains for students who had to deal with an unsettled environment and sometimes take courses that weren’t quite what they wanted. But on June 17, the Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Performing and Visual Arts will proudly send off its first graduating class, and everyone involved considers what was once unchartered territory to be a picture of success.

In the fall of 2005, the Pawtucket School Department embarked on a journey to provide students in Pawtucket and other communities statewide a unique opportunity to foster their talents in the performing and visual arts. A new school was established in the renovated Pawtucket Armory at 172 Exchange St. 
Dedicated to the late Jacqueline M. Walsh, a local educator who championed the arts, the building features studios for art, dance, music and theater, along with academic classrooms. As a key element, the school also shares the building with the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, which provides a partnership with JMW, as it is more commonly called.
While still part of the city’s public school system, JMW is different because prospective students must audition before a panel to gain acceptance. Most of the student body is from Pawtucket, but there are some students from other communities whose parents are paying partial public school tuition for them to attend. Once accepted, the students attend an extended school day, which runs from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The extra time is to allow for the pursuit of the various arts programs.
According to JMW principal John Haidemenos, JMW currently has an enrollment of 100 students from grades 9 through 12. They are served by a full-time staff of nine teachers, four in the arts: music, visual art, dance and theater; and five in academics: Spanish, language arts, social studies, science, and mathematics. A part-time math teacher provides additional support when needed.
Haidemenos added that JMW placed in the top five high schools with its test scores in the last New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP). Additionally, he said the school continues to cultivate partnerships with not only the Gamm Theatre but also with the Boys and Girls Club of Pawtucket, FusionWorks Modern Dance Company, Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
Haidemenos proudly noted that many of the 22 graduating seniors have been accepted into such prestigious post-secondary art institutions as RISD, MASS ART, the Chicago Institute of Art, and the  Maryland Institute of Art, to name just a few. Other graduates are pursuing their education at Hofstra University, Boston University, Drew University, Syracuse University, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, while others are staying closer to home and attending the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College.
Haidemenos, who has been principal for the past two years, and history teacher Jason Marchetti, who is also the senior advisor, recently spoke to The Times about JMW’s growth and emergence as a model arts high school.
Marchetti, who was one of the original teachers hired, said the school started off with 34 students in its first year. By its third year, there were 150 applications for 28 spaces from students who wanted to attend. “It kind of exploded after the second year,” he stated.
The teaching staff, five of whom have remained from the beginning, started by working just part-time schedules. Together, they all moved into a building that wasn’t quite ready to receive them. “We brought the boxes in and many of us even had to assemble our own furniture,” Marchetti noted.
Along with Marchetti, Spanish teacher Kayla Campbell, dance teacher Tovah Bodner Muro, visual arts teacher Chris Kane and theater teacher Karen Carpenter have been at JMW for four years.
Haidemenos said he already knows the graduation ceremony will be “very emotional” for him, along with most of the other staff members. Of the original pilot group of 34 students, 22 students remain who have been at JMW since freshman year. Some of the original group left after deciding that the school was not a good fit while others moved away.
“Some of the students didn’t give it a chance,” said Marchetti. “And some didn’t like the extended day. It takes a special student to stay for an extra period.” For those who did stay,  “the pioneers” as he calls them, Marchetti said, “We’ve seen their growth every year.”
By the same token, Haidemenos said  he has been surprised by the number of students who come to school early or stay late to work on a project or a rehearsal. “It’s almost a Utopian setting. I think we all know how lucky we are to know that a school like this exists,” said Haidemenos. He also credits Pawtucket Schools Supt. Hans Dellith for having the vision and the persistence to make the school become a reality despite having its share of naysayers.
Haidemenos and Marchetti noted that these students have “come up,” so to speak, with the rest of the staff in making the school what it is today. “They’ve always been the leaders. And now, the pilot group is leaving, and they are successful,” Marchetti said.

The senior class valedictorian, Elyssa Cipriano, and salutatorian, Brittany Hennigan, were members of the pilot group. Both students spoke of experiencing some issues related to the school’s newness, such as limited scheduling options and other complications. They also admitted that the school’s small size took some getting used to.
However, both Cipriano and Hennigan said that overall, they liked the fact that they could pursue their respective arts disciplines within a nurturing high school environment. They spoke of the close relationships that they developed with their teachers as well as many of their classmates, which would not have been possible in a larger public high school.
Both young women also took part in some of the extracurricular activities offered at Tolman High School, just next door. Cipriano was a cheerleader in her freshman year and Hennigan did cross country and track all four years.
Cipriano, the daughter of Susan and Mark Cipriano, is a longtime dancer who plans to continue her studies at Rhode Island College. “It is a very nice atmosphere. And it has definitely helped me improve my dancing,” she stated.
Hennigan agreed, saying that the JMW teachers were very encouraging and supportive.  The daughter of Maureen Wuelfing and Mark Hennigan, she will continue her art studies at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.
Other students from the original group voiced similar positive experiences. Ben Kicic, who will be attending RISD in the fall, said he liked the fact that JMW has smaller classes. “I don’t think I would have achieved all that I did if I had gone to Tolman,” he stated.
Rachel Pontbriand, who was accepted to Florida State University to study film, agreed, saying that the small class sizes allowed “for a lot more one-to-one with our teachers.”
Catia Carvalho, who is heading off to Rhode Island College to pursue a degree in music education, concurred with her fellow seniors, saying that the JMW experience has been a positive one, thanks to both the caring staff and the bonding that took place among the first group of classmates.
Haidemenos added that while he is proud and pleased to see what JMW has become, there is still “tweaking” that is done constantly. He also said that while the school is pretty much at its capacity with 100 students in the current Armory Building, he is hopeful that future expansion might be possible.
Along those lines, Yvonne Seggerman, executive director of the Gamm Theatre and the Pawtucket Armory Association, said that JMW will most definitely benefit from the planned expansion of the Armory’s drill hall into a first-class performing arts center. The project is part of an ambitious capital campaign that the Armory Association has embarked upon.
“The students will have a fully equipped, professionally outfitted, 340-seat theater to perform in,” Seggerman said. “In a perfect world, it will open in five years.”
In the meantime, Seggerman said, “We’re working hard to maintain the good things going on in the school, and to sustain the school and the Armory building.”