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, 1,070 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.

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.

Additional facts

Notable alumni

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