Be a shining star at Orange Grove Middle Magnet School of the Arts, a nationally recognized Magnet School of Distinction!  We are a visual, performing and communication arts school where high academic achievement meets creativity.

Our campus is an architectural landmark built almost 100 years ago, nestled between Ybor City and Downtown Tampa. It includes two professional dance studios, visual arts and MAC lab, and exceptional music and technical theater suites. Through arts-based electives, our students shine and grow in the Visual, Performing and Communication Arts. Our student artists also connect through after-school clubs, which include: hip-hop dance, Rock Band, Computer Club, Math League, and NJHS. 

Beyond the arts, students are challenged to strive for excellence in their academics.  We provide advanced courses, high school credit courses (Algebra, IAPS), and help in preparing portfolios and resumes for students wishing to attend and/or audition for a magnet high school. Our staff is dedicated to nurturing all students through an arts-integrated environment, setting the stage with our sixth grade wheel rotation, allowing students to get a "taste" of the various electives, and then transitioning to their preferred elective after the first grading period.  We also offer our transition to middle school camp, or Cub Camp, in July each summer, which is a two-day camp helping students with the transition to middle school.

Check out our video on the home page! See creative and academic sparks ignite into works of art at Orange Grove Middle Magnet School of the Arts, where every student is a STAR!

On February 2, 1926, the School Board met and approved the site as the location for the new Orange Grove Elementary School. The cost of the site was $45,000. M. Lee Elliott was appointed architect and began to design the school. Mr. Elliott had also designed Tampa's City Hall, Centro Asturiano Theater, and Gorrie and Philip Shore Elementaries.

The company of G.H. Cooper was awarded the construction contract on August 6th of that year. The building cost was set at $127,800. On June 2, 1927, James McIntosh was appointed as the first principal of Orange Grove. His salary was set at $175 per month!

The name Orange Grove was derived from the grove of trees which existed on the south side of the campus. In the decades that followed, Orange Grove served a population which was rich with pride and spirit. Evidence of tradition was the yearly May Day festivals and Halloween carnivals. These events provided many lasting memories for all who shared in them.

In 1971, as part as the court-ordered desegregation law, Orange Grove became a Sixth Grade Center. Then, in 1985, a 1.2 million dollar renovation and remodeling project updated the original structure. Finally, in 1998, when Orange Grove became a part of the Magnet School Initiative, our current structure was added at a cost of 8.9 million dollars! We are proud to be a part of the lasting legacy that is Orange Grove.