From biology and the environment, to the history and current state of civil rights, from family, community, social joys and challenges to college and careers, the 1,550 students at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School have every opportunity to learn and grow within a well-rounded, full-scale contextual project-based educational environment designed to meet their needs and ensure success. The high school serves the local community and includes two examination programs: MSAT (mathematics, Science, and Applied Technology) and CISC (Center for International Studies and Commerce).The life cycle“Get Ready for College,” a group of nine King High School students chant during the morning announcements, delivered from the large career center to the immediate right of the main entry.
Their college transition ad-visor Tracy Jones adds a reminder about upcoming important dead-lines for the FAFSA Federal Student Aid Application. High school exists to prepare students for college and careers, but also the life and community that awaits them. For King High principal Dr. Deborah Jenkins, ensuring her students’ awareness of the life cycle—from conception to death—is her personal and professional mission. And it’s evident everywhere. Including the school’s career center which is home to a sizable snake where students can study the reptile’s shedding of its skin, a key part of its life process.
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The continuing life cycle in the battle for civil rights, including diverse cultures.On January 19, nearly 3,000 individuals attended the school’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebratory March. A key part of the day’s events involved role-playing, skits and interactive displays covering every aspect of the civil rights struggle from its beginnings until today. With an emphasis on children of the struggle and the theme, “I Am The Change,” nearly all of the displays remain in place, creating an ongoing full-scale educational workshop for the students studying here on a daily basis.Jenkins created the program with a broad coalition of partners including the UAW, The Parade Company, and many schools, Prince Hall Masons, fraternities/sororities, businesses and churches. Participants included Congressman John Conyers, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein, City Council President Brenda Jones and DPS emergency Manager Darnell Earley.
The Michigan Roundtable for Diversity also sponsored displays focused on the life of the civil rights movement in Detroit, describing icons including Detroit’s Paradise Valley, Conant Gardens, and the Eight Mile Road/Wyoming Ave. Wall built to segregate two of the city’s neighborhoods in 1941. Protecting the King culture, becoming academically successful and offering a full range of student, family and support services. Throughout the school’s four academic wings are dozens of posters, photos and artwork including a full-size Rosa Parks’ Bus interaction developed for the King Holiday celebration and available for student to engage with each day. Included are trophies, jerseys, graduation documents and other artifacts from Detroit’s Eastern High School which served this community before the first Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School opened and the new, 245,000-square foot facility opened in 2011.
The Academic Engagement Center, the role-playing and workshops, the displays, and instructional technology all play a part in academic improvements aimed at student achievement, such as King High School’s jump of 13 points off of the State of Michigan’s ”Priority School” list.Complementing its strong academic focus, King High School’s athletes are perennial champions and its famed Fine Arts Department includes dance pro-grams whose students have traveled nationally and internationally. The school is also home to the only band in the world that has attended two Olympics—Beijing, China and London, England.“Our school’s vision is based on Dr. King’s quote, ‘Intelligence plus character is the true goal of edu-cation.’ We place a lot of emphasis on civility, eye contact and respect.”
The school also places a great deal of emphasis on providing the students and their families all of the support necessary for success. On a chilly morn-ing in late January, representatives from St. John Health System, the school and the district gathered to discuss final plans for a soon-to-be-opened on site family clinic with a special outside entrance to serve parents and neighbors.“We are doing our best to keep the legacy alive,” Jenkins concludes.
King High School
3200 E. Lafayette Street, Detroit
(313) 494-7373 • Fax: (313) 262-9140
Principal: Deborah Jenkins
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