Baltimore Polytechnic Institute

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Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
Established 1883
Type Public, Secondary, Magnet
Principal Dr. Barney J. Wilson
Faculty 79
Students 1,187
Grades 9-12
Location Baltimore, Maryland, United States
District Baltimore City Public School System
Campus Urban
Colors Orange and Blue
Mascot Engineers (Poly Parrot)
Website www.bpi.edu

Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (known to locals as Poly or BPI) is a magnet high school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1883 when Joshua Plaskitt petitioned the Baltimore City authorities to establish a school for instruction in engineering. The original school was named the Baltimore Manual Training School, and its first class was made up of about sixty students, all of whom were male. The official name of the school was changed in the 1890's to the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. The first principal, Dr. Richard Grady, along with his successor, Lt. John Ford, helped to strengthen and develop the curriculum of the school, while it gained even further notoriety during the tenure of William King, the third director of the school, after which King Memorial Hall is named.

Due to continued growth of the student population at Poly, the school relocated in 1913 to Calvert Street and North Avenue. While at this location, the school expanded both its academic and athletic programs under the supervision of Dr. Wilmer Dehuff, arguably the most famous principal of the Institute. Dehuff later served as the president and Dean of Faculty at the University of Baltimore. Dehuff, who was principal from 1921 to 1958 also oversaw the voluntary racial integration of the school in 1952, the first instance in City of Baltimore public schools. For many years - until the mid 1990s - Poly "A" Course (Accelerated) graduates were given sophomore standing in most engineering colleges.

In 1967, then-principal Claude Burkert (1958-1969) oversaw the relocation of his school to its current location at 1400 West Cold Spring Lane, a fifty-three acre tract of land bordering Falls Road and Roland Park. Also occupying this site is the Western High School, an all-girl school founded in 1844. Notable buildings on the campus include Dehuff Hall, also known as the academic building, where students attend normal classes, and Burkert Hall, also called the engineering building, where students attend classes in the Willard Hackerman Engineering Program. Both Western High School and Poly students make use of the auditorium/cafeteria complex, and likewise share the large gymnasium and sports fields. While these two schools share grounds and buildings, that is all they share: their respective academic programs are completely separate from one another.

In 1974, Poly officially became coeducational when it began admitting female students. In the late 1980s, the title "principal" was changed to "director." After the retirement of Director John Dohler in 1990, Barbara Stricklin became the first woman to head the school, as she accepted the title of Interim Director. During Director Ian Cohen's tenure (1994-2003), Poly's curriculum was again expanded when it began offering AP classes.

In yet another progressive move, 2004 saw Baltimore Polytechnic Institute's first African-American Director when Dr. Barney Wilson, a 1976 Poly graduate became principal. A strong advocate for his students, and after only two years of work, Dr. Wilson helped the Class of 2006 achieve a ninety-eight percent college acceptance rate, with over ten million dollars in scholarships awarded; fifty thousand of which came from Poly's own Alumni Association.

The Baltimore chapter of the Algebra project is active at Poly and many other Baltimore-area high schools.

Contents

[edit] Poly-City Football Game

Poly and Baltimore City College share the oldest public high school football rivalry in the United States, with the first competition between Polytechnic and Baltimore City College taking place in 1889. The Poly-City game is still a regular November tradition in Baltimore City with people on each side of the divide hoping for bragging rights.

[edit] Principals/Directors

  • Dr. Richard Grady (1883-1886)
  • Lt. John Ford (1886-1890)
  • Lieutenant William King (1890-1921)
  • Dr. Wilmer Dehuff (1921-1958)
  • Claude Burkert (1958-1969)
  • William Gerardi (1969-1980)
  • Zeney Jacobs (1980-1984)
  • Gary Thrift (1984-1985)
  • John Dohler (1985-1990)
  • Barbara Stricklin (1990-1991)
  • Dr. Albert Strickland (1991-1994)
  • Ian Cohen (1994-2003)
  • Sharon Kanter (2003-2004)
  • Dr. Barney Wilson (2004-present)

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] External links

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