Tyson school attracts star-studded program

By Chris Sykes, Staff Writer
Actress Cicely Tyson and 200 of her closest friends were treated to a day of performances inside the new school that bears her name.
Saturday’s guests included television talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, actor Terrence Howard and actress Lynn Whitfield.
Rev. Calvin Butts of Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City delivered the invocation for the event that featured several performances by the school’s students.
Councilwoman Jacqueline Johnson said the performance and the entire program was especially poignant for her, since Tyson mentioned her grandmother, Emily Tyson-Waters. Tyson referred to the the role Tyson-Waters played in helping her become an accomplished actress.
“This was a great day for the city and the children were phenomenal and I‘m not even talking about the performances,” said Johnson. “It was phenomenal. I hope they taped it and that people get to see it because it was not just to pay tribute to one person, but to showcase the fact of what we have here in the city.”
Johnson said even though her grandmother was born in Montclair, she lived in East Orange for part of her life. During that period she became the first black associate music professor at Montclair State University.
The $143 million school includes features an 800-seat auditorium, outdoor amphitheater and lighting, recording and broadcasting systems. Students have attended the school since classes opened in September; a ribbon-cutting ceremony was conducted Sept. 24.
Johnson said she left the school Saturday night feeling as though the “sky’s the limit” when it came to the potential of Tyson’s students. She said the new campus not only is a symbol of how far East Orange has come on its road to social and economic revitalization, it is a signpost for how far the city still has to go toward a better future for its residents.
“For these schools we have and what’s contained inside them and the opportunity that’s going to be given to our children, the sky is the limit,” said Johnson.

Read more in this week's East Orange Record, Click Here to SUBSCRIBE TODAY