![]() ![]() He was only 19 years old when he joined Stevie Wonder’s band in 1975, and went on to work with Eric Clapton and serve as Michael Jackson’s musical director. Giants including Greg Phillinganes, a session musician and keyboardist who graduated from Cass Tech after learning piano as a child from Detroit Symphony Orchestra pianist Misha Kotler. The glistening new structure is raising a millennial generation of leaders who stand on the shoulders of the giants that passed through the old one. Throughout the years, as Detroit’s demographics evolved, so did Cass, reflecting the city’s mostly-Black demographic. The buildings would come to be known as “Old Cass” and “New Cass,” as different in culture as they are in appearance. The new building is a smaller five-story structure that opened in 2005 outfitted with beautiful glass atriums and modern upgrades. Unfortunately, it was also full of asbestos, and would ultimately be demolished. The original Cass Technical High School was built in 1922, and for over 80 years, the drab, antiquated eight-story structure was full of thousands of secondary school students. ![]() The high school’s legacy is divided into two eras. The city’s natural penchant for entrepreneurship and entertainment has influenced generations of aspiring business and community leaders. The most popular are arts and communication, and business management and marketing. From 9th grade, students choose a “major” which creates and directs their study, preparing them for a specific field. The school was and still is intensely competitive, a place where “steel sharpens steel.”Īcademics at Cass Tech are rooted in vocational education. I no longer play either instrument, but my music education taught me leadership as a section leader and “big sis” to a group of young cellists, we called ourselves, “The Low Key Queens.” Playing in front of huge audiences at Detroit’s beloved Fox Theatre taught me courage, and winning competitions after weeks of practice taught me diligence. My primary instrument was the cello, but like all vocational music majors, I had to also master a second instrument. I majored in Vocational Music at Cass Tech and can confirm first-hand that the program was rigorous. More than 50,000 students have graduated from Cass, including this writer. ![]() But the cool kids? The cool kids went to Cass. Indeed, many of Detroit’s luminaries sent their children to Renaissance, and it was home to some of the smartest kids in the city. That honor belongs to Renaissance High, an incredible institution that has sent hundreds to Ivy League colleges. Cass Tech isn’t the top-rated school in the city. But since 1925, the school has cultivated a legendary music program which nurtured some of the most prolific artists to come out of Detroit artists who also had a historic influence on all of music and culture. In the last five years, the school also launched a STEM Education Project promoting science, technology, engineering, and math opportunities. First and foremost, Cass is a school focused on academic excellence, but music may be its legacy.Ĭass, which has the largest student body in Detroit, is a college preparatory school with a college entrance rate of over 98%. Cass Technical High School is world-renowned for its music and arts programs, but don’t compare it to Fame – the popular 80s movie and TV drama set in New York’s Laguardia High School of Performing Arts, where students danced on tables declaring that their dreams would live forever.
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