The Charter School of Wilmington (CSW) is a college preparatory charter high school in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

. It is Delaware's first independently operated public school whose curriculum emphasizes math and science. It shares the former Wilmington High School building with

Cab Calloway School of the Arts Cab Calloway School of the Arts (CCSA) is an arts-oriented magnet school in Wilmington, Delaware, operated by the Red Clay Consolidated School District. The school offers grades six through twelve and each student chooses a particular focus in t ...

History

The Charter School of Wilmington was chartered by the

Red Clay Consolidated School District Red Clay Consolidated School District (abbreviated Red Clay or RCCSD) is a public school district in northern New Castle County, Delaware. Founded in 1981, Red Clay serves a portion of the city of Wilmington, as well as its northwestern suburbs. I ...

to replace the Academy of Mathematics and Science magnet school and opened in 1996. Today, the school is operated by a consortium of six companies:

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...

Delmarva Power Delmarva Power is an energy company that provides electricity and natural gas to customers on portions of the Delmarva Peninsula in the states of Delaware and Maryland. The company is a subsidiary of Exelon. Electricity and natural gas Delmarva P ...

, DuPont, Hercules Incorporated, and Christiana Care Health System. It is a member of the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools, a group of around 100 high schools, as well as affiliates such as colleges and universities, summer programs, foundations, and corporations.

Academics

In 2021,''U.S. News & World Report'' ranked it #74 of nearly 18,000 high schools considered and ''Newsweek'' ranked it #94 of STEM schools nationwide. In 2013, CSW was given a Recognition School award from the Delaware Department of Education for exceptional performance and in 2013 and 2019, the US Department of Education named them a

National Blue Ribbon School The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

. In June 2014, CSW's Jefferson Awards Council was given the Outstanding Service for Jefferson Council Volunteer award. Students also have the option of taking classes such as visual arts, drama, and music at

, who they share a building with. They also have the opportunity to dual enroll at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...

. During their junior year, students must complete a research project for the science fair. Sophomores take Introduction to Scientific Research to prepare for this annual event.

Students

Demographics

In 2020 White students make large proportions of the student body and about 30% of the students were Asian American. Fewer than 8% of the student bodies combined from this school and

reside in the City of Wilmington, and fewer than 3% are Wilmington residents who are black and/or Hispanic/Latino or multiracial. Barrish and Eichmann wrote that an Asian American suburban student living in an "affluent" area "is a fairly typical Charter of Wilmington student."

Extra-curriculars

Students have the option of joining concert band and marching band, of which are associated with

The Force File

The school's newspaper, ''The Force File'', is a digital-first newspaper owned and operated by CSW students.

Media appearances

The Charter School of Wilmington's founder, Ronald Russo, has been featured on

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that fo ...

's ''

The Principal's Office ''The Principal's Office'' is a reality TV program on TruTV that began airing on August 21, 2008, released through Leftfield Pictures. New episodes resumed on January 8, 2009. However, the series was abruptly cancelled on February 5, 2009. Synops ...

.''

Notable alumni

Andrew Gemmell Andrew Douglas Gemmell (born February 20, 1991) is an American competition swimmer who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. He swam for the University of Georgia, helping then to place 5th in the NCAA in 2014, and was a member of the ...

, swimmer in the 2012 Summer Olympics *

Kieran Tuntivate Kieran Tuntivate () is a Thai-American distance runner, who specializes in the 10,000 metres. After running collegiately with Harvard University, Tuntivate turned professional with the Bowerman Track Club. Career Tuntivate was born in the Washing ...

, 2019 Southeast Asian Games record-holding distance runner who qualified for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, rescheduled for 2021 *

Madinah Wilson-Anton Madinah Wilson-Anton (born 1993) is an American politician serving in the Delaware House of Representatives for district 26 as a Democrat. She is the first practicing Muslim elected to the Delaware General Assembly. She defeated incumbent John ...

, politician in the

Delaware House of Representatives The Delaware State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Delaware General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is composed of 41 Representatives from an equal number of constituencies, each of whom is ...

Notable faculty and staff

* Chris Eddy (Athletic Director, 2009—present), former MLB pitcher

References

External links

*
The Force File
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1996 High schools in New Castle County, Delaware NCSSS schools Charter schools in Delaware Public high schools in Delaware 1996 establishments in Delaware Wilmington, Delaware