Baltimore City College
Encyclopedia
The Baltimore City College (BCC), also referred to as The Castle on the Hill, historically as The College, and most commonly City, is a public high school
in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. The City College curriculum includes the International Baccalaureate Programme and emphasizes study in the classics
and liberal arts
. Baltimore City College is a magnet school
, and admission is competitive. Applicants from Baltimore and the surrounding area are evaluated for admission using a combination of grades and standardized test scores.
Established in 1839 originally as an all-male institution, City College is listed among the oldest high schools in the United States. The school was located in three different buildings in downtown Baltimore
before relocating in 1928 to its current 38-acre
(153,781 m2) campus at 33rd Street and The Alameda in the Waverly
neighborhood of north Baltimore. Following an extensive renovation of the school's main building in 1978, the school became coeducational.
City College has maintained a strong academic tradition and has many notable alumni including a Nobel Laureate, a Wolf Prize recipient, Pulitzer Prize
winners, and leaders in business, military, and state and national politics
. City College is a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence (1999–2000), one of only two public secondary schools in Baltimore City to receive the award, a Maryland Blue Ribbon High School, a Maryland Character Education High School of the Year (1999) and a National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Breakthrough High School (2003). A long-standing athletic rivalry exists between City College and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
; though centered around the annual City–Poly football game, the rivalry extends to other sports as well as academics.
The creation of an alien high school "in which the higher branches of English and classical literature only should be taught" was authorized unanimously by the City Council
of Baltimore
, Maryland
, on March 7, 1839. Accordingly, a building on what was then Courtland Street (now Preston Gardens at St. Paul Place) was acquired to serve as the new high school. The school opened its doors on October 20, 1839, with 46 students and one teacher, Nathan C. Brooks
. The school was housed in three different locations in its first three years of existence before returning to the original building on Courtland Street. Finally, in 1843 the city council allocated $23,000 to acquire the Assembly Rooms at the northwestern corner of Fayette and Holliday Streets for the school. In 1850, the city council granted the board of school commissioners the right to confer graduates of the school with certificates, and the following year the school held its first commencement
ceremony.
In 1865, in accordance with a recommendation from the Board of Commissioners of the Baltimore City public schools, the school began offering a five-year track, as part of a process aimed at elevating the school to the status of a college so that it could grant its graduates baccalaureate degrees. The following year on October 9, 1866, as another part of this process, the school was renamed "The Baltimore City College" (BCC) by act of the city council. The city council failed to take any further action, and although the school changed nominally, it was never granted the power to confer Bachelor of Arts
degrees.
The building on Fayette and Holliday Streets had been in a state of decline for two decades. It was not until 1873, when a fire spread from the Holliday Street Theater to the "Assembly Rooms", that the city council finally decided to expend the resources to erect a building for City College. A lot was acquired on Howard Street opposite Centre Street and the city council allocated $150,000 for the construction of the new building. The new English Gothic revival-styled building was dedicated on February 1, 1875, and the school moved in the following week.
The Tudor Gothic building which housed the school lasted until 1892, when it was undermined by the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad tunnel from Camden Station to Mount Royal Station and collapsed. In 1895, a new structure, designed by the architects Baldwin and Pennington, was erected on the site. This new building quickly became overcrowded and an annex was established on 26th Street. The addition did not help with the increase in school-aged youth beginning to attend City College by World War I. During the 1920s, alumni began a campaign to provide the school with a more suitable building, and in 1926 ground was broken for a massive Collegiate Gothic
stone castle at 33rd Street and The Alameda. This new structure cost almost $3 million.
The school began admitting African American
students following the landmark ruling Brown v. Board of Education
. In September 1954, entered City College. The administration also sent two African American men, Eugene Parker and Pierre Davis, to teach at the school in 1956. Parker taught at City College for 30 years and Davis, after teaching for one year, returned as the school's first black principal in 1971.
In 1978, at the urging of concerned alumni, City College underwent its first major capital renovations. When the campus reopened, the high school welcomed women for the first time. The all-male tradition did not end easily; alumni had argued for the uniqueness of a single-sex educational system and convinced the task force studying the issue to vote 11–6 in favor of keeping the all-male tradition. The Board of School Commissioners, in a reversal, voted to admit women citing constitutional concerns.
(153,781 m2) campus in northeast Baltimore at the intersection of 33rd street and the Alameda. The campus consists of two buildings, the Gothic-style edifice known locally as the "Castle on the Hill" that sits in the center of the campus, and the power plant building east of the castle. In addition to providing the building's utilities, the power plant originally housed five work shops: an electrical shop, a mechanical shop, a metal shop, a printing shop, and a wood shop. Only the main building is in academic use by the school. Both buildings were designed by the architecture firm of Buckler and Fenhagen. Just south of the main building is Alumni Field, the school's stadium, which serves as home to the football
, boy's and girl's lacrosse and track teams. During a major building renovation in 1978 a modern gymnasium was added to the southwest corner of the main building.
On June 30, 2003, the current building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
as the result of an Alumni Association initiative. The listing of the building coincided with its 75th anniversary. The previous location of the school on Howard Street is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On April 24, 2007, the Castle on the Hill earned the additional distinction of being a Baltimore City Landmark. This new status means that the building's exterior cannot be altered without approval of the city Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation.
On June 21, 2007, City's alumni association received a historic preservation award from Baltimore Heritage for its leadership role in preserving the building as an historic Baltimore landmark.
and 12th grade
curricula. The IB Program is a comprehensive, liberal arts program that must be completed in students' junior and senior years. Students now have the option to pursue a standard college preparatory curriculum, the IB Program, or a combination of the two.
In 2007, opposition to the continuation of the IB Program arose. Members of the Baltimore City College Alumni Association argued that the IB Program was diverting a significant amount of the school's resources, in order to benefit a fraction of the student population. Only approximately 30 students are in the full IB Diploma Program at City College. Some members also argued that the rigidity of the program did not give students enough flexibility. Citing these concerns, the alumni association encouraged the school to replace the IB Program with the "A course" and expand the number of Advanced Placement
courses offered. The alumni association's recommendation, though non-binding, was intended to persuade the school to terminate the IB program and replace it with a more equitable and flexible curriculum. Nevertheless, the school administration is moving ahead with plans to expand the IB Program by incorporating the IB Middle Years Program into the 9th
and 10th grade
curricula.
In addition to the 23 IB courses, the school offers . Both programs have contributed to the academic ranking of the school. In the 1999–2000 academic year, City College was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a National Blue Ribbon School. In June 2005, the Johns Hopkins Magazine reported that the Johns Hopkins University
had awarded full time, four-year scholarships to ten seniors. In the May 2007 Newsweek
report of the nation's top 1200 schools, City College was ranked 258 and in the 2006 report the school was ranked 206. The expansion of the number of AP and IB courses offered allowed City to perform well in the Newsweek rankings, which are based heavily on the number of AP and IB courses offered.
Students wishing to enroll in City College must apply in the eighth grade. Enrollment is open to both residents and non-residents of Baltimore City, though non-residents must pay tuition. Eligibility is based on a composite score that is determined by the Baltimore City Public School System. The school system generates the composite score based on a student's grades in the seventh grade and first quarter of the eighth grade, and a student's performance on a national standardized test, with the student's grades receiving double the weight as the test scores.
There were 1,319 students enrolled at City College in 2009. Of those students, 514 were males and 805 were females. Approximately 1,193 students identified themselves as African American
, comprising 90.5% of the student population. An additional 109 students identified themselves as Caucasian, comprising 8.3% of the student population. The remaining 1.2% of the population identified themselves as Hispanic
, Asian
, or American Indian
.
(established at City in 1927) and Quill and Scroll
. City College offers service clubs such as the Red Cross Club and Campus Improvement Association. In addition, City offers clubs and activities including Drama which holds the annual play, Art, Model UN, Band, and Dance. Other unique clubs and activities include One City One Book, an organization that invites the entire school community to read one book selected by faculty and invites the author of the book for a reading, discussion, and question and answer period. In 2007, Pulitzer Prize
winner, MacArthur Fellow, and novelist Edward P. Jones
discussed his book Lost in the City. There is also the in school poetry club known as Expressionz.
Expressionz is a club held in the Drama and Creative Writing teacher, Mr. McBe's room at least once a month. They gather and share their literary works. This past year, they hosted the first ever Poet Explosion, inviting poets such as, Olivia, E-the-Poet-Emcee, BlacberryLadie, Temple, Aquil Mizan, K. Lo. Flo., and Sabarah. Alongside these performances were the actual students that participate regularly in Expressionz. The evening was emceed by the graduating President Grace Givens.
Moreover, the campus school store is completely student ran and managed by the Student Government. One of City College's most notable academic teams is the It's Academic
team which participates on the It's Academic TV show.
In 1997, under the leadership of Donald Koch, the two societies were resurrected as the Baltimore City College speech and debate team. The speech team has retained the name of the Bancroft Society and the debate team has retained the name of the Carrollton-Wight Society. The team currently competes in the Baltimore Catholic Forensic League, the Baltimore Urban Debate League
, and the National Forensic League
. The team has had success at the national level, advancing at the Harvard University
Invitational Tournament, the National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament, and the National Forensic League National Speech Tournament. Mock trial
was not a traditional part of the literary societies, but it has been incorporated into the speech and debate program. In 2006, City College defeated the 2005 State Champion Squad from Richard Montgomery High School
to advance to the semifinals of state championship, but was later defeated by local rival the Park School of Baltimore
, which advanced to the final trial.
In September 2010, under the direction of Patrick Daniels (Director of Speech and Debate), BCC debate has established itself as one of the dominant programs on the East Coast by earning a Tournament of Champions invitation in Lincoln-Douglas Debate for Gareth Imparato as well as a full qualification for the Policy Debate team of Dikshant Malla and David Neustadt.
The marching band at City College was created in the late 1940s. At the time, the instrumental music program consisted of the orchestra
, concert band
and marching band
. The director who brought the band to prominence was Dr. Donald Norton. In 1954, while on sabbatical, he was replaced by Professor Charles M. Stengstacke. The 65 member concert band doubled as a marching band in the fall. During halftime performances at home the band would form the shape of a heart or a car, but always ending the performance by forming the letters C-I-T-Y.
In the 1980s, under James Russell Perkins, these groups grew in size and changed styles, adding "soulful" dance steps. Perkins's groups toured and traveled the east coast. They received superior ratings at district and state festivals. Perkins is responsible for the creation of the City College Jazz Band, the "Knights of Jazz".
In 1994, Alvin T. Wallace became Band Director. During his tenure, a wind ensemble was added and the marching band grew to include over 150 members. In 1999, the band swept the top categories in the Disney World high school band competition. In 2006, the wind ensemble received a grade of superior at the district adjudication festival and marched in the Baltimore Mayor's Christmas Day Parade.
The City College choir
was founded in 1950 by Professor Donald Regier. Originally a co-curricular subject with only 18 members, by 1954 it had developed into a major subject of study with 74 students enrolled.
Under the direction of Linda Hall, today's choir consists of four groups: the Mixed Chorus, the Concert Choir, the Singin'/Swingin' Knights, and the Knights and Daze Show Choir. The Mixed Choir is opened to all students at City College and currently has a membership of approximately 135 students. The Concert Choir is a more selective group consisting of about 50 students, who must audition for their places in the choir. The Singin'/Swingin' Knights is an even more selective group composed of 25 students. The Knights and Daze Show Choir is a group of students, who perform a choreographed
dance routine while they sing. With the exception of the Knights and Daze Show Choir, which performs jazz
and pop music
, the choir's repertoire consists of gospel music
, spirituals
, and Classical works by composers such as Handel
and Michael Praetorius
.
The choir has traveled to Europe on several occasions; its first trip was in 1999, after receiving an invitation to perform at the Choralfest in Arezzo
, Italy. In 2003, the choir returned to Italy to perform at the annual Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
. The choir has also performed in France and Spain.
On October 2, 2007, the Weill Institute of Music at Carnegie Hall
announced that the City College choir was one of four high school choirs selected to participate in the National High School Choral Festival on March 10, 2008. The four choirs will perform Johannes Brahms
' A German Requiem under the direction of Craig Jessop
, Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Director. The choirs will also be led by their own directors in performing choral selections of their choosing.
During the late 1880s, interscholastic sports became a feature of school life and a number of teams were begun in various sports. The formal organization of an athletic program did not occur until 1895. During the early years of the athletic program, City College played mainly against college teams because few other secondary schools existed in Maryland. The 1895 football schedule included St. John's College, Swarthmore College
, the United States Naval Academy
, University of Maryland
, and Washington College
.
The current City College athletic program consists of six boys' varsity teams, seven girls' varsity teams, and five coeducational teams. The boys' sports played are baseball
, basketball
, football
, lacrosse
, soccer, and wrestling
. The girls' teams are badminton
, basketball
, lacrosse
, soccer, softball
, and volleyball
. The five co-ed teams are cross country
, indoor track and field
, swimming
, outdoor track and field
, and tennis
. Although much of City's athletic history involves boys sports, it was the girls' basketball team that won City's first state championship in 2009. Four hours later, City's boys' basketball team won the Maryland Class 2A championship, beating Douglass (PG
) at the Comcast Center
.
of the New York Giants
, became head coach of the team. Young coached City College to a total of six Maryland state championships. He left after the 1967 season to become an offensive line coach for the Baltimore Colts
.
In 1975, George Petrides, a City College alumnus, became head coach of the football team and has remained in this position for 35 years. During his tenure, Petrides has led the team through a 29 game winning streak—the longest consecutive winning streak in the history of Maryland football—and to two consecutive Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference championships in 1991 and 1992. On September 11, 2006, Petrides was honored as the Baltimore Ravens
High School Coach of the Week for the third time.
rivalry in Maryland, and one of the oldest public school football rivalries in the U.S. The rivalry began in 1889, when City College met the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
(Poly) at Clifton Park for a football scrimmage. Little is known about the first game, except that it was played between the City JV team and Poly with City emerging as the victor. City remained undefeated in the series until 1908. In November 2006, City and Poly clashed in the 118th City–Poly football game.
One of the most memorable City–Poly games occurred on Thanksgiving Day 1965, at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium
, with some 25,000 fans in attendance. City beat Poly 52–6, and completed a 10–0 season with the team being ranked eighth in the nation by a national sports poll. City's 52–6 victory over Poly in that game is the largest margin of victory in the history of the series. Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke
was the quarterback
and Maryland Delegate Curt Anderson
was the captain of that team. The game is no longer played on Thanksgiving or at Memorial Stadium, but is now located at the home of the Baltimore Ravens
, M&T Bank Stadium
, in downtown Baltimore. With 2007's 26–20 win by City, Poly leads the series 62–54–6 (counting the first 15 scrimmages won by City).
The women's lacrosse team had stellar performances in 1998 and 1999, taking the City Championship titles, further advancing them to state championship games against various suburban schools such as Perry Hall, Kenwood and Eastern Tech High Schools.
2A championships. The Lady Knights won the state title in 2009. The boys' team won state championships in 2009 and 2010.
have been known as the "green bag", though the derivation of the term is unknown. The first yearbooks contained sketches of faculty and seniors, and included recollections, anecdotes, stories, and quotes significant to the student body. Underclassmen were included for the first time in 1948. In 2007, The Green Bag released its first full-color edition.
The most controversial issue of the Green Bag was published in 1900 when Members of the senior class used the annual to make fun of their professors. The school board attempted to censor the edition by requiring the Green Bag to be reviewed by Principal Francis Soper. The yearbook had already been printed, and in defiance of the school board, the editors refused to have the edition censored and reprinted. The school board responded by withholding the diplomas of six of the editors and the business manager and by preventing the school from holding a public commencement ceremony. One of the boys expelled, Clarence Keating Bowie, became a member of the school board in 1926.
in 1929. Though several other publications existed in 1929, The Collegian is the only publication other than the Green Bag still printed. Originally, the paper was both managed and printed by students. During the 1930s, The Collegian won numerous awards including second place in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association
's annual contest for five years in a row. In recent years, the publication has waned. Budget cuts have reduced the number of issues printed. Citing the decline of The Collegian and increasing disorder in the school, 2 underground publications were started, the first entitled Knights' Voice by Marshall Troutner and the second entitled Omnibus by Leah Goldman and Maia Gottlieb in May 2007. Goldman and Gottlieb later went on to revive The Collegian, going to print in 2008. The Collegian is still being published quarterly at the school, often with a bonus issue around the time of the City-Poly game.
The Baltimore City College Alumni Association Inc. (BCCAA) was established in 1866 as a support network for City College. The BCCAA holds an annual meeting at the school every November and its Board of Governors meets the first Monday of each month at the school.
The BCCAA publishes the class reunion guide, established and maintains a life membership endowment fund, presents Golden Apple Award annually to faculty members, sponsors the Hall of Fame selection and induction, publishes a semi-annual newsletter, maintains an alumni data base and assists with numerous projects designed to enrich student life and improve the facility.
.
in the U.S. Congress—Congressman Elijah Cummings
, Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger
, and Senator Ben Cardin
. Among graduates with significant military
service are two Commandants of the Coast Guard
, Rear Admiral Frederick C. Billard
and Admiral J. William Kime
, as well as 2nd Lieutenant Jacob Beser
, the only individual to serve on both the Enola Gay
when it dropped Little Boy
and Bocks Car when it dropped Fat Man
. In addition, three City College alumni are recipients of the Medal of Honor
.
The list of alumni includes prominent scientists, such as theoretical physicist John Archibald Wheeler
, who coined the term black hole
and received the 1997 Wolf Prize in Physics
, Martin Rodbell
, who received the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
for his discovery of G-proteins, and Abel Wolman
, the "father" of chlorinated drinking water and a National Medal of Science
recipient. Notable writers such as Leon Uris
, author of the Exodus
, Pulitzer Prize
-winning poet Karl Shapiro
, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New York Times columnist Russell Baker
are also alumni. Businessmen, who have graduated from the school, include David M. Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group, and David T. Abercrombie, namesake and co-founder of Abercrombie & Fitch
.
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High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. The City College curriculum includes the International Baccalaureate Programme and emphasizes study in the classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
. Baltimore City College is a magnet school
Magnet school
In 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...
, and admission is competitive. Applicants from Baltimore and the surrounding area are evaluated for admission using a combination of grades and standardized test scores.
Established in 1839 originally as an all-male institution, City College is listed among the oldest high schools in the United States. The school was located in three different buildings in downtown Baltimore
Downtown Baltimore
Downtown Baltimore is the section of Baltimore traditionally bounded by Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the west, Mt. Royal Avenue to the north, President Street to the east and the Inner Harbor area to the south. It consists of four neighborhoods: Westside, City Centre, Inner Harbor, and...
before relocating in 1928 to its current 38-acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
(153,781 m2) campus at 33rd Street and The Alameda in the Waverly
Waverly, Baltimore
Waverly is a historic village in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Located near I-83, York Road and major bus connections, Waverly provides access to downtown Baltimore, Towson, and the Baltimore Beltway...
neighborhood of north Baltimore. Following an extensive renovation of the school's main building in 1978, the school became coeducational.
City College has maintained a strong academic tradition and has many notable alumni including a Nobel Laureate, a Wolf Prize recipient, Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winners, and leaders in business, military, and state and national politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
. City College is a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence (1999–2000), one of only two public secondary schools in Baltimore City to receive the award, a Maryland Blue Ribbon High School, a Maryland Character Education High School of the Year (1999) and a National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Breakthrough High School (2003). A long-standing athletic rivalry exists between City College and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute is a US public high school founded in 1883. Though established as an all-male trade school,it now is a institution that emphasizes mathematics, the sciences, and engineering. It is located on a tract of land in North Baltimore at Falls Road and Cold Spring Lane,...
; though centered around the annual City–Poly football game, the rivalry extends to other sports as well as academics.
History
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
of Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, on March 7, 1839. Accordingly, a building on what was then Courtland Street (now Preston Gardens at St. Paul Place) was acquired to serve as the new high school. The school opened its doors on October 20, 1839, with 46 students and one teacher, Nathan C. Brooks
Nathan C. Brooks
Nathan Covington Brooks was an American educator, historian, and poet. Born in West Nottingham, Cecil County, Maryland, Brooks grew up to become the first principal of Baltimore City College, the third oldest public high school in the United States, and the only president of the Baltimore Female...
. The school was housed in three different locations in its first three years of existence before returning to the original building on Courtland Street. Finally, in 1843 the city council allocated $23,000 to acquire the Assembly Rooms at the northwestern corner of Fayette and Holliday Streets for the school. In 1850, the city council granted the board of school commissioners the right to confer graduates of the school with certificates, and the following year the school held its first commencement
Graduation
Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...
ceremony.
In 1865, in accordance with a recommendation from the Board of Commissioners of the Baltimore City public schools, the school began offering a five-year track, as part of a process aimed at elevating the school to the status of a college so that it could grant its graduates baccalaureate degrees. The following year on October 9, 1866, as another part of this process, the school was renamed "The Baltimore City College" (BCC) by act of the city council. The city council failed to take any further action, and although the school changed nominally, it was never granted the power to confer Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degrees.
The building on Fayette and Holliday Streets had been in a state of decline for two decades. It was not until 1873, when a fire spread from the Holliday Street Theater to the "Assembly Rooms", that the city council finally decided to expend the resources to erect a building for City College. A lot was acquired on Howard Street opposite Centre Street and the city council allocated $150,000 for the construction of the new building. The new English Gothic revival-styled building was dedicated on February 1, 1875, and the school moved in the following week.
The Tudor Gothic building which housed the school lasted until 1892, when it was undermined by the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad tunnel from Camden Station to Mount Royal Station and collapsed. In 1895, a new structure, designed by the architects Baldwin and Pennington, was erected on the site. This new building quickly became overcrowded and an annex was established on 26th Street. The addition did not help with the increase in school-aged youth beginning to attend City College by World War I. During the 1920s, alumni began a campaign to provide the school with a more suitable building, and in 1926 ground was broken for a massive Collegiate Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
stone castle at 33rd Street and The Alameda. This new structure cost almost $3 million.
The school began admitting African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
students following the landmark ruling Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
. In September 1954, entered City College. The administration also sent two African American men, Eugene Parker and Pierre Davis, to teach at the school in 1956. Parker taught at City College for 30 years and Davis, after teaching for one year, returned as the school's first black principal in 1971.
In 1978, at the urging of concerned alumni, City College underwent its first major capital renovations. When the campus reopened, the high school welcomed women for the first time. The all-male tradition did not end easily; alumni had argued for the uniqueness of a single-sex educational system and convinced the task force studying the issue to vote 11–6 in favor of keeping the all-male tradition. The Board of School Commissioners, in a reversal, voted to admit women citing constitutional concerns.
Campus
City College stands on a 38-acreAcre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
(153,781 m2) campus in northeast Baltimore at the intersection of 33rd street and the Alameda. The campus consists of two buildings, the Gothic-style edifice known locally as the "Castle on the Hill" that sits in the center of the campus, and the power plant building east of the castle. In addition to providing the building's utilities, the power plant originally housed five work shops: an electrical shop, a mechanical shop, a metal shop, a printing shop, and a wood shop. Only the main building is in academic use by the school. Both buildings were designed by the architecture firm of Buckler and Fenhagen. Just south of the main building is Alumni Field, the school's stadium, which serves as home to the football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, boy's and girl's lacrosse and track teams. During a major building renovation in 1978 a modern gymnasium was added to the southwest corner of the main building.
On June 30, 2003, the current building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as the result of an Alumni Association initiative. The listing of the building coincided with its 75th anniversary. The previous location of the school on Howard Street is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On April 24, 2007, the Castle on the Hill earned the additional distinction of being a Baltimore City Landmark. This new status means that the building's exterior cannot be altered without approval of the city Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation.
On June 21, 2007, City's alumni association received a historic preservation award from Baltimore Heritage for its leadership role in preserving the building as an historic Baltimore landmark.
Academics
Throughout most of the 20th century the college preparatory curriculum at City College was divided into two tracks: the "A" course and the "B" course. Though both tracks were intended to provide students with the skills necessary for college, the "A" course was intended to be more rigorous, enabling students to complete sufficient college-level courses to enter directly into the second year of college. In the early 1990s, Principal Joseph Antenson removed the two-tier system because he believed it to be racially discriminatory. In 1998, the academic program took on the general form in which it exists today, when Principal Joseph M. Wilson introduced the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IB Program) into the 11thEleventh grade
Eleventh Grade is the eleventh, and for some countries final, grade of secondary schools. Students are typically 16 or 17 years of age, depending on the country and the students' birthdays.-Brazil:...
and 12th grade
Twelfth grade
Twelfth grade or Senior year, or Grade Twelve, are the North American names for the final year of secondary school. In most countries students then graduate at age 17 or 18. In some countries, there is a thirteenth grade, while other countries do not have a 12th grade/year at all...
curricula. The IB Program is a comprehensive, liberal arts program that must be completed in students' junior and senior years. Students now have the option to pursue a standard college preparatory curriculum, the IB Program, or a combination of the two.
In 2007, opposition to the continuation of the IB Program arose. Members of the Baltimore City College Alumni Association argued that the IB Program was diverting a significant amount of the school's resources, in order to benefit a fraction of the student population. Only approximately 30 students are in the full IB Diploma Program at City College. Some members also argued that the rigidity of the program did not give students enough flexibility. Citing these concerns, the alumni association encouraged the school to replace the IB Program with the "A course" and expand the number of Advanced Placement
Advanced Placement Program
The Advanced Placement program is a curriculum in the United States and Canada sponsored by the College Board which offers standardized courses to high school students that are generally recognized to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college...
courses offered. The alumni association's recommendation, though non-binding, was intended to persuade the school to terminate the IB program and replace it with a more equitable and flexible curriculum. Nevertheless, the school administration is moving ahead with plans to expand the IB Program by incorporating the IB Middle Years Program into the 9th
Ninth grade
Ninth grade is the ninth post-kindergarten year of school education in some school systems. The students are 13 to 15 years of age, depending on when their birthday occurs. Depending on the school district, ninth grade is usually the first year of high school....
and 10th grade
Tenth grade
In majority of the world,Tenth grade is the tenth year of school post-kindergarten. The variants of "10th grade" in various nations is described below.-Australia:...
curricula.
In addition to the 23 IB courses, the school offers . Both programs have contributed to the academic ranking of the school. In the 1999–2000 academic year, City College was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a National Blue Ribbon School. In June 2005, the Johns Hopkins Magazine reported that the Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
had awarded full time, four-year scholarships to ten seniors. In the May 2007 Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
report of the nation's top 1200 schools, City College was ranked 258 and in the 2006 report the school was ranked 206. The expansion of the number of AP and IB courses offered allowed City to perform well in the Newsweek rankings, which are based heavily on the number of AP and IB courses offered.
Enrollment
| Enrollment | |
|---|---|
| 1839: | 46 |
| 1851: | 287 |
| 1900: | 600 |
| 1928: | 2500 |
| 1945: | 1422 |
| 1964: | 3880 |
| 1967: | 3088 |
| 1997: | 1279 |
| 2007: | 1353 |
| 2009: | 1319 |
Students wishing to enroll in City College must apply in the eighth grade. Enrollment is open to both residents and non-residents of Baltimore City, though non-residents must pay tuition. Eligibility is based on a composite score that is determined by the Baltimore City Public School System. The school system generates the composite score based on a student's grades in the seventh grade and first quarter of the eighth grade, and a student's performance on a national standardized test, with the student's grades receiving double the weight as the test scores.
There were 1,319 students enrolled at City College in 2009. Of those students, 514 were males and 805 were females. Approximately 1,193 students identified themselves as African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, comprising 90.5% of the student population. An additional 109 students identified themselves as Caucasian, comprising 8.3% of the student population. The remaining 1.2% of the population identified themselves as Hispanic
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
, Asian
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
, or American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
.
Extracurricular activities
City College offers more than 20 student clubs and organizations. These activities include chapters of national organizations such as National Honor SocietyNational Honor Society
The National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...
(established at City in 1927) and Quill and Scroll
Quill and Scroll
Quill and Scroll is an international high school journalism honor society that recognizes and encourages both individual and group achievements in scholastic journalism. According to the Quill and Scroll website, over 14,104 high schools in all 50 U.S. states and 44 countries have established local...
. City College offers service clubs such as the Red Cross Club and Campus Improvement Association. In addition, City offers clubs and activities including Drama which holds the annual play, Art, Model UN, Band, and Dance. Other unique clubs and activities include One City One Book, an organization that invites the entire school community to read one book selected by faculty and invites the author of the book for a reading, discussion, and question and answer period. In 2007, Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winner, MacArthur Fellow, and novelist Edward P. Jones
Edward P. Jones
Edward Paul Jones is an American novelist and short story writer. His 2003 novel The Known World received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-Biography:...
discussed his book Lost in the City. There is also the in school poetry club known as Expressionz.
Expressionz is a club held in the Drama and Creative Writing teacher, Mr. McBe's room at least once a month. They gather and share their literary works. This past year, they hosted the first ever Poet Explosion, inviting poets such as, Olivia, E-the-Poet-Emcee, BlacberryLadie, Temple, Aquil Mizan, K. Lo. Flo., and Sabarah. Alongside these performances were the actual students that participate regularly in Expressionz. The evening was emceed by the graduating President Grace Givens.
Moreover, the campus school store is completely student ran and managed by the Student Government. One of City College's most notable academic teams is the It's Academic
It's Academic
It's Academic is a televised academic quiz competition for high school students, currently airing on two NBC affiliates in Washington, D.C. and Central Virginia and one CBS affiliate Baltimore, Maryland . The show has been on the air since October 7, 1961, making it the longest...
team which participates on the It's Academic TV show.
Bancroft and Carrollton-Wight Literary Societies
The origins of the speech and debate program at City College lie in the Bancroft Literary Association, which was established in 1876. In 1878, a second competing society, the Carrollton Literary Society, was established. That society was later renamed the Carrollton-Wight Literary Society, after its first faculty adviser, Professor Charles Wight. The two societies competed through the 1960s but became dormant in the late 1970s.In 1997, under the leadership of Donald Koch, the two societies were resurrected as the Baltimore City College speech and debate team. The speech team has retained the name of the Bancroft Society and the debate team has retained the name of the Carrollton-Wight Society. The team currently competes in the Baltimore Catholic Forensic League, the Baltimore Urban Debate League
Baltimore Urban Debate League
The Baltimore Urban Debate League , is an American, non profit, urban debate league, which is intended as an educational and mentorship program for inner city middle school and high school students in Baltimore, Maryland....
, and the National Forensic League
National Forensic League
The National Forensic League is a non-partisan, non-profit educational honor society established to encourage and motivate American high school students to participate in and become proficient in the forensic arts: debate, public speaking and interpretation. NFL is the America's oldest and largest...
. The team has had success at the national level, advancing at the Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
Invitational Tournament, the National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament, and the National Forensic League National Speech Tournament. Mock trial
Mock trial
A Mock Trial is an act 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 as role players to test theories or...
was not a traditional part of the literary societies, but it has been incorporated into the speech and debate program. In 2006, City College defeated the 2005 State Champion Squad from Richard Montgomery High School
Richard Montgomery High School
Richard Montgomery High School is a secondary public school located in Rockville, Maryland.Richard Montgomery High School is named for Richard Montgomery, an American General who died while attempting to capture the British-held city of Quebec...
to advance to the semifinals of state championship, but was later defeated by local rival the Park School of Baltimore
Park School of Baltimore
The Park School of Baltimore is a private, co-educational K-12 school located in Brooklandville, Maryland, USA, just north of the city of Baltimore. The campus lies to the south of Old Court Road in Baltimore County...
, which advanced to the final trial.
In September 2010, under the direction of Patrick Daniels (Director of Speech and Debate), BCC debate has established itself as one of the dominant programs on the East Coast by earning a Tournament of Champions invitation in Lincoln-Douglas Debate for Gareth Imparato as well as a full qualification for the Policy Debate team of Dikshant Malla and David Neustadt.
Band
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, concert band
Concert band
A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...
and marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
. The director who brought the band to prominence was Dr. Donald Norton. In 1954, while on sabbatical, he was replaced by Professor Charles M. Stengstacke. The 65 member concert band doubled as a marching band in the fall. During halftime performances at home the band would form the shape of a heart or a car, but always ending the performance by forming the letters C-I-T-Y.
In the 1980s, under James Russell Perkins, these groups grew in size and changed styles, adding "soulful" dance steps. Perkins's groups toured and traveled the east coast. They received superior ratings at district and state festivals. Perkins is responsible for the creation of the City College Jazz Band, the "Knights of Jazz".
In 1994, Alvin T. Wallace became Band Director. During his tenure, a wind ensemble was added and the marching band grew to include over 150 members. In 1999, the band swept the top categories in the Disney World high school band competition. In 2006, the wind ensemble received a grade of superior at the district adjudication festival and marched in the Baltimore Mayor's Christmas Day Parade.
Choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
was founded in 1950 by Professor Donald Regier. Originally a co-curricular subject with only 18 members, by 1954 it had developed into a major subject of study with 74 students enrolled.
Under the direction of Linda Hall, today's choir consists of four groups: the Mixed Chorus, the Concert Choir, the Singin'/Swingin' Knights, and the Knights and Daze Show Choir. The Mixed Choir is opened to all students at City College and currently has a membership of approximately 135 students. The Concert Choir is a more selective group consisting of about 50 students, who must audition for their places in the choir. The Singin'/Swingin' Knights is an even more selective group composed of 25 students. The Knights and Daze Show Choir is a group of students, who perform a choreographed
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
dance routine while they sing. With the exception of the Knights and Daze Show Choir, which performs jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, the choir's repertoire consists of gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
, spirituals
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
, and Classical works by composers such as Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
and Michael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...
.
The choir has traveled to Europe on several occasions; its first trip was in 1999, after receiving an invitation to perform at the Choralfest in Arezzo
Arezzo
Arezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....
, Italy. In 2003, the choir returned to Italy to perform at the annual Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992...
. The choir has also performed in France and Spain.
On October 2, 2007, the Weill Institute of Music at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
announced that the City College choir was one of four high school choirs selected to participate in the National High School Choral Festival on March 10, 2008. The four choirs will perform Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
' A German Requiem under the direction of Craig Jessop
Craig Jessop
Craig D. Jessop is an American academic, musician and singer best known for his tenure as the music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir from 1999 to 2008.-Biography:...
, Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...
Director. The choirs will also be led by their own directors in performing choral selections of their choosing.
Athletics
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
, the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
, University of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
, and Washington College
Washington College
Washington College is a private, independent liberal arts college located on a campus in Chestertown, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782...
.
The current City College athletic program consists of six boys' varsity teams, seven girls' varsity teams, and five coeducational teams. The boys' sports played are baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, soccer, and wrestling
Scholastic wrestling
Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...
. The girls' teams are badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, lacrosse
Women's lacrosse
Women's lacrosse, sometimes shortened to wlax or lax, is a sport played with twelve players on each team. Originally played by the indigenous peoples of the Americas, the first tribe to play it was the Hauser tribe, of the Great Plains. The modern women's game was introduced in 1890 at the St...
, soccer, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
, and volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
. The five co-ed teams are cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, indoor track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, outdoor track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, and tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
. Although much of City's athletic history involves boys sports, it was the girls' basketball team that won City's first state championship in 2009. Four hours later, City's boys' basketball team won the Maryland Class 2A championship, beating Douglass (PG
Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....
) at the Comcast Center
Comcast Center (arena)
Comcast Center is the arena for the University of Maryland Terrapins men’s and women's basketball teams. The Comcast Center, dubbed "The House Gary Built", was ranked the 7th toughest venue to play in by EA Sports. The on-campus facility is named for the Comcast Corporation, which purchased a...
.
Football
The football program began in the 1880s, yet at the time the school faced mainly collegiate opponents, since few other schools in the area fielded teams. By the early 20th century this trend shifted, and the team began competing with other high schools. Between 1936 and 1940, under coach Harry Lawrence, City College remained undefeated for 38 consecutive games, which included 35 wins, three ties, and four state championships. In 1959, George Young, who would later become the general managerGeneral manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
of the New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, became head coach of the team. Young coached City College to a total of six Maryland state championships. He left after the 1967 season to become an offensive line coach for the Baltimore Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
.
In 1975, George Petrides, a City College alumnus, became head coach of the football team and has remained in this position for 35 years. During his tenure, Petrides has led the team through a 29 game winning streak—the longest consecutive winning streak in the history of Maryland football—and to two consecutive Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference championships in 1991 and 1992. On September 11, 2006, Petrides was honored as the Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
High School Coach of the Week for the third time.
City–Poly football rivalry
The City–Poly football rivalry is the oldest American footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
rivalry in Maryland, and one of the oldest public school football rivalries in the U.S. The rivalry began in 1889, when City College met the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute is a US public high school founded in 1883. Though established as an all-male trade school,it now is a institution that emphasizes mathematics, the sciences, and engineering. It is located on a tract of land in North Baltimore at Falls Road and Cold Spring Lane,...
(Poly) at Clifton Park for a football scrimmage. Little is known about the first game, except that it was played between the City JV team and Poly with City emerging as the victor. City remained undefeated in the series until 1908. In November 2006, City and Poly clashed in the 118th City–Poly football game.
One of the most memorable City–Poly games occurred on Thanksgiving Day 1965, at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium
Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)
Memorial Stadium was a sports stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, that formerly stood on 33rd Street on an over-sized block also bounded by Ellerslie Avenue , 36th Street , and Ednor Road...
, with some 25,000 fans in attendance. City beat Poly 52–6, and completed a 10–0 season with the team being ranked eighth in the nation by a national sports poll. City's 52–6 victory over Poly in that game is the largest margin of victory in the history of the series. Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke
Kurt Schmoke
Kurt Lidell Schmoke is the Dean of the Howard University School of Law and a former mayor of Baltimore, Maryland. The son of Murray and Irene B. Reid , he attended the public schools of Baltimore...
was the quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
and Maryland Delegate Curt Anderson
Curt Anderson
Curtis Stovall Anderson is an American politician, lawyer and former broadcast journalist. Anderson was first elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1983, is the chairman of the Baltimore City Delegation, and past chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. After serving 12...
was the captain of that team. The game is no longer played on Thanksgiving or at Memorial Stadium, but is now located at the home of the Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
, M&T Bank Stadium
M&T Bank Stadium
M&T Bank Stadium is a multi-purpose football stadium located in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the home of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. The stadium is immediately adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles. Served by the Hamburg Street station of...
, in downtown Baltimore. With 2007's 26–20 win by City, Poly leads the series 62–54–6 (counting the first 15 scrimmages won by City).
Lacrosse
The lacrosse program at City College is the oldest high school lacrosse program in the state of Maryland. The informal playing of lacrosse began at the school in 1879, when a group of students decided to field a team; this continued annually until 1891. In 1902, lacrosse became a permanent part of the school's athletic program. During the program's inception, City College played against collegiate teams, including Johns Hopkins University. It was not until City's rival Poly fielded a team in 1912 that the school had high school opponents. At least 10 former members of the boys' lacrosse team are in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Currently, both boys' and girls' lacrosse are played at City.The women's lacrosse team had stellar performances in 1998 and 1999, taking the City Championship titles, further advancing them to state championship games against various suburban schools such as Perry Hall, Kenwood and Eastern Tech High Schools.
Basketball
The boys' and girls' basketball teams have enjoyed success recently with both winning Maryland StateMaryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association
Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Associationor , is the association that oversees public high school sporting contests in the state of Maryland. Organized in 1946, MPSSAA is made up of public high schools from each of Maryland's 23 counties and Baltimore City...
2A championships. The Lady Knights won the state title in 2009. The boys' team won state championships in 2009 and 2010.
The Green Bag
The Green Bag is the senior class annual at City College. Published continuously since 1896, The Green Bag is the oldest publication still in existence at the school. G. Warfield Hobbs Jr., president of the 1896 senior class and first editor-in-chief of the Green Bag, gave the publication its name in recognition of the role of City College graduates in political leadership. Historically, the political appointees of the Governor of MarylandGovernor of Maryland
The Governor of Maryland heads the executive branch of the government of Maryland, and he is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state, and he has a broad range of appointive powers in both the State and local governments,...
have been known as the "green bag", though the derivation of the term is unknown. The first yearbooks contained sketches of faculty and seniors, and included recollections, anecdotes, stories, and quotes significant to the student body. Underclassmen were included for the first time in 1948. In 2007, The Green Bag released its first full-color edition.
The most controversial issue of the Green Bag was published in 1900 when Members of the senior class used the annual to make fun of their professors. The school board attempted to censor the edition by requiring the Green Bag to be reviewed by Principal Francis Soper. The yearbook had already been printed, and in defiance of the school board, the editors refused to have the edition censored and reprinted. The school board responded by withholding the diplomas of six of the editors and the business manager and by preventing the school from holding a public commencement ceremony. One of the boys expelled, Clarence Keating Bowie, became a member of the school board in 1926.
The Collegian
The Collegian has been the school newspaper of City College since its first publication as a bi-weekly newspaperNewspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
in 1929. Though several other publications existed in 1929, The Collegian is the only publication other than the Green Bag still printed. Originally, the paper was both managed and printed by students. During the 1930s, The Collegian won numerous awards including second place in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association
Columbia Scholastic Press Association
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association is an international student press association, founded in 1925, whose goal is to unite student journalists and faculty advisers at schools and colleges through educational conferences, idea exchanges, textbooks, critiques and award programs...
's annual contest for five years in a row. In recent years, the publication has waned. Budget cuts have reduced the number of issues printed. Citing the decline of The Collegian and increasing disorder in the school, 2 underground publications were started, the first entitled Knights' Voice by Marshall Troutner and the second entitled Omnibus by Leah Goldman and Maia Gottlieb in May 2007. Goldman and Gottlieb later went on to revive The Collegian, going to print in 2008. The Collegian is still being published quarterly at the school, often with a bonus issue around the time of the City-Poly game.
Alumni Association
The BCCAA publishes the class reunion guide, established and maintains a life membership endowment fund, presents Golden Apple Award annually to faculty members, sponsors the Hall of Fame selection and induction, publishes a semi-annual newsletter, maintains an alumni data base and assists with numerous projects designed to enrich student life and improve the facility.
Trustees of the Baltimore City College Scholarship Funds
To succeed a similar organization which was established in 1924, the Trustees of the Baltimore City College Scholarship Funds, Inc., was established and incorporated in 1983. The Trustees manage numerous endowments, most of which provide annual scholarships to graduating seniors based on criteria stipulated by the donors. Combined endowment assets are currently valued at or around $1,500,000 covering 34 annual scholarships. To recognize the custodianship provided by the Trustees, the BCCAA has placed a bronze plaque in the main hall of the school which carries an individually cast nameplate for each of the 34 permanent endowments held by the Trustees.Baltimore City College Hall of Fame
The Baltimore City College Hall of Fame induction ceremony is held every October. Alumni who have demonstrated extraordinary service to the school, the city, state, country or the world are selected to become members with former inductees, alumni and students attending the two-hour ceremony. One of the 2007 inductees was Robert Hormats, a Vice-President at Goldman SachsGoldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
.
Notable alumni
Many City College alumni have become civil servants, including three of the 10 individuals currently representing the state of MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
in the U.S. Congress—Congressman Elijah Cummings
Elijah Cummings
Elijah Eugene Cummings is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1996. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes just over half of Baltimore City, as well as most of Howard County...
, Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger
Dutch Ruppersberger
Charles Albert "Dutch" Ruppersberger III is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
, and Senator Ben Cardin
Ben Cardin
Benjamin Louis "Ben" Cardin is the junior United States Senator from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. Before his election to the Senate, Cardin was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing from 1987 to 2007.Cardin was elected to succeed Paul Sarbanes in...
. Among graduates with significant military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
service are two Commandants of the Coast Guard
Commandant of the Coast Guard
The Commandant of the United States Coast Guard is the highest ranking member of the United States Coast Guard. The Commandant is normally the only four-star Admiral in the Coast Guard and is appointed for a four-year term by the President of the United States upon confirmation by the United...
, Rear Admiral Frederick C. Billard
Frederick C. Billard
Frederick C. Billard served as the sixth Commandant of the United States Coast Guard from 1924 until his death. He is the only Coast Guard Commandant to die in office....
and Admiral J. William Kime
J. William Kime
John William Kime was a United States Coast Guard admiral who served as the 19th Commandant of the United States Coast Guard from May 31, 1990 to June 1, 1994.-Early life and career:...
, as well as 2nd Lieutenant Jacob Beser
Jacob Beser
Jacob Beser was a lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces who served during World War II. Beser was the radar specialist aboard the Enola Gay on August 6, 1945, when it dropped the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, Beser was aboard Bock's Car when "Fat Man" was...
, the only individual to serve on both the Enola Gay
Enola Gay
Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of the pilot, then-Colonel Paul Tibbets. On August 6, 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb as a weapon of war...
when it dropped Little Boy
Little Boy
"Little Boy" was the codename of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets of the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, of the United States Army Air Forces. It was the first atomic bomb to be used as a weapon...
and Bocks Car when it dropped Fat Man
Fat Man
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
. In addition, three City College alumni are recipients of the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
.
The list of alumni includes prominent scientists, such as theoretical physicist John Archibald Wheeler
John Archibald Wheeler
John Archibald Wheeler was an American theoretical physicist who was largely responsible for reviving interest in general relativity in the United States after World War II. Wheeler also worked with Niels Bohr in explaining the basic principles behind nuclear fission...
, who coined the term black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
and received the 1997 Wolf Prize in Physics
Wolf Prize in Physics
The Wolf Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, Medicine and Arts. The Prize is often considered the most prestigious...
, Martin Rodbell
Martin Rodbell
Martin Rodbell was an American biochemist and molecular endocrinologist who is best known for his discovery of G-proteins. He shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Alfred G...
, who received the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
for his discovery of G-proteins, and Abel Wolman
Abel Wolman
Abel Wolman was an American inventor, scientist, professor and pioneer of modern sanitary engineering. His work in supplying clean water spanned eight decades.-Background:...
, the "father" of chlorinated drinking water and a National Medal of Science
National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...
recipient. Notable writers such as Leon Uris
Leon Uris
Leon Marcus Uris was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.-Life:...
, author of the Exodus
Exodus (novel)
Exodus by American novelist Leon Uris is about the founding of the State of Israel. Published in 1958, it is based on the name of the 1947 immigration ship Exodus....
, Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning poet Karl Shapiro
Karl Shapiro
Karl Jay Shapiro was an American poet. He was appointed the fifth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1946.-Biography:...
, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New York Times columnist Russell Baker
Russell Baker
Russell Wayne Baker is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer known for his satirical commentary and self-critical prose, as well as for his autobiography, Growing Up.-His career:...
are also alumni. Businessmen, who have graduated from the school, include David M. Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group, and David T. Abercrombie, namesake and co-founder of Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch is an American retailer that focuses on casual wear for consumers aged 18 to 22. It has over 300 locations in the United States, and is expanding internationally....
.
Notable faculty members
- Blanche F. Bowlsbey, first female teacher (1935–1955)
- Ed BurnsEd BurnsEd Burns is a producer, screenwriter, and novelist. He has worked closely with writing partner David Simon. They have collaborated on The Corner and The Wire . Burns is a former Baltimore police detective for the Homicide and Narcotics divisions, and a public school teacher...
, Edgar AwardEdgar AwardThe Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
-winning writer for The CornerThe CornerThe Corner is a 2000 HBO drama television miniseries based on the nonfiction book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood by David Simon and Ed Burns and adapted for television by Simon and David Mills. It premiered on premium cable network HBO in the United States on April 16,...
and The WireThe Wire (TV series)The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States... - McFadden NewellMcFadden NewellMcFadden Alexander Newell commissioned and was the first principal of Maryland State Normal School .Newell was an Irish immigrant who graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. He also taught school in England before settling in Baltimore, Maryland...
, first principal, Towson UniversityTowson UniversityTowson University, often referred to as TU or simply Towson for short, is a public university located in Towson in Baltimore County, Maryland, U.S... - ZZ PackerZZ PackerZZ Packer is an African-American author, notable for her works of short fiction.-Life:She grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and Louisville, Kentucky. "ZZ" was a childhood nickname; her given name is Zuwena...
, author, Guggenheim FellowGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes... - Pierre Davis, first African-American teacher (1956), first African-American principal (1971)
- Eugene Parker, first African-American coach (1956–1986)
- George Petrides, longest serving faculty member (1972–present)
- Mellasenah Morris, Dean, Peabody InstitutePeabody InstituteThe Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a renowned conservatory and preparatory school located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland at the corner of Charles and Monument Streets at Mount Vernon Place.-History:...
of the Johns Hopkins University (2008–present) - George L.P. Radcliffe, U.S. Senator
- Henry E. Shepherd, superintendent, Baltimore City Public Schools; president, The College of Charleston (1882–1897)
- Robert Herring WrightRobert Herring WrightRobert Herring Wright was the first president of East Carolina Teachers Training School. Wright received his Bachelor of Art degree in 1897 from the University of North Carolina. He completed further education at Johns Hopkins University and Columbia University. He held many teaching post until he...
, first presidentPresidentA president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
, East Carolina UniversityEast Carolina UniversityEast Carolina University is a public, coeducational, engaged doctoral/research university located in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. Named East Carolina University by statute and commonly known as ECU or East Carolina, the university is the largest institution of higher learning in... - George Young, NFL Executive, General Manager New York GiantsNew York GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
Principals
- Dr. Nathan C. BrooksNathan C. BrooksNathan Covington Brooks was an American educator, historian, and poet. Born in West Nottingham, Cecil County, Maryland, Brooks grew up to become the first principal of Baltimore City College, the third oldest public high school in the United States, and the only president of the Baltimore Female...
(1839–1849), first principal - Rev. Dr. Francis G. Waters (1849–1853), President, Washington CollegeWashington CollegeWashington College is a private, independent liberal arts college located on a campus in Chestertown, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782...
- Francis A. Soper (1890–1911), longest serving principal
- Dr. Wilbur F. Smith (1911–1926), first ChancellorChancellorChancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
, University of BaltimoreUniversity of BaltimoreThe University of Baltimore , located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood at 1420 N. Charles Street, is part of the University System of Maryland. Through the Freshman Initiative or Lower Division Initiative, UB has transformed from an upper division university to a...
(1926–1933) - Dr. Pierre A. Davis (1970–1974), first African-American principal
- Jean Johnson (1988–1990), (1992–1994), first female principal