VSAA, Fort Vancouver High School and Thomas Jefferson Middle School were chosen to receive $5,000 grants to create artwork for the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark's expedition. Part of the Confluence Project, the student artwork complements seven works of art by Maya Lin.
The International Network of Performing and Visual Arts Schools presented Vancouver School of Arts and Academics with a New and Emerging School Award.
The school expanded to include its first senior class.
Vancouver School of Arts and Academics opened in fall 1996 for students in sixth through 11th grades. The school was one of five selected nationwide to receive a $250,000 research grant from the College Board and the Getty Center for Education in the Arts.
Remodeling began on the former Shumway building.
A ceremony honored Shumway as it ended 66 years as a junior high school. It was remodeled before reopening in fall 1996 as a magnet school for the arts. Vancouver Public Schools was awarded a $750,000 Building for the Arts grant to help renovate the Shumway building.
Shumway was the first junior high school in Vancouver. It opened with 400 students and 16 staff members.
