Cleveland Heights High School is the senior high school of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District, located in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, United States.

History

Cleveland Heights High School was established in 1901 by the Cleveland Heights Board of Education. The building that is currently being used opened in 1926. The student population was 1,772 as of the 2018–2019, school year with 15.02 student/teacher ratio. The student body is mostly African-American, with 75 percent identifying themselves as such, and Caucasian (15%), multiracial (6%), Hispanic (3%), and Asian (2%) minorities. Heights athletic teams play in Division I. After 94 years in the Lake Erie League as one of the conference's founding members, Heights began competing in the Greater Cleveland Conference starting with the 2023–2024 school year. The school is known for its strong music departments, including the Vocal Music Department (VMD) which includes A Cappella, Men's and Women's Barbershop, Singers, and Men and Women's choruses. The Heights Gospel Choir was founded in 1974, and remains active as an extracurricular ensemble. The Instrumental Music Department (IMD) consists of the Heights High Symphony, Symphonic Winds, Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Concert Orchestra, Marching Band, Jazz Lab, and Jazz Band. During the 1960 and 1970s, Heights High's music programs were nationally recognized, with the Choir and Orchestra considered among the best in the country. For a number of years, world-renowned musicians performed with the Orchestra. The Heights Band & Orchestra Parents organization and Heights Choir Parents Organization played a major role in promoting music and making Heights High synonymous with the highest quality music. The Heights High Symphony, Symphonic Winds and Jazz Ensemble competed in the 2007 Heritage Festival in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, culminating with an award ceremony at

Medieval Times In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

where the Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Jazz Ensemble, received Gold (or Superior) ratings. The life stories of 48 graduates of Cleveland Heights High School are featured in the book ''Every Tiger Has a Tale'', written by Gary Stromberg, a 1968 graduate of the school. In 1991, the school won the 23rd National High School chess tournament. The team consisted of Andy Gard, Joshua Jex, Ari Singer and Wenning Xing. Xing also tied for the second place individual spot with a score of 6.0 out of seven, and Waitzkin (of ''Searching for Bobby Fischer'' fame) took first place with 6.5 out of seven. In the summer of 2015, the building began going under major renovations. The building re-opened on August 21, 2017, and the students used the original building for the 2017–2018 school year. The students used the Wiley campus for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years.

Ohio High School Athletic Association state championships

* Baseball — 1947 * Basketball (men's) — 1997 * Ice Hockey — 1987 * Track and Field — 2008 *

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— 1976

Notable alumni

* Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley (1976), former U.S. Ambassador to

Republic of Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

* Hal Becker (1972),

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(1949),

psycholinguist Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological aspects. The discipline is mainly concerned with the mechanisms by which language is processed and represented in the mind ...

* Barry Cofield, former NFL player * Chuck Cooper,

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-winning actor * Eric Fingerhut, President and CEO of

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, former CEO of

Hillel International Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, alternatively Hillel International or simply Hillel, is the largest Jewish student organization in the world. Hillel brands itself as a safe space for Jewish students and events aimed at facilitati ...

, former U.S. Congressman from northeast Ohio, former Ohio State Senator * Jimmy Fox (1965), James Gang founding drummer and organist *

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, U.S. Congressman representing the San Diego, CA area * Jason Kelce (2006), former NFL player for the

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(2008), NFL player for the

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* Steve LaTourette (1972), former U.S. Congressman from northeast Ohio *

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(1983), actor * Tom Mack (1962),

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player for

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

* Mike McGruder (1980), NFL player for

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* Howard Tucker (1940), recognized as the oldest practicing doctor by

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* Mel Tucker (1990), college football coach. * Jae'Lyn Withers (2020), college basketball player * Bert Wolstein (1945), real estate developer, sports team owner, and philanthropist *

Sean Young Mary Sean Young (born November 20, 1959) is an American actress. She is particularly known for working in science fiction films, although she has performed roles in a variety of genres. Young's early roles include the Independent film, indepe ...

(attended), American Actress

Notes and references

External links

Cleveland Heights High School websiteCleveland Heights-University Heights School District website
{{authority control High schools in Cuyahoga County, Ohio Cleveland Heights, Ohio Educational institutions established in 1901 Public high schools in Ohio * 1901 establishments in Ohio