Cab Calloway School of the Arts
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The Cab Calloway School of the Arts is an arts-oriented magnet school in Wilmington, Delaware, operated by the Red Clay Consolidated School District, that focuses on a strong academic curriculum along with an education in the arts. It is a public school, but children are required to audition within a field of study in order to be admitted. Cab Calloway encompasses both a middle school and a high school, with students ranging from 6th grade to 12th grade, and each student chooses a particular concentration in a field of arts that they study through high school.
| Cab Calloway School of the Arts |
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| Motto: Examine, Explore, Express, Excel | |
| Established | 1992 |
| Type | Public (magnet) secondary |
| Students | 781 |
| Grades | 6–12 |
| Location | Wilmington, Delaware USA |
| District | Red Clay Consolidated School District |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | Purple, Black, and White |
| Newspaper | The Calloway Confidential |
| Athletics | 20 sports; 46 teams |
| Website | CabCallowaySchoolOfTheArts.com |
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Contents |
[edit] History
Cab Calloway School of the Arts was established in the fall of 1992 after a group of Red Clay parents joined together to investigate what kind of school they should put in the failing Wilmington High School building. It initially started out as a middle school called: The Middle School for the Creative and Performing Arts. The school was named after Cab Calloway in 1993. Students first wanted it io be called "Michael Jackson School of the Arts", but were out voted. It served students from 6th grade to 7th grade, soon adding a 8th grade. Students who had gone on to area high schools began to request that Cab Calloway would add high school grades to its program, and after a few years, they did.
During the 1997-1998 school year, the performing arts school added a ninth and tenth grade to the program. In the year 2000, Cab Calloway graduated its first senior class. The following year, the Class of 2001, would be the first Cab Calloway Class to graduate that went through all seven years of the school. . In the fall of 2002, the performing arts school celebrated its tenth anniversary with a special show. Also notable was the dedication of The Sentinel that same year. Moved from downtown to the front of the high school, the interesting statue of many different colors gives passersby an unusual view. In the fall of 2004, Cab Calloway welcomed the opening of their own art gallery.
The Class of 2005 would have the distinction of being the largest class to graduate (with 82 members) and the first class since 2000 to have all of its members graduate. The 2005-2006 Freshman class is the largest class the high school has enrolled.
The Class of 2006 distinguished itself by adopting the Wu-Tang Clan's "Ain't Nothin' to Fuck With" as their class anthem. The Wu-Tang "W" hand gesture was often displayed by enthusiastic students at pep rallies, homecoming games and school dances.
The school song is Minnie The Moocher by Cab Calloway, despite it's several drug references and is always played after every Showstoppers to audiences of often times small children. The school colors are white, black, and purple.
[edit] The Arts
The Art Department at Cab (as it is know to students and faculty) consists of the following divisions. Stage Tech, Dance, Visual Arts, Communication Arts, Vocal, Drama, and Band.
[edit] Shows
The Cinema Studies department (headed by K. Fanny) is charge of all videography of if not all then most of the school's productions. Since 2002 they have been editing their own videos and selling DVDs of the productions.
The following is a list of shows that Cab has done and plans on doing:
1992-93
- Scrooge (6th and 7th grade)
- Bye, Bye Birdie (6th and 7th grade)
1993-94
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Middle School)
- Guys and Dolls (Middle School)
1994-95
- Babes in Toyland (Middle School)
- Annie (Middle School)
- West Side Story (Wilmington High School)
1995-96
1996-97
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever ((Middle School Drama)
- My Fair Lady (Middle School)
- Guys and Dolls (Middle School)
- Crazy For You (with Wilmington High School)
1997-98
- ShowStoppers ((Middle and High School)
- Bye, Bye Birdie (Middle School)
- Little Shop of Horrors (High School)
1998-99
- ShowStoppers ((Middle and High School)
- The King and I (Middle School)
- Once On this Island (High School)
1999-2000
- ShowStoppers ((Middle and High School)
- Annie (Middle School)
- big (High School)
2000-01
- To Kill a Mockingbird (High School Drama)
- ShowStoppers ((Middle and High School)
- Antigone (Middle School Drama)
- Into the Woods (High School)
- You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Middle School)
2001-02
- ShowStoppers ((Middle and High School)
- Tom Sawyer (Middle School Drama)
- Arsenic and Old Lace (High School Drama)
- Oliver (Middle School)
- West Side Story (High School)
2002-03
- ShowStoppers ((Middle and High School)
- Renfield of the Spiders (Middle School Drama)
- Our Town (High School Drama)
- Les Misérables (Middle School and High School)
2003-04
- ShowStoppers ((Middle and High School)
- Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 (High School Drama)
- The Aliens Are Coming, The Aliens Are Coming (Middle School Drama)
- Fiddler on the Roof (High School)
- The Wiz (Middle School)
2004-05
- ShowStoppers ((Middle and High School)
- Romeo and Juliet -- Shakespeare (High School Drama)
- Tsunami! (Middle School Drama)
- Fame (High School)
- Just So (Middle School)
2005-06
- ShowStoppers ((Middle and High School)
- Hans Christian Anderson (Middle School Musical)
- Beauty and the Beast (High School Musical)
- Laramie Project (High School Play)
- One Act Plays (Middle School Drama)
2006-07
- ShowStoppers ((Middle and High School)
- Highschool Musical (High School Musical)
- You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (middle school musical)
[edit] Location
It shares a building built in 1960 formerly belonging to Wilmington High School. The Charter School of Wilmington rents one wing of the second floor and the entire third floor of the building.
[edit] After School Clubs
[edit] High school
- GLBTQ Club
- High School Student Government - Mr. Winnington/Bastianna Mene (SENIOR), Mike Strauss (SENIOR), First Gentleman, Tim McBride (SOPHOMORE), Vice President
- Mock Trial - Mr. Winnington/Mrs. Sullivan
- Newspaper - Ms. Fanny
- Athletics are shared with The Charter School of Wilmington
- Class of 2010 Student Council - Mrs. Sullivan, Julia Melendez, President, Nicole Moscosow, Vice President
- Class of 2009 Student Council - Mrs. Rae/Liz Richards, President, Steven Carter, Vice President
- Class of 2008 Student Council - Mrs. Fanny/Felicia Puff, President, James Ogden, Vice President
- Class of 2007 Student Council - Mr. Hanel/Shana Schmoyer, President, Melanie Sturgis, Vice President
- Yearbook - Mrs. Fanny- Senior Editors Rachel Robinson and Autumn Bostic
- French Club
[edit] Middle School
- Photography Club
- Newspaper - The Calloway Confidential
- Numerix
- Science Olympiad
- Math League
- Yearbook Club
[edit] Student Enrollment (2005)
Total: 781
Middle School:
Grade 6: 140
Grade 7: 135
Grade 8: 133
High School:
Grade 09: 109
Grade 10: 98
Grade 11: 84
Grade 12: 82
Source: Delaware School Profiles
[edit] Academics
Cab Calloway and the Charter School of Wilmington offer several classes that share enrollment. Cab Calloway students may take higher-level French courses, as well as the AP Calculus courses offered by Charter.
[edit] Admissions
Cab Calloway School of the Arts is part of Red Clay School District's Choice School Programs. Admission to the school is based upon an entrance assessment.
All prospective applicants are asked to pick a 'major' and 'minor' art concentration, based on the six artistic concentrations that are offered by the school curriculum. Cab Calloway requires that applicants complete an audition in their selected concentrations, which is scheduled by the school. Failure to attend the audition results in an automatic disqualification from the admissions process.
Approximately half of the students who apply are placed within a waiting pool due to lack of available spaces. Students are selected from the waiting pool in a "lottery" to fill empty or vacated openings based upon their selected art concentrations, grade, and residence within the Red Clay school district. The last class that did not have to deal with the policy was the incoming freshman class of 2001. The incoming freshman class of 2002 was the first class to have the policy in place for the high school.[1] This is a controversial admission policy. Many feel that the quality of the talent pool at Cab Calloway has gone down, because the more talented kids are getting turned down in favor of letting in district resident students who may not be quite as talented.
[edit] Student Life & Culture
To many students, Cab Calloway is more than just a school. Many are involved in after school activities and others participate in out of school activities that involve other Cab students because of similar interests (i.e. art, drama, music). Science Olympiad, which is headed by Reese Rigby, is a successful extracurricular group that competes against other schools in the area for excellence in science. Mock Trial, headed by Mary Jane Bennett, is another very successful group of determined young students who take part in staged trials that are judged.
Students frequently go across the street to a small shopping center that houses a coffeshop named Sugarplums, Domino's, and a Happy Harry's. At one time, a hot dog joint called Deerhead was there, but has been shut down until the summer, due to "emergency". Hopefully, the hot dog joint will re-open and once again be filled with the sound of hungry students bonding over french fries and soda.
There is a generally acknowledged rivalry with the Charter School of Wilmington, which is on the third floor of the building. Charter School students are said to make jokes that ridicule the intelligence of Cab Calloway students, while Cab students have joked the Charter students are unhealthily diligent towards their studies. This issue was even addressed in a Charter school newspaper during the 2004-2005 school year, but is generally seen as just good-natured ribbing between the two schools. Charter and Cab culture co-mingles, since students are allowed to take classes at both schools and Cab students are allowed to join Charter's sports teams. This is further reinforced by the fact that Charter students have been known to transfer into Cab. That said, some feel that Charter should vacate the building, and let Cab have the third floor. Others feel that would be a mistake, since one of Cab's advantages is the fact that it's a small school.
Since it appears that the Charter School of Wilmington has no plans to vacate the building within the near future, Cab Calloway and Charter will continue to co-exist alongside each other for years to come.
[edit] External links
- High School Website
- Middle School Website
- Satellite Image (Google Local)
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