Detroit Collegiate Preparatory Academy at Northwestern is a public high school in Detroit, part of Detroit Public Schools, the re-named successor to Northwestern High School.[2][3] The most recent[when?] enrollment figures for Northwestern indicate a student population of approximately 2,000. [citation needed]
The school features numerous extracurricular activities, including Debate, US Army JROTC, and interscholastic and intramural athletics. NHS also offers several advanced placement (AP) courses.
Northwestern serves as the neighborhood high school for Highland Park residents,[4] as no senior high schools exist within Highland Park boundaries. As of 2018[update] about 180 students from Highland Park attended Northwestern.[5]
Athletics and notable alumni include the legend alumni athlete Ron Teasley, the first African American captain of the Colts basketball team. After college, he returned as a Teacher, Mentor and Coach at Northwestern taking the basketball and baseball teams to PSL championships and produced several outstanding athletes who went on to play professionally. He is a NW Hall of Famer and is still active in the alumni association.
For more than one hundred years, Northwestern High School has produced many outstanding student athletes who have excelled at the collegiate level and beyond. Colt alumni achievements include National Collegiate Athletic Association championships and Olympic gold medals.
In 2007-2008, Northwestern High won the Detroit Public Secondary Schools Athletic League Championship in men's basketball and football in the same school year. Since 1919, Northwestern basketball teams have claimed a total of sixteen DPSSAL titles.[10] Northwestern also won the 1928 Michigan High School Athletic Association basketball championship.[11]
Coach Bert Maris led Northwestern's swimming and diving program to three consecutive MHSAA team titles (1925 through 1927). In 1930, the Colt swimming team, coached by Leo Maas, won another MHSAA championship trophy;[12] Maas also guided the school to five consecutive DPSSAL titles (1933 through 1937). To this day, Northwestern remains the only Detroit public high school to win a state team championship in the sport of swimming and diving.
The Northwestern Colts also boast an impressive record in track and field.
Bert Maris and Coach Warren Hoyt led Northwestern to the 1925 MHSAA title in track. Coach Malcom Weaver and the Colts won the state track championship in 1927, 1929 and 1930.[13]
The Michigan high school sports archives also document Northwestern's MHSAA championship titles in tennis (1927), and cross country (1929).[14][15]
Due to the influx of Highland Park students, as of about 2015 the school was in the process of restoring its marching band and the wrestling programs that had been popular at Highland Park Renaissance High.[8]
The school's gymnasium, paint room, weight training room, and swimming pool were scheduled to receive renovations circa 2015.[8]
Fletcher Gilders (1949), 1948 MHSAA Track and Field Athlete of the Year; in 1949, he established a national interscholastic record in pole vault (13' 3"); springboard diver; competed at the 1948 and 1956 US Olympic Trials[22][23][24]
Terry Tyler (1974), selected to Sunkist All-American Team; played for University of Detroit, then 11 seasons of professional basketball with three NBA teams[40]
Willis Ward (1931), won high jump at 1929 MHSAA championships; won 120 and 220-yard hurdles at 1930 MHSAA finals; set national high school mark (1.98 meters) in high jump while winning a third consecutive DPSSAL title in 1931; the second African-American to letter in football at University of Michigan; in track, three-time All-American and eight-time Big-Ten champion; later a Wayne County probate judge[16][41]
^Home. Detroit Collegiate Preparatory Academy at Northwestern. Retrieved on May 2, 2017.
^"Non-Resident Students". Detroit Public Schools. Retrieved 2021-02-24. All 8th grade students from Highland Park are encouraged to call Detroit Collegiate Preparatory Academy at Northwestern for enrollment.
^"Financial Review Commission Public Meeting July 30, 2018." Detroit Public Schools. Retrieved on January 17, 2019. p. 47. "Recommendation: That the School Board approve entry into a Cooperative Education Program Agreement with the School District of the City of Highland Park for the 2018-2019 school year to provide educational services to Highland Park (i) students in grades 9-12 at Detroit Collegiate Preparatory at Northwestern (approximately 180 students)[...]"
^Lewis, Sharon D. "Highland Park’s high school to close as enrollment dips" (Archive). The Detroit News. May 28, 2015. Retrieved on June 23, 2015. "Weatherspoon said high school students from Highland Park can enroll in nearby Detroit Public Schools, another neighboring district, a charter school or the state-run Education Achievement Authority. DPS will be the students’ home district."
^ abcdAbdel-Razzaq, Lauren (2015-09-05). "Displaced Highland Park students find new schools". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2017-05-02. "[...]said Kenyuano Jones, principal at Detroit Collegiate Preparatory High School at Northwestern, a DPS school. “This is going to be their home school. There isn’t going to be a rift.”"
^"Enrollment." Detroit Public Schools. Retrieved on September 13, 2018. "Highland Park Residents All 8th grade students from Highland Park are encouraged to call Detroit Collegiate Preparatory Academy at Northwestern for enrollment."
