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Dr. Dre and 'starstruck' students celebrate Compton's rebuilt high school
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The Andre “Dr. Dre” Young Performing Arts Center has a 900-seat auditorium, rehearsal spaces and a music recording studio.
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Compton Unified leaders — and one-time student Dr. Dre — celebrated the completion of Compton High School’s rebuild Thursday.
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Dr. Dre says Compton's rebuilt high school will pair grit and a first-rate education
The $225 million campus includes a performing arts center, a half-size Olympic pool, tennis courts and classrooms where students will learn engineering, video game design and earn college credit.
“ We celebrate the fulfillment of a promise, a vision brought to life through years of determination, collaboration and unshakeable belief in the potential of our young people,” said Compton School Board President Micah Ali. “Most importantly, this achievement was made possible by you. By our community. You believe, you invested, and today you witnessed the extraordinary results of that trust.”
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In 2015, district voters narrowly approved Measure S, a $350 million bond, to fund the demolition and rebuild of the historic campus through property taxes.
Dr. Dre donated $10 million for the performing arts center that now bears his name and likeness. Dre, given name Andre Young, was once a student in the district but transferred to a South L.A. school and dropped out before graduating.
“It's a certain kind of grit that gets cultivated navigating these streets, and that grit carried me farther than I could ever imagine,” Dre said at the ribbon cutting. “But I'm also excited to see the kind of talent that emerges when grit is paired with a first rate-education.”
“ This is the type of building that I would've loved to go to when I was a kid growing up," Dr. Dre said at the ribbon cutting for the new Compton High campus Thursday. "Unfortunately it wasn't here, but here it is now. ... I want to acknowledge how proud I am of seeing my city come through with this project."
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Evette Wedlow graduated from Compton High in 1980 and said the ribbon-cutting felt like a homecoming.
“ I can see my granddaughter coming here in four years because it's different and it's giving more people opportunity,” Wedlow said. “ Like Dr. Dre said, it's a lot of great talent [in Compton], but if you don't give them the opportunity to showcase it, it won't be seen.”
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Evette Wedlow, Compton High class of 1980, was on hand for Thursday's ribbon cutting at the newly rebuilt campus. "We were strays because we had nowhere," Wedlow said of her fellow alumni. "Our home is opened back up now. ... Tarbabes have a home again."
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The mighty Compton Tarbabes
Compton High opened as a one-room schoolhouse in 1896. The school’s mascot, affectionately called the Tarbabe, was born after a community college opened on the campus in 1927. The adult students were the Tartars, and the high schoolers the diminutive version. The community college outgrew the campus in the 1950s, but the name stuck.
Compton High enrollment has declined over the last decade, as in many urban L.A. schools, but the past few years have brought a slight uptick in students. Compton Unified has been recognized for boosting test scores, graduation and college acceptance rates.
“ This state of the art campus represents a new era for Compton Unified School District,” said Superintendent Darin Brawley. “It's a beacon of opportunity designed to equip our students with the tools, technology and experiences needed to compete in a global economy.”
"This just opens up so many just opportunities and just, it's limitless," said Jonathan Sandoval Garcia, who will be a sophomore next year at Compton High. He plays trumpet, does musical theater and sings in the choir.
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" I love seeing everybody happy and everybody just together," said Caleb Kemp, who plays the snare drum and will be a senior next school year. "We are already united because we were people of the same color, people of the same stories, just seeing us all in a closed space, just having fun and laying our eyes on this masterpiece is really a good feeling. It feels wholesome."
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"I wasn't expecting this. It looks really good," said Delshanae Williams, who plays the tenor drum, and will be a senior next year. "I can't wait to make memories here."
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‘Starstruck’ students
For the past six years, Compton High students shared a campus with Roosevelt Middle School.
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'Starstruck' students celebrate Compton's rebuilt high school with Dr. Dre
”I'm not even gonna sugarcoat it. It's too many fish for such a small pond,” said freshman Jonathan Sandoval Garcia.
Garcia — who is a musical theater student, sings in the choir and plays in the band — saw the performing arts center for the first time Thursday.
”I'm just starstruck right now,” Garcia said as he looked up at the stage. “This is phenomenal. Beyond my expectations. This is amazing.”
Garcia was mum on the first performance that might grace the stage.
“ Just know we're gonna go big,” he said.
The newly rebuilt Compton High School has a half-Olympic size swimming pool.
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Compton High students have been going to class at a nearby middle school while the new campus' classrooms were readied.
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