Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences

Seattle Academy was founded in 1983 by a group of students, parents, trustees and teachers from Northwest School who were concerned with that schools’ financial viability. The departure and formation were both led by Jean Orvis, who was the Head of School at SAAS for more than two decades until the 2008-2009 school year. From 2009 to June 2018, the Head of School was Joe Puggelli, who previously had a long and varied career, including in the US Army service, publishing, education, and coaching. In July 2018, long-tenured faculty, staff, and coach Rob Phillips became Seattle Academy's Head of School. In July 2025, Giselle Furlonge joined him as Co-Head of School. SAAS has grown over time and, as of 2025, consists of seven main buildings, located on one block of Capitol Hill. In 2017, the institution broke ground on a $48 million, five-story Middle School building located at the intersection of 13th Avenue and Union Street. In 2025, it opened the five-story Upper School building, which features a central courtyard and maker spaces like wood and metal shops. The campus also includes the Arts Center (which houses the Jean Orvis Theatre), the Middle School Gym and Rooftop Playfield, the Main Gym (one of the largest school-owned gyms in the Seattle area), the STREAM Building (which includes the Robotics Lab), and the Vanderbilt building (which has varied classrooms and common spaces). == Student life ==

As of the 2025-26 school year, Seattle Academy has 64 Upper School clubs and 20 Middle School clubs. The school also has many affinity groups and academic teams facilitated by faculty members. Notable teams and their accomplishments (from the 2024-25 school year) include: Youth Legislature: 2 members of the Youth Legislature team successfully passed bills during the statewide Youth Legislature Session in Olympia. Speech and Debate: 4 students qualified for the State Competition in Speech & Debate and 2 qualified for Nationals. Mock Trial: 10 members of the Model UN team received awards. Robotics: 2 FIRST Robotics Competition awards were granted to the SAASquatch robotics team. Ethics Bowl: 3 students on the Ethics Bowl team won the Civil Dialogue Award at the State competition. == Facilities ==

SAAS has seven main buildings, located on one block of Capitol Hill. Upper School building The 5-story, 105,000-square foot Upper School building houses classrooms, seminar rooms, and common areas for grades 9-12. It also includes spaces used by all students—including the Innovations Center, which has a woodshop, metalworking studio, and other maker spaces, the Music Production studio, a central courtyard, and a large cafeteria. Middle School building Above the main floor, the Middle School building has three floors, with one dedicated to each grade level: 6, 7, and 8. Each floor features classrooms and common areas. STREAM building The STREAM building emphasizes SAAS’s science curriculum and project-based integration of Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. It includes science labs, classrooms, and the Robotics Lab. Arts Center The Arts Center houses the 250-seat Orvis Theater, which is equipped with advanced sound and lighting technology and where SAAS productions happen throughout the year. It also includes a smaller, black box theater, dressing rooms, a green room, a darkroom for photography, visual arts studios, and music classrooms. Main gym The main gym building includes fitness equipment, a weight-training room, and dance studios, as well as a traditional school gym. Middle School gym and rooftop playfield Located on top of the designated Middle School gym, the rooftop playfield allows students to be active outside, in the middle of a city block. Vanderbilt building The Vanderbilt building houses many classrooms for various grade levels and subjects. ==References==