CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL (PHILADELPHIA)

'Central High School' is a public secondary school in the Olney section of Philadelphia. Central, the second oldest public high school in the United States, was founded in 1836 and is a four-year university preparatory magnet school. About 2,400 students attend grades 9 through 12. It consistently ranks among the top schools in the city and state, and is among the top public schools in the nation for its academic standards.
Central High School holds the distinction of being the only high school in the United States that has the authority, granted by an Act of Assembly in 1849, to confer academic degrees upon its graduates. This practice is still in effect, and graduates who meet the requirements are granted the Bachelor of Arts degree. Central also confers high school diplomas upon graduates who do not meet the requirement for a degree.
Central, rather than using a general class year to identify its classes (as in "class of 1999"), uses the class graduating number system (as in "258th graduating class"). This tradition started shortly after the school's founding, when it was common to have two graduating classes per year - one in January and one in June. In June of 1965, semiannual graduations were replaced by annual graduations. The current senior class is the '267th' graduating class of Central High School.
Central, due to its authority to grant academic degrees, traditionally refers to the principal of the school as the "President" of Central High School. The current president is Dr. Sheldon S. Pavel.
The Central High School website is located at http://centralhigh.net and has been developed and maintained entirely by Central students.

Contents

The School Song

Athletics and Extracurriculars

The Football Classic

Presidents of Central High School

Standard dress code

Media Coverage

Notable alumni

References

External links

The School Song

The following is the school song of Central High School- Words by Horace M. Shell, 1907 and Francis A. Wade, 1907, Music by John L. Waldman, 1907, Arranged by Francis Murphy (note: Second to the last line of the chorus was revised during the 1995 - 1996 school year to substitute the words "we all" for "thy sons"). Students and alumni are known to stomp their feet twice after the first and fifth lines of the chorus. Alumni and Alumnae all over the world are known to sing the school song with pride, to complete strangers who have all once attended CHS.
Let others sing of college days,

Their Alma Mater true,

But when we raise our voices,

'Tis only High, for you.

We'll ne'er forget those days gone by,

Those glorious days of old,

When oft we sang the praises of

The Crimson and the Gold.

'CHORUS'

Dear high, dear Central High

Thy mem'ries never die.

Thy honor we'll cherish and

Laud it to the sky,

On ballfield or in life,

In peace or deadly strife,

For thee we all will labor,

For thee, oh, dear old High!

''Second verse to be sung by alumni only''
And when at last we leave behind

Thy shelt'ring portals wide,

Thy honor still we'll cherish,

What e'er may us betide.

And when we congregate again

With tuneful voice and strong,

With joyful hearts once more we'll sing

That same old glorious song.

CHORUS

Athletics and Extracurriculars

Central offers its students over 75 extracurricular programs including an internationally acclaimed Orchestra. It also has an accomplished coeducational sports program offering every Public League interscholastic sport. The 'Central Lancers' have won 70 Public League Championships in the last decade, making it the city athletic powerhouse. Those championships include marquee sports such as soccer, basketball, baseball, bowling, softball, tennis, golf and track and field. Central is known throughout the east coast for its dominant track and field program. Central's cross country, indoor, and outdoor track athletes have set numerous city and state records and have gone onto collegiate and Olympic careers. The 2005 Central 4x800 team of Chris Bowser, Mitchell Stroh, Thurman Sanders, and Patrick Carr claimed the first state medal in PIAA competition for the Philadelphia Public League. Also in 2005, Central won the Philadelphia Public League Boys Basketball Championship for the first time since 1932. As of April, 2007, the Girls Basketball team has won a record 93 straight games in Public League competition, and six consecutive Public League Championships.
Notably, Central's football team plays a yearly game against longtime rivals Northeast High School. The Thanksgiving football game is one of the oldest high school football rivalries in the United States.
Central puts a great emphasis on producing not only college graduates and future professionals, but also strong members of the community. It is one of the few public high schools that has a yearly community service requirement that needs to be fulfilled before graduation. 50 hours of community service, recently increased from 30 hours, needs to be completed and verified by academic personnel before the end of each school year. This program was implemented as an alternative to extending the school day in the early 1990s.
The music department, comprising an orchestra and choir, is world-renowned, having travelled to such locales as Israel, London, Quebec, and Austria. During the summer of 2007, they performed in the city of Budapest, Hungary, at the invitation of its mayor. Central is one of the few schools that give academic credit for participation in the orchestra. It was scheduled to be the first American High School group to travel to China, when the SARS outbreak occurred and caused the trip to be postponed. The department was awarded "Grammy Signature School" status in 2000.

The Football Classic

Central High School has held a rivalry with Northeast High School and the high point of this rivalry is during the annual Thanksgiving game. In 1947, a fine, wooden horse carved by Spurgeon Smith, a 1948 Northeast student, became the trophy held annually by the winner. Currently (2007), the record of wins and loses for Central High School is: W-49, L-45,T-9. The last game played between these two schools was in 2007 with Northeast winning.

Presidents of Central High School

★ Alexander Dallas Bache, LL.D. - 1839-1842

★ John Seely Hart, LL.D. - 1842-1858

★ Nicholas Harper Maquire, A.M. - 1858-1866

★ George Inman Riché, A.M. - 1866-1886

★ Franklin Taylor, M.D. - 1886-1888

★ Henry Clark Johnson, A.M., LL.B. - 1888-1893

★ Robert Ellis Thompson, A.M., Ph.D., D.D., LL.D., - 1894-1920

★ John Louis Haney, A.M., Ph.D., LL.D. - 1920-1943

★ William H. Cornog, A.M., L.H.D., Ph.D., - 1943-1955

★ Elmer Field, B.S., M.S., Ed.D. - 1955-1962

★ William H. Gregory, B.S., Ed.M. - 1962-1969

★ Howard Carlisle, B.S., A.M., Ed.D. - 1969-1983

★ Sheldon S. Pavel, A.B., Ed.M, Ed.D. - 1984-present

Standard dress code

Central students are required to wear solid-colored clothing [1]. Unlike in almost all other Philadelphia schools, the dress code has never been enforced.

Media Coverage

Central has been covered extensively in the media, both news and entertainment wise. As of March 28th, 2007, MTV is in the process of filming an episode of Made set at the high school.

Notable alumni

★ Elliott Abrams - AccuWeather Meteorologist, Chief Forecaster (223rd Class)

★ James P. Bagian - NASA Astronaut, Physician (228th Class)

★ Albert C. Barnes - art collector, founder of world renowned Barnes Foundation Art Gallery (92nd Class)

★ John C. Bell - former Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (75th Class)

★ King Britt - DJ and record producer

★ Philip Casnoff - actor (226th Class)

★ Noam Chomsky - Linguist and political activist (184th Class)

★ Mark B. Cohen - Pennsylvania State Legislative Leader (225th Class)

★ Joel Cook - U.S. Congressman, journalist (33rd Class)

★ Bill Cosby - Comedian and entertainer (left after 10th grade- 204th Class)

★ Thomas Eakins - Painter (38th Class)

★ Douglas Feith - Former U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy (230th Class)

★ Norman Fell - Actor, best known as Mr. Roper on Three's Company (176th Class)

★ Lee Felsenstein - Personal computer pioneer and activist (219th Cass)

★ Larry Fine - Larry of the Three stooges (132nd Class)

★ W. Wilson Goode, Jr. - Philadelphia City Councilman at Large, son of former mayor W. Wilson Goode

★ Oscar Goodman - Current Mayor of Las Vegas, famed mob defense lawyer (clients included Meyer Lansky and "Lefty" Rosenthal) (left after 10th grade)

★ Daniel Guggenheim - American industrialist and philanthropist, most powerful member of famed Guggenheim family (66th Class)

★ Simon Guggenheim - industrialist, financier, U.S. Senator from Colorado, philanthropist (87th Class)

★ Joe Harris - mathematician (algebraic geometry)

★ Louis Kahn - world renowned architect (134th Class)

★ Sam Katz - Perrenial Philadelphia Republican Mayoral Candidate (226th class)

★ Cynthia Kuper - leading Nanotechnology scientist (249th Class)

★ Alain LeRoy Locke - Author, philosopher, and advocate of the arts

★ Jerome Lowenthal - famed pianist, chair of Juilliard School Piano Department (192nd Class)

★ John Marzano - MLB player/Baseball Analyst (240th Class)

★ Jeffrey Milarsky - is one of the leading conductors of contemporary music in New York City.

★ James T. Mitchell - former Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (19th Class)

★ Louis Mordell - leading 20th century mathematician (number theory)

★ Samuel Brown Wylie Mitchell - Founder of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity (~194th Class)

★ Joel Myers - founder of AccuWeather (208th class)

★ Robert N. C. Nix, Jr. - former Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (186th Class)

★ Robert E. Pattison - former Governor of Pennsylvania (55th Class)

★ Ramon L. Posel - Founder of Ritz Theatres (186th Class)

★ Arnold Roth - famed cartoonist, humorist (186th Class)

★ Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz - WCAU TV personality, NBC 10 chief meteorologist

★ Horace Stern - former Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (100th Class)

★ Julie Stevens - actress, film director and producer (246th Class)

★ Frank R. Stockton - writer and humorist

★ Charles Stone III - film director and creator of the popular US advertising campaign, "Whassup?" for Budweiser

★ Teller - full name Raymond Joseph Teller, magician, silent half of the comedy magic duo known as Penn & Teller (224th Class)

★ Howard Temin - 1975 Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine (196th Class)

★ Arthur Tracy - world famous vaudeville performer, singer, actor, known as "The Street Singer" (130th Class)

★ John Wallowitch - Composer, songwriter and cabaret performer (class unknown)

★ Andrew Weil - Physician, author, proponent of integrative medicine (212th Class)

★ Edward Weinberger - TV producer and writer, winner of three Emmys (204th Class)

★ Bernard Wolfman - former dean of the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania (176th Class)

★ Alexander Woolcott - renowned dramatic critic for The New Yorker, journalist, author, member of Algonquin Round Table (110th Class)

★ Ed Wynn - entertainer, actor, comedian, producer, Academy Award Nominee, also known as the voice of "The Mad Hatter" and as "Uncle Albert" In Mary Poppins (110th Class)

References

★ Edmonds, Franklin Spencer, ''History of the Central High School of Philadelphia''. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1902.

External links

★ The Central High School Web Site

★ The Central High Alumni Site