City Honors School


City Honors School at Fosdick-Masten Park, known colloquially as City Honors, or CHS, is a college preparatory school in Buffalo, New York, United States. It is part of the Buffalo Public Schools system. The school was founded in 1975 for academically gifted and talented high school students by three faculty members from Bennett High School and Clinton Junior High School. In 1975, it was born as a school-within-a-school program, and in one year it became a school of its own. It is located in the historic Fosdick-Masten Park High School, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Today, the school curriculum includes Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses as well as Regents courses required by New York State Education Department. Currently 885 students from grades 5-12 attend the school. In 2014, the Washington Post ranked City Honors as the most challenging high school in the northeast, based on the number of college level exams taken per graduate.

History

City Honors began as a series of enrichment topics at Bennett High School in 1973, known as "Course Y". Selected students took classes in the evening that dealt with enrichment courses and interdisciplinary topics. Increased student demand led to these workshops becoming a "school-within-a-school" at Bennett beginning in 1975, with a partnership being forged with nearby Canisius College.
In 1976, City Honors landed its own building, the former P.S. 17 located at the corner of Main and Delavan, which would allow the school to add grades 5 through 8 and strengthen its affiliation with Canisius. This made City Honors one of the first magnet elementary schools in the district. The school eventually moved to its current location at the Fosdick-Masten Park High School building in 1980. In 1991, City Honors adopted the International Baccalaureate program. From 2007 to 2009, the Masten/Fosdick location underwent a $40 million expansion and renovation project that included a new athletic complex. During that time, grades 5-8 were temporarily housed at School 56, and grades 9-12 at School 8.

Former principals

Previous assignment and reason for departure are denoted in parentheses.
City Honors School has such an academic intensive program that a test is required in order to enroll. This test can be taken in the November before the next school year. There are multiple testing days throughout the month. For example, to enter as a 5th grade student, the test must be taken in the student's 4th grade year.

City Honors currently offers Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses to its high school students. The IB program was adopted in 1991. IB coursesinclude English A1 HL, Language B SL , Economics SL, History of the Americas HL, Biology SL/HL, Physics SL/HL, Business and Management SL, Mathematics SL, Mathematics Studies SL, Film HL, Visual Arts HL, and Theory of Knowledge. The school was authorized as a Middle Years Program school in summer 2008. This brought the IB program to grades 5-10 as well. At a minimum, all juniors and seniors take two years of IB English; this is a requirement to graduate from City Honors School and can bring college credit if a student does well enough in the course.
AP Exams offered at City Honors include English Language and Comp, English Literature, World History, U.S. History, Calculus, Statistics, Biology, Physics, Environmental Science, French, Spanish, Chinese, Art History, Geography, Music Theory, and Studio Art. All students must take AP Literature and AP World History in 10th grade and AP U.S. History and Government in 11th grade.
Beginning with the 2018-2019 school year, City Honors School and the Board of Education decided to implement AP English Language and Composition instead of AP Literature and Composition sophomore year. This was widely accepted by students, teachers, and parents.

2007 human remains found

In anticipation of the school reconstruction project, workers dug exploratory shafts in December 2007. This was done because the school building had been built on the site of an old potter's field and there was concern that not all remains had been moved when the school was originally built. Crews found the skeletal remains of two adults and one infant.
At that time, those remains were moved to Forest Lawn Cemetery. In May 2008, digging resumed and many more human remains were found. All remains in the reconstruction areas have been removed. They were examined at Utica College and were sent to Forest Lawn for re-interment.

Sports

City Honors students participate in a wide variety of varsity and club sports, including baseball, men's and women's basketball, bowling, cheerleading, men's and women's crew, men's and women's cross country, men's hockey, men's and women's rugby, men's and women's soccer, women's softball, men's and women's swim team, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track & field, and women's volleyball.
In September 2005, CHS men's hockey coach Fred Korey, who was also the executive director of Hasek's Heroes, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Korey was forced to stop coaching in February 2006 due to his declining health, and died in fall 2009.
City Honors School has over 35 extra-curricular activities and clubs, as seen below.
African Dance, Amnesty International, Amnesty Local, AP Chemistry Club, Chess Club, Debate, Donate Life, GSA, Helicon Literary Magazine, High School and Middle School Ski Club, Jazz Band, Junior Chorus, Key Club, Marching Band, Masterminds, Media Club, NYS Math League, Middle School Chorus, Middle School Orchestra, Middle School Swim Club, Model U.N., Multi-Cultural Club, Orchestra, Silent Noise, Speech and Debate, Public Speaking, Science Olympiad, Select Chorus - High School, Student Council, Writer's Circle, Yearbook.
The City Honors Masterminds Team won the New York State Championship in June 2011.
On May 18, 2008 City Honors Player's musical Children of Eden won several Kenny awards. The show, which was performed in November, won best choral performance, best actor in a leading role, and best overall production. Winning best overall production included a monetary award for the musical theater department.

Additional facts

Notable alumni from City Honors and Fosdick-Masten Park High School include: