Welcome to Classen High School
Alumni Association

Classen High School History:   Classen High School, constructed immediately following the close of World War I, is the oldest high school building in Oklahoma City. Classen opened as a junior high school in 1919. The land was part of an area being developed by the early Oklahoma City real estate developer, Anton H. Classen. A total of 6.33 acres was purchased by the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education for $55,100. 

The building was constructed at a cost of $420,500 by the Holmboe Construction Company. The two story brick building was enlarged in 1921, 1923, 1925, 1934 and 1957. The school was converted to a high school in 1925, graduating its first senior class in the spring on 1926. The last CHS class graduated in 1985 when the school became a fifth year center. From its opening until 1985, CHS graduated slightly more than 20,000 students. In 1994 the school was changed to the Classen School of Advanced Studies, a magnet school for students in grades 9-12, and its first class graduated in May of 1997.

  Membership Services

STAY CONNECTED!

Email us or call us to join. We really want to hear from all of you. 

Our membership pages are listed under the Membership button. In this section, you will find application forms, a form to update your information, and a member search feature. 

Make sure you join us now! Stay connected! 

If you are already a member you may use the "Update Your Information" button to send us changes in your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number or marital status.

If you want your e-mail address added to the "Alumni Search" page so that classmates can find you if they are looking for you, please send us your e-mail address and we will publish it in this section of the Website.  Please bear in mind it will not automatically be changed or added immediately.  These things take time so it may be up to four weeks before the addition or change of an e-mail address appears in this section, so please bear with us and be patient until we can change it or add it.

Additionally, if you just have a question about the Alumni Association or you're looking for a classmate whose e-mail doesn't appear in the "Alumni Search" section of the Website you may send inquires to us through the "Contact Us" page.

If you just want to call us on the phone to discuss your inquiry or change, phone us Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. at 405-525-3936.  Or E-Mail us at info@classen.org

Meetings of the Classen High School Alumni Association are regularly held at the Classen Museum, 1901 N. Ellison, the third Sunday of every month at 2:30 p.m.  All intersted persons are invited.  Meetings are temporarily being held at St. John's Episcopal Church during the remodeling of the Museum.

CSAS In Top 100 Schools In The Nation

In the May, 2008 edition of Newsweek magazine, Classen School of Advanced Studies (CSAS) was named among this year’s list of the top 100 high schools in the country.  Classen SAS was ranked 14 for 2009. Ratings are based on the number of  Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests given in May 2007 as compared with the number of graduating seniors for that year. 

"We encourage our students to tackle tough subjects under the guidance of gifted teachers, said Classen Principal, Valerie Harris.  Classen offers Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs, which give students the chance to earn college credits while in high school.

Classen is known for the Visual and Performing Arts programs and the International Baccalaureate program.

“Every year when we open up enrollment to sixth-graders, we try to bring in half for the International Baccalaureate program and half based on talent for the Visual and Performing Arts program.  Not every student who comes to us is going to score a 30 on the ACT but our goal is for every student to score high enough to get into the college of their choice," Harris said.

It is a great honor to have one of our premier high schools recognized nationally for the past five years. Since it’s reopening in 1994, Classen SAS has been known in Oklahoma City as one of the finest schools attracting some of the district’s and city’s most academically driven and artistically talented students. This designation is very much in line with our recent efforts to rebuild the district and meet the challenges of MAPS for Kids and the community’s expectation of its urban school district.

Classen SAS opened in 1919 as Classen High School and closed in 1985 due to declining enrollment in the district. It later reopened for eight years as one of the district’s fifth year centers. When the district embraced the magnet school concept in 1994 it reopened as a school focused on high academic achievement and the fine arts under the direction of the district’s current executive director of school and community services, Rochelle Converse. Today, the school is one of the district’s premier schools and is under the direction of Valerie Harris.

“This is really exciting for our staff and students. We work hard to attract students from diverse populations who are interested in academic rigor that prepares them for the finest colleges and universities in the country, as well as students who exhibit above average interest and talent in the fine arts. I’m proud of all our students and staff because they work very hard and deserve to be recognized in such a manner,” said Harris.

Criteria used by Newsweek for ranking U.S. high schools includes schools that give Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests as evidence of efforts to get students to excel and prepare for college. Newsweek excluded schools with strict academic admissions criteria that prohibit motivated, average students from attending.