My Alma Mater True by Tony Green

I was reading an article on line about the comedian/actor Bill Cosby being honored by at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for Mark Twain Prize for American Humor which is the nation’s top humor prize. In the article it was mentioned that his high school alma mater will be played at the ceremony by an orchestra conducted by James DePriest who also is an alumnus of Mr. Cosby’s high school.
The irony was that most people not even remember the name of their high school other than who that went on their senior prom. The pride of being an alumnus of an institute of learning is normally reserved for undergraduate collegiate and graduate programs.
In this case, Mr. Cosby’s high school is no ordinary high school. Central High, located at the intersections of Olney and Ogontz Avenues in Philadelphia, boosts one the nation’s finest academic reputations for a high school. Many of its alumni have gone on to become lawyers, doctors and engineers. 98% of its graduates attend college. Formerly an all male institution, the admission of women in 1985 has only solidified Central’s place among the academic elite high schools in the U.S.
Even more astounding was the fact that Mr. Cosby did not graduate from Central yet he holds the school in such high regard. Mr. Cosby left Central after his sophomore year and eventually graduating from Germantown High School. After Germantown he matriculated at Temple University where he was selected for the I-Spy television series with Robert Culp and the rest, as we say, was history.
Why? Because Central High is a very special place that is dear in the hearts of all of the graduates that have spread out far and wide in their various endeavors. Central High prepared me well college and for life. Maybe it has helped Mr. Cosby achieve all of the success he has.
From that, I guess you can imagine where I went to high school.