History of the Program

By Charles LaChiusa, a former CHS Teacher

Preface: Revised May 2000

Impetus to write this history came when my friend and colleague, Dick Miodonski, one of the original Honors staff members back in 1975, retired last June. Something unprecedented in the history of City Honors was occurring. The generation of teachers who had spent most of their career at the school was beginning to retire. It seemed appropriate to celebrate their efforts with something in writing. The relative ease in publishing on the Internet was added incentive. Surely City Honors, including the middle school, deserves a full-length book, something beyond the ambition and talent of this writer. This brief history that I have written about the high school deals primarily with only a handful of people, albeit the movers and shakers. In an attempt to flesh out the City Honors experience, a section titled Reader Reminiscences is included. Alumni, staff, and all those who have been associated with the school are invited to e-mail their memories, and I will be happy to include them. Thus, like City Honors itself, this is a work in progress. Publishing this history would not have been possible without Robert Creeley whose Lila Wallace grant was largely responsible for City Honors getting Internet access and Ron Astridge, the patient Computer Lab teacher who has been my mentor for cyberspace.