Curtis High School, operated by the

New York City Department of Education The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's public school system. The City School District of the City of New York (more commonly known as New York City Publ ...

, is one of seven public high schools located in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, New York City,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. It was founded on February 9, 1904, the first high school on

History

Curtis High School is named after nationally prominent Republican writer and orator George W. Curtis, who lived nearby. The school was the first public building built following the consolidation of Greater New York. It was part of a plan to erect a major high school in each of the outlying boroughs, with

Erasmus Hall High School Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899–925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush, Brooklyn, Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brookly ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, Morris High School in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, and Flushing High School in Queens being the other three. It was designed by the architect C. B. J. Snyder. The cornerstone was laid in 1902, it was completed and opened 1904. The original building of brick and limestone is dominated by a large square turreted tower inspired by English medieval models. The first principal was Columbia graduate Oliver Durfee Clark, who served 1904 to 1906. The second principal (1906–1912) was Harry Freeman Towle, a graduate of

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

. Additions were made to the building in 1922, 1925 and 1937. John M Avent (Columbia Graduate, author) was principal from 1924 to the late 1940s. Curtis was designated a New York City

Landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures ...

on October 12, 1982. The gym and cafeteria wings were added at a later date as additions to the original building's

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

architecture.

Academics

Curtis offers an

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Scholarship Honors programs IB-DP and IB-CP with accelerated curriculum and

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere ...

courses, and courses include nursing, NJROTC, performing arts, visual arts, business/computer institute, CoOp, human and legal studies, and journalism.

Extracurricular activities

Curtis offers a robotics team, National Honor Society, chess club, Key Club, black and Hispanic awareness clubs, film club, Moot Court, the Curtis Players, jazz band, orchestra, dance, symphonic band, the ''Curtis Log'' (newspaper), ''Crosswinds'' (yearbook), math team, criminal law and justice mentoring program, peer mediation and conflict resolution programs.

Sports

Curtis fields over thirty varsity teams, including a

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

team, as well as

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, track/ cross country,

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

teams. In addition, Curtis club teams include boys' varsity and junior varsity, and girls' varsity

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teams. The Curtis High School Track was named after Abel Kiviat and the Baseball Field was renamed Bobby Thomson Field in 2007

Enrollment

Curtis has a total enrollment of about 3,006 and is open to residents of New York City entering either ninth or tenth grade. Enrollment requirements vary depending on which of the ten "houses" the student is going to be enrolled. There are zoned programs where enrollment is based mostly on geography, with Staten Island residents having priority over all other boroughs. Within Staten Island, geographical areas closer to the school have priority over all other areas of Staten Island. Most other programs rely either on the prospective student's grades and city standardized tests or specialized enrollment tests. The school's population is 38% African American, 31% Hispanic, 22.9% White and 7.5% Asian.

Feeder patterns and admissions

All New York City students entering high school must apply to schools, as there are no zoning boundaries for high schools in New York City. Only special zoned programs have geographical restrictions whereby certain areas of Staten Island have priority over all of the rest of New York City.

Notable alumni

Parental support

Parents collaborate with the school's administration and its staff through monthly PTA meetings, PTA newsletters, School Leadership Team meetings, Gear-Up, Principal's Consultative Council, Health Fair, HIV AIDS Team, and the football, track, robotics and performing arts parents clubs.

Community support

Partnerships: * Liberty Partnership Mentoring Program (CSI) * Gear-Up * Discovery Institute (CSI) * Brooklyn Polytechnic University Center for Youth in Engineering and Science * Curtis HS Career Connections * Global Ambassadors * Corporations: ** Infinity Broadcasting ** MIX 102.7 FM ** O’Melveny & Myers Law Firm * Higher education institutions: ** College of Staten Island ** St. John's University * Cultural/arts organizations: ** Snug Harbor * Community-based organizations: ** NYCID ** Liberty Partnership ** P.A.S.S. * Hospital outreach: ** Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home ** Staten Island University Hospital ** St. Vincent's Hospital ** Egger Nursing Home *Financial institutions: **

Federal Reserve Bank A Federal Reserve Bank is a regional bank of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. There are twelve in total, one for each of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts that were created by the Federal Reserve A ...

Mentoring Program

Schoolwide awards and recognition

* 7-time PSAL Girls' Bowling Championship * 13-time PSAL Boys' Cross Country City Championship (1928, 1929, 1930 ationals 1931, 1933, 1935, 1938) * 7-time PSAL Boys' Football Championship (1998, 1999, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2016, 2017) * 3-time PSAL Boys' Golf City Championship * 2-time PSAL Girls' Cross Country City Championship * 3 time Boys' PSAL Indoor Track City Championships, (first one in 1909 with help of Olympic Silver medal winner Abel Kiviat),1928 * Boys' PSAL Bowling Championship * Girls' PSAL Basketball "A" City Championship (2011, 2012, 2013) * Girls' PSAL Golf City Championship * 2-time Girls' PSAL Lacrosse City Championship (2015, 2016) * Boys' PSAL Lacrosse City Championship (2016) * Boys' PSAL Basketball "A" City Championship * Boys' PSAL Wrestling "A" City Championship * 3-time Girls' PSAL Wrestling Championship (2013, 2014, 2015) * Boys' PSAL Soccer Championship (1915, 1917) * Boys' PSAL Baseball Championship (1943, 1961, 1962) * Boys' PSAL Tennis Singles Championship (1917) * Boys' Lacrosse Semi Finals NYC (1915,2017,2019)

Other

Curtis alumn Jason Defazio was killed on 9/11. He worked on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center at Cantor Fitzgerald.

References

External links

Curtis HS official website

Curtis High School Association of Alumni and Friends (CHSAAF)

Class of 1974 reunion organization
{{Education in Staten Island Educational institutions established in 1904 Public high schools in Staten Island New York City Designated Landmarks in Staten Island Magnet schools in New York (state) St. George, Staten Island 1904 establishments in New York City