Toledo School for the Arts has been named a semi-finalist for the prestigious 2025
S. Joseph Bruno Model Charter Award given by Building Hope, a non-profit focusing on charter school facilities, finances and operational support.
Ten charter schools have been named semi-finalists in each of four categories for the 2025 Building Hope IMPACT Awards: Community Engagement, Educational Innovation, Student Empowerment and the S. Joseph Bruno Model Charter Award.
Now in its fourth year, the Building Hope IMPACT Awards Program recognizes schools for their profound impact on the communities, families, and students they serve. The 10 semi-finalists in each award category were chosen from nearly 200 applications received from 41 states and the District of Columbia. Each application was evaluated by judges based on measurable impact, innovative educational approaches, and the strength of their engagement with students and their communities.
For the next round of the grant selection process, the 40 semi-finalists will be narrowed down to a smaller pool of twenty finalists, which will be announced in February. A separate Selection Committee will interview the finalists and select the three winners in each category, which will be announced in March. Leaders from the winning schools will receive an expense-paid trip to the Building Hope IMPACT Summit in Miami in May. Each winner will present a 10-minute IMPACT talk in-person as the final round to determine the award amount. The top winner in each category will receive $20,000 and each of the two runners-up will receive $10,000. Awards will be presented at a gala on the final evening of the Summit.
“We are thrilled to have been named a semi-finalist for the S. Joseph Bruno Model Charter Award,” said TSA Director Rob Koenig. “TSA strives to provide the best academic and artistic education for our students, preparing them to succeed in whatever career path they pursue. We have created a unique workforce program in the arts, which gives students practical experience in arts-related careers, and our students actively participate in the greater Toledo community. We are gratified that our faculty and staff’s exceptional work creating a unique educational environment is being recognized and celebrated.”
As a type of public school, TSA is tuition-free. The school is accepting applications for incoming 6-12 grade students for the 2025-2026 school year until 3:00 p.m. on January 31. All required supporting documents must be submitted by that time as well. A lottery will be held in February for the available spaces in each grade level. Information on enrollment may be found at https://ts4arts.org/enrollment/.
Opened in 1999, Toledo School for the Arts, a public “community” (charter) school, has become known statewide and nationally for offering an outstanding academic and artistic education. The TSA student population has grown from 127 students in grades 7-9 when the school opened to some 750 students in grades 6-12 in the 2024-2025 academic year. Our socio-economically diverse student body hails from approximately 65 different public-school districts and private, parochial and community schools, as well as homeschool settings, throughout northwest Ohio.