By Flora Farr, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Communications Arts High School prides itself in being a hub of creativity and rigorous academics. With this year being the one that it celebrates the big 2-5, it seemed like a good time to reminisce 25 of the milestones and achievements that Comm Arts has had since its founding.
- Comm Arts was founded in 1995. (First day of school 1995.)
Photo Courtesy of April (Padron) Bennett
- Comm Arts students attended classes in portables on the Taft High School campus.
Photo Courtesy of April (Padron) Bennett
- Comm Arts had its first graduating class in 1999.
Photo Courtesy of April (Padron) Bennett
- In 2003 the Comm Arts building was built to replace the portables the school was originally held in.
- Every year Comm Arts has a festival called Commstock which is a showcase of students’ musical talents.
- Comm Arts has an annual event the day before Thanksgiving Break called Turkey Fest. Turkey Fest is a celebration where everyone gets together to hang out in the Comm Arts halls and enjoy different snacks and food provided by different classes and clubs.
- Comm Arts hosts an annual Comm Banquet in the spring. It is a dinner and dance for all of the students.
- In 2005, admission to Comm Arts became a lottery based system.
- Comm was named as the 26th Top American Public School by Newsweek in 2008.
- Comm Arts was named as the 17th Top American Public School by Washington Post in 2009.
- Comm Arts was named as the 19th Top American Public School by Newsweek in 2010.
- Comm Arts was named as one of America’s 100 most challenging high schools by the Washington Post since 2011.
- In 2011 Comm Arts was recognized by the Texas Education Agency.
- In 2012 Comm Arts had its first Grass Roots event where students share their poetry, music, comedy and more.
Photos Courtesy of Carey McCarthy
- Dr. Baker became the principal in 2016.
- Comm was named as the 57th most challenging American high school by the Washington Post in 2017.
- In 2019 CAHS student, Anh Adams received the Princeton Book Award.
- In 2019 Comm was named as a “Kindness Certified School”.
- In 2019 it was discovered that Comm was infested with a colony of bats which were later on removed.
- In 2019 Mrs. Frias was selected for the Kens 5 Excel Award.
- In 2019 CAHS journalists got to participate in the first of many visits from international visitors to receive new opportunities to interview.
Photos Courtesy of Carey McCarthy
- In 2019 the Spanish 6 class started an online newspaper, “Familia CAHS”. This year they are producing a blog.
- In 2020 Comm turned 25-years-old.
- In 2021 Comm Arts Media (the journalism program) launched its news site.
https://studentnews.nisd.net/comarts/
- In February 2021 Comm Arts moved their 25th Anniversary celebration plans from in-person to virtual due to the restrictions made by COVID-19. So be sure to watch it live on www.nisd.net/live Thursday, February 25, 2021 at 6:30 p.m.
While these events don’t cover the half of what has been accomplished and seen at Comm Arts in the last quarter of a century, they are still pretty impressive, and none of them could have been done without the supportive students, teachers, and parents that make this COMMunity. Happy 25th birthday CAHS!