In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses
The
Cab Calloway School of the Arts is an arts-oriented
magnet schoolIn education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...
in
Wilmington, DelawareWilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
, operated by the
Red Clay Consolidated School DistrictRed Clay Consolidated School District is a public school district in northern New Castle County, Delaware. Founded in 1981, Red Clay serves a portion of the city of Wilmington, its northern suburbs, and the Brandywine Creek and Pike Creek Valley areas.-High schools:*Alexis I...
, 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. It is one of the most selective public schools in the United States. 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.
History
In 1960, long before Cab Calloway School of the Arts existed, the building in which CCSA is housed opened as Wilmington High School. Once considered a top-notch school, Wilmington High School suffered through dropping enrollment and an increasingly bad image as it made its way through the 1980's and 1990's. Eventually, the decision was made to close the school, and it was decided that the school would close near the end of the decade. The incoming freshman class of 1994 was to be the last one accepted at the school.
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 should put in the failing Wilmington High School campus. Cab Calloway School of the Arts was originally known as the Creative and Performing Arts Middle School, and was named after
Cab CallowayCabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader.Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s...
in 1993 because of Calloway's status as a performer and ties to the state of Delaware. It served students from 6th grade to 7th grade, soon adding an 8th grade. The need for the school to expand to a high school program soon became apparent, as some alumni of the middle school were not satisfied with the area high schools they had gone to. As a result, during the 1997-1998 school year, the performing arts school added a ninth and tenth grade to the program.
Wilmington High graduated the last class in 1999, and closed in June 1999. To honor the school, Cab Calloway kept the letters, "Wilmington High" on the front building entrance. The school also has a "Wall of Fame" with various descriptions of WHS alumni who've made outstanding contributions to society.
In the year 2000, Cab Calloway graduated its first senior class. The following year, the Class of 2001 would become the first Cab Calloway class to have gone through all seven years of the school.
In the fall of 2002, a special ceremony was held to honor the 10th anniversary of the school.
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. Although the attractiveness of the structure has been debated, most students believe the Sentinel is an important piece to the landscape of the school.
In the fall of 2004, Cab Calloway welcomed the opening of their own art gallery, which has been used to showcase both the art of students and local artists.
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. This 100% graduation rate for the class of 2005 has not been matched as of 2006. The Class of 2005 was also supposed to have been the first class to utilize the three-tiered diploma system, which based diplomas on what scores an individual achieved on the DSTP as part of
Ruth Ann MinnerRuth Ann Minner is an American politician and businesswoman from Milford, in Kent County, Delaware. She is a member of the Democratic Party who served in the Delaware General Assembly, as Lieutenant Governor of Delaware and two terms as the first female Governor of Delaware.-Early life and...
's plan to get Delaware up to standard under the No Child Left Behind Act. Due to major protesting on the part of students, parents, and faculty, plans were dropped to implement the three-tiered diploma system with the Class of 2005.
The January 2007 issue of Delaware Today ranked Cab Calloway School of the Arts as second in the state, behind the perennially ranked number 1, Charter School of Wilmington. The rankings were based on DSTP scores.
In May 2007, Newsweek Magazine ranked Cab Calloway School of the Arts 437th in the nation.
The school song is Minnie The Moocher by Cab Calloway. Though not a conventional choice for a school song due to several alleged references to drugs and prostitution, the singing of the song after each Showstoppers performance has become an institution in itself. The school colors are silver, black, and purple, though the school does not have sports teams. Students who want to play sports do so for the Charter School of Wilmington, which has been renting part of the Wilmington High campus since its opening in 1996.
The Sentinel
The Sentinel is very important to the middle school. It is a major part in the passing of the colors. At the end of the year when the eighth graders graduate, the seventh and sixth graders move up on the power scale. They receive their new color, which corresponds to the colors on the Sentinel- Purple stands for 8th grade, Teal stands for 7th grade, and Maroon stands for 6th.
During the fall of 2003, one of the legs of the Sentinel was cut-off by a chainsaw and had to be replaced by the artist.
The Charter School of Wilmington, which rents part of the building from Cab Calloway, would run various articles mocking the Sentinel in their school newspaper because they feel the attractiveness of the structure is wanting. This ribbing of the Sentinel falls in line with the student-acknowledged Cab Calloway/Charter rivalry.
The Arts
The Art Department at Cab (as it is known to students and faculty) consists of the following divisions:
- Communication Arts
- Dance
- Drama
- Instrumental (Band)
- Instrumental (Piano)
- Strings
- Visual Arts
- Vocal Music
Shows
The Cinema Studies department (headed by K. Fanny) directs videography for 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
- The Stingiest Man in Town
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens about a curmudgeon and his secular conversion and redemption after being visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve...
(Scrooge) (6th and 7th grade)
- Bye Bye Birdie
Bye Bye Birdie is a stage musical with a book by Michael Stewart, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse.Originally titled Let's Go Steady, the satire on American society is set in 1958. The story was inspired by the phenomenon of popular singer Elvis Presley and his draft notice into...
(6th and 7th grade)
1993-94
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever , is a book written by Barbara Robinson in 1972. It tells the story of 6 children who are poorly behaved, delinquent and violent. They go to church for the first time merely because they believe that snacks are handed out at Sunday School...
(middle school)
- Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls is a musical, with the music and lyrics written by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon. It also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most...
(middle school)
- The Daze and Knights of Arthur Pendragon (6th grade)
1994-95
- Babes in Toyland
Babes in Toyland is an operetta composed by Victor Herbert with a libretto by Glen MacDonough , which wove together various characters from Mother Goose nursery rhymes into a Christmas-themed musical extravaganza...
(middle school)
- Annie
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The musical ran for nearly six years on Broadway, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre...
(middle school)
1995-96
- Cinderella (middle school)
- The Wiz
The Wiz is a musical by Charlie Smalls, later adapted by William F. Brown as a book. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture....
(middle school)
1996-97
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever , is a book written by Barbara Robinson in 1972. It tells the story of 6 children who are poorly behaved, delinquent and violent. They go to church for the first time merely because they believe that snacks are handed out at Sunday School...
(middle school drama)
- My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins so that she can pass as a lady...
(middle school)
- Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls is a musical, with the music and lyrics written by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon. It also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most...
(middle school)
- Crazy For You
Crazy for You is a musical with a book by Ken Ludwig, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. Billed as “The New Gershwin Musical Comedy”, it is largely based on the songwriting team’s 1930 production, Girl Crazy, but interpolates songs from several other productions as well...
(with Wilmington High School)
1997-98
- Showstoppers (middle & high school)
- Bye Bye Birdie
Bye Bye Birdie is a stage musical with a book by Michael Stewart, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse.Originally titled Let's Go Steady, the satire on American society is set in 1958. The story was inspired by the phenomenon of popular singer Elvis Presley and his draft notice into...
(middle school)
- Little Shop of Horrors (high school)
1998-99
- Showstoppers (middle & high school)
- The King and I
The King and I is a musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II based on the book Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. The plot comes from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became school teacher to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s...
(middle school)
- Once On This Island
Once on This Island is a one-act musical with a book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty. Based on the novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy, the musical is a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid set in the French Antilles in the Caribbean Sea...
(high school)
1999-2000
- Showstoppers (middle & high school)
- Annie
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The musical ran for nearly six years on Broadway, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre...
(middle school)
- Big (high school)
2000-01
- To Kill a Mockingbird (high school drama)
- Showstoppers (middle & high school)
- Antigone
Antigone is the name of two different women in Greek mythology. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood" or "in place of a mother" based from the root gonē, "that which generates" Antigone
- Into the Woods
Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch, and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife, brought...
(high school)
- You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner, based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip Peanuts...
(middle school)
2001-02
- Showstoppers (middle & high school)
- Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a musical comedy based on the novel by Mark Twain with the book by Ken Ludwig and music and lyrics by Don Schlitz....
(middle school drama)
- Arsenic and Old Lace
Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. The play was directed by Bretaigne Windust, and opened on 10 January 1941. On 25 September 1943, the play...
(high school drama)
- Oliver (middle school)
- West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The musical's plot is based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet....
(high school)
2002-03
- Showstoppers (middle & high school)
- Renfield of the Flies & Spiders (middle school drama)
- Our Town
Our Town is a three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. The play is set in the fictional community of Grover's Corners, modeled upon several New Hampshire towns in the Mount Monadnock region: Jaffrey, Peterborough, Dublin, and others. Using metatheatrical devices, Wilder sets the play...
(high school drama)
- Les Misérables
Les Misérables is a novel by French author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century...
(middle & high school)
2003-04
- Showstoppers (middle & high school)
- The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 is a short comedy by John Bishop. The play was first performed at the Circle Repertory Company in their theatre at 99 Seventh Avenue South in New York City, later moving to Broadway, opening on April 6, 1987, in The Longacre Theatre. The both productions were...
(high school drama)
- The Aliens Are Coming, The Aliens Are Coming (middle school drama)
- Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters and other tales by Sholem Aleichem...
(high school)
- The Wiz
The Wiz is a musical by Charlie Smalls, later adapted by William F. Brown as a book. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture....
(middle school)
2004-05
- Showstoppers (middle & high school)
- Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young "star-cross'd lovers" whose untimely deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet and Macbeth, is...
- Shakespeare (high school drama)
- Tsunami! (middle school drama)
- Fame
A stage musical based on the 1980 musical film Fame has been staged under two titles. The first, Fame – The Musical conceived and developed by David De Silva, is a musical with a book by Jose Fernandez, music by Steve Margoshes and lyrics by Jacques Levy. The musical premiered in 1988 in Miami,...
(high school)
- Just So (middle school)
2005-06
- Showstoppers (middle & high school)
- Hans Christian Anderson (middle school)
- Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical...
(high school)
- Laramie Project
The Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming...
(high school)
- One-Act Plays (middle school drama)
2006-07
- Showstoppers (middle & high school)
- High School Musical
High School Musical on Stage! is a stage musical based on the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical, with music and lyrics by Matthew Gerrard, Robbie Nevil, Ray and Greg Cham, Drew Seeley, Randy Petersen, Kevin Quinn, Andy Dodd, Adam Watts, Bryan Louiselle, David N. Lawrence, Faye...
(high school)
- You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner, based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip Peanuts...
(middle school)
2007-08
- Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a character who first appeared as the main protagonist of a penny dreadful serial titled The String of Pearls . Claims that Sweeney Todd was a historical person are strongly disputed by scholars, although there are possible legendary prototypes, arguably making the story of Sweeney...
(high school)
- Showstoppers (middle & high school)
- My Very Own Story (middle school)
- You Can't Take it With You
You Can't Take It with You is a Pulitzer Prize-winning comedic play in three acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The original production of the play opened at the Booth Theater on December 14, 1936 and played for 837 performances.- Characters :...
(high school)
2008-09
- Arsenic and Old Lace
Arsenic and Old Lace may refer to:*Arsenic and Old Lace , by Joseph Kesselring*Arsenic and Old Lace , a 1944 film adaptation directed by Frank Capra...
(high school)
- Showstoppers (middle & high school)
- One Act Plays (middle school)
- The Music Man
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson. The show is based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping...
(middle and high school)
- Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
(high school musical theatre program)
2009-10
- Sideways Stories of Wayside School (high school)
- Showstoppers
Showstoppers is an album by singer-songwriter Barry Manilow, released in 1991. It was his first album to not feature any original music.-Track listing:#"Give My Regards To Broadway" - 1:08#"Overture of Overtures" - 4:11...
(middle & high school)
Location
The school is located at 100 N. DuPont Road in
Wilmington, DelawareWilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
. Cab Calloway School of the Arts shares a building built in 1960 formerly belonging to
Wilmington High School. The Charter School of Wilmington utilizes one wing of the second floor and the entire third floor of the building. The James H. Groves Adult High School, which conducts its classes in the evening, is located on the second floor of the building.
High School
- Science Olympiad
- High School Student Government
- Mock Trial
A McTrial is a contrived or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting of volunteers to test theories or experiment with each...
- Newspaper
- Athletics are shared with The Charter School of Wilmington
- Student Council
- Yearbook
- Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international secular non-governmental organisation which defines its mission as "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated." Founded in London in 1961, AI...
- National Honor Society
The National Honor Society, or NHS, is a nationwide organization in the United States and consists of many chapters in high schools . Selection is based on four criteria: service, leadership, scholarship and character. The NHS requires some sort of service to the community, school, or other...
- Indoor Color Guard
- JazzChords: Cab Calloway's high school jazz choir
- Indoor Drum Line
- Marching Band
- Manga Club
Middle School
- Photography Club
- Game Club
- Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad is a primarily American elementary, middle school, or high school team competition that requires knowledge of various science topics and engineering ability. Over 14,000 teams from 48 U.S. states and Canada compete each year. West Virginia, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. did not...
- Math League
Math League is a mathematics competition for elementary, middle, and high school students in the United States. The Math League was founded in 1977 by two high school mathematics teachers, Steven R. Conrad and Daniel Flegler. Math Leagues, Inc...
- Yearbook Club
- Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind, often called OM , is a creative problem-solving competition involving students from kindergarten through college. Team members work together at length to solve a predefined problem ; and present their solution to the problem at a competition...
- Science Club
- Business Professionals of America
Business Professionals of America is a career and technical student organization that is headquartered in Columbus, OH. BPA aims to develop leadership, academic, and technological skills in the workplace among students and leaders within the community...
Notable Alumni/Current Students
AJ Melendez- Finalist in Singing Competition
American JuniorsAmerican Juniors was a reality television series broadcast on the Fox Network as a spin-off of American Idol, created by Simon Fuller and 19 Television, FremantleMedia, directed by Bruce Gowers and produced by Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick...
on FOX. (2003)
Student Enrollment (2007)
Total: 901
Middle School
Grade 6: 145
Grade 7: 200
Grade 8: 121
High School
Grade 09: 144
Grade 10: 195
Grade 11: 88
Grade 12: 70
Source: Delaware School Profiles
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
AP CalculusAdvanced Placement Calculus is used to indicate one of two distinct Advanced Placement courses and examinations offered by the College Board, AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC....
and
AP EconomicsAdvanced Placement Economics consists of two, separate examinations that are offered as part of the College Board's Advanced Placement Program.*AP Macroeconomics*AP Microeconomics...
. In 2008 both schools were on a list of the top 1300 schools in the United States published on the website of the newspaper Newsweek, the Charter School of Wilmington was ranked 100 while Cab Calloway was ranked 611.
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. 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.
Student Life & Culture
Many students are involved in after school activities and others participate in out of school activities that involve Cab students because of similar interests (i.e. art, drama, music).
External links