Celia Cruz Remembered With New Bronx High School

08/21/2003 5:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
LAUNCH Radio Networks

(8/21/03, 5 p.m. ET) -- A new Bronx, New York high school dedicated to the study of music will be named for Celia Cruz, the Cuban-born "queen of salsa" whose lengthy and influential career came to a close last month when she died of a brain tumor.

On Wednesday (August 20), New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music, a joint program of DeWitt Clinton High School and Lehman College, will begin classes in September. The 90 students enrolled in the program will take academic classes at Clinton and music classes at Lehman, which is where the program will be based.

In his announcement, Bloomberg said, "It is a great honor to her and a way to remember the contribution she made to the community, and gives all those who hold her in their hearts the feeling that she lives on and that she's a part of us."

The school received more than 700 applications for the eighth grade entry year. Other grades will be added each year.

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