Cass Technical High School

The school was founded in 1907 on the third floor of Cass Union School on Grand Union Avenue, subsequently moving to its own wing. After that school was mostly destroyed by a fire, a building for Cass Tech was built on the site and opened in October 1912, but was soon overcrowded. A new building nearby on Second Avenue was designed in Collegiate Gothic style by Malcolmson and Higginbotham with Albert Kahn as construction architect; construction began in 1916,^[6] the cornerstone was laid in 1917,^[7] and after delays caused by World War I austerity measures, the building opened in September 1922. It had a capacity of 3,600 students and was connected to the High School of Commerce, which opened earlier the same year in Cass Tech's former building, by Victory Memorial Arch, a pedestrian bridge over Main Street that was a memorial to students killed in the war.^[6][8][9] By 1942 the school had more than 4,500 students and was the largest in Michigan.^[6] In 1985, an addition on the south side was opened, designed by Albert Kahn & Associates, which included performing arts facilities, a new pool, and a student cafeteria, and a wing of the building was remodeled for computer and business classes.^[6][7] Departments in the 1922 building were grouped by floor; facilities included a foundry and machine shops that were used for training by Ford outside school hours, and the auditorium was used as a practice hall by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.^[7] The 1922 building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in March 2011.^[10][11]

In 2008, due to declining enrollment, teacher staffing was reduced and some classes that were not very popular with students were removed.^[12]

Student assessments
2021-22 school year[13] Change vs. prior year[13]
M-STEP 11th grade proficiency rates (Science / Social Studies)
Advanced %	6.5 / 3.0
Proficient %	19.8 / 25.8
PR. Proficient %	18.6 / 59.1
Not Proficient %	55.0 / 12.1
Average test scores
SAT Total	952.0 (  −30.4)

Cass offers over twenty advanced placement courses including language composition, history, chemistry, calculus, and physics.^[14] Cass Tech students' strong academic performances draw recruiters from across the country, including Ivy League representatives eager to attract the top minority applicants.^[15] However, in 2019, Cass Tech was not among the 78 Michigan high schools with the highest average SAT scores.^[16] In 2021, U.S. News ranked Cass Tech 84th among Michigan high schools, and reported a 62.9% percentile score on the SAT.^[17]

Awards

In 1984, Cass Tech was honored by the U.S. Department of Education among 262 schools that should "shine as inspirational model for others," a list that included public and private schools.^[18]

In 2006, Cass represented DPS at the National Academic Games Olympics and won the Team Sweepstakes award.^{[citation needed]}

Harp and vocal

The school's Harp program was established in 1925.^[19]

Bands

There are beginner, intermediate, advanced and jazz band classes, as well as a marching band. The CTMB (marching band), under the direction of Sharon Allen, has performed for Patti LaBelle, Sinbad, and Jay Z as well as various college and university homecomings.^{[citation needed]} The marching band was also a part of the 2007 Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, but was not televised. In 2008, the band performed at Texas Southern University.^{[citation needed]} In 2010, the CTMB participated in Norfolk State University's Homecoming and won first place in the McDonald's Battle of the Bands.^{[citation needed]} The CTMB went to the 2013 inauguration for President Barack Obama.^[20]

The concert band program rose to prominence under the direction of Harry Begian, who led the Cass Tech bands from 1947 through 1964. Under his baton, the concert band performed twice at the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic, and played literature at a level far beyond that normally performed by a public high school band^{[according to whom?]}, including the Symphony in B-flat by Paul Hindemith and La Fiesta Mexicana by H. Owen Reed.^{[citation needed]}

Football

The Cass Tech Technicians football team (also referred to as the Technicians) is a high school football program in Division 1 Public School League, representing Cass Technical High School.

Cass Tech won the 2011, 2012 and 2016 MHSAA Division I state championships.^[21]

Basketball

• 1956 Boys Class A State Champions^[22]
• 1975 Boys Class A State Champions^[23]
• 2023 Boys Division 1 State Champions

Track and field

Cass Tech's track and field history goes back to 1926 when Eddie Tolan and his teammate Loving won the interscholastic track meet at Northwestern University.^[24] Tolan came to be known as the "Midnight Express". He set world records in the 100-yard dash and 100 meters event and Olympic records in the 100 meters and 200 meters events.^{[citation needed]} He was the first African-American to receive the title of the "world's fastest human" after winning gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters events at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In March 1935, Tolan won the 75, 100 and 220-yard events at the World Professional Sprint Championships in Melbourne, Australia to become the first man to win both the amateur and professional world sprint championships. In his full career as a sprinter, Tolan won 300 races and lost only 7.^[25]

Northwestern Interscholastic Track Meet

• March 1926: 1st Place – National Champions^[26]
• March 1927: 3rd Place^[27]
• March 1928: 3rd Place^[28]

Architecture

Lewis Cass Technical High School (former Cass campus)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
1922 building, 2007
Show map of Michigan Show map of the United States
Location	2421 Second Avenue, Detroit, Michigan, United States
Coordinates	42°20′15″N 83°3′36″W / 42.33750°N 83.06000°W / 42.33750; -83.06000
Built	1922
Architect	Malcolmson and Higginbotham, Albert Kahn
Demolished	July 2011
MPS	Public Schools of Detroit MPS
NRHP reference No.	10000644[10][11]
Added to NRHP	March 29, 2011

A new campus opened in May 2005 in an adjacent lot on Grand River Avenue to the north of the original building.^[6][7]

The former building, including the extension, was left vacant (with classroom fittings and supplies inside).^[7] The alumni association announced plans in April 2007 to renovate it as a multi-use center including arts spaces, retail, and residences,^[6] but in July 2007 a fire damaged the 1922 section.^[29] The school district listed the building for demolition later that year. Demolition began in December 2010 and was completed in August 2011.^[6][30][31] At the time of demolition, the school building was approximately 830,000 square feet (77,000 m²) and weighed more than 100,000 short tons (91,000 t). Over 90% of the material in the building was recycled for other uses or as backfill.^[32]

The indie rock band Mattiel's 2017 song, "Cass Tech", laments the building's 2011 demolition.^[33]

Demographics

As of 2022^[update], approximately 2,400 students attended Cass Technical High School: 583 students in the ninth grade, 637 students in the tenth grade, 606 in the eleventh grade, and 575 in the twelfth grade.^[1]

Ethnicity distribution

Of the students attending Cass Technical High School in 2021–22, 1,832 (76.2%) of them are Black, 277 (11.5%) are Hispanic, 223 (9.3%) are Asian, 57 (2,4%) are White, 6 (0.2%) are American Indian or Alaska Native, and 9 (0.4%) are multi-racial. 65.0 % of the students are female.^[1]

Art, architecture, design

Arts and entertainment

Business

Educators

Fiction/non-fiction

Journalism/publishing/broadcasting

Law, government, and public policy

Library and Information Science

• Nancy Pearl, librarian and best-selling author ^{[citation needed]}

Military

Sports

• Official website (Archive from 2000 onwards)
• Cass Tech High School at Detroiturbex.com
• Cass Technical photos circa 2009 at Silentbuildings.com