- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by PSEG Foundation.

Holy Name.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Working to create a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.

The North Ward Center.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

NJ Transit.

Your ride to the world’s game.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

And by New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Providing New Jersey residents tools to save money on energy costs.

That’s what NJBPU does.

Promotional support provided by NJBIA.

We put business at the center.

And by BestofNJ.com.

All New Jersey in one place.

- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

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- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

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_ It’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - This is "Remember Them".

I'm Steve Adubato with Jacqui Tricarico, our executive producer, co-anchor.

Jacqui, we remember, not a person in this case, but a terrific public high school in my hometown of Newark, New Jersey, Arts High, celebrating its 100th birthday, its anniversary coming up.

We talked to Roger Leon, who's the superintendent of the Newark Public Schools.

What should we know about Arts High, and why remember it?

- Well, it's like you said, coming up on its centennial in just a few years, but they're doing a lot of things in preparation of celebrating that centennial, like doing a lot of improvements to the school right now and doing upgrades.

And the architecture there is just so beautiful and has its own story, but really upgrading the building to reflect the centennial year that they have coming up in the next couple of years.

And Steve, with Arts High School, there's so many greats that have come outta that school that Superintendent Leon speaks about.

Two of them we've remembered on this series.

Sarah Vaughn, the great musician, Sarah Vaughn, as well as the great jazz musician, Wayne Shorter.

So there's definitely a lot of connection and synergy between some folks that came out of that great school and who we remember here on our series.

- Michael B. Jordan, who is just a terrific actor in the prime of his career in Hollywood, excuse me.

So Roger Leon talks about Arts High.

Arts High, dedicated to the arts, but also was the prototype for those of us old enough to remember "Fame", the movie, LaGuardia High School, New York City, all about the arts.

It's based on Arts High.

That's right.

So we remember, we recognize, we pay tribute to Arts High School, one of the great public high schools in this state and nation, dedicated to the arts, by talking to the Superintendent of the Public Schools, Roger Leon.

Let's check it out.

- We are honored once again to be joined by Roger Leon, who is the superintendent of the Newark Public Schools.

Good to see you, Roger.

- Good morning.

- All right, let's do it.

Let's play word association.

I say Arts High in Newark, and you say?

- The most incredible experience for America.

- Because?

- Well, Arts High School is the first performing arts high school in the country.

The whole concept of a lot of things that we understand to be of school today, for one reason or other, it's origins are, in fact, in our great city, and Arts High School is definitely one incredible example of that.

- 100 years, Roger?

- Yes, 100 years.

In 2032 we will be actually celebrating the 100th year of the school's existence.

- And it's interesting because in reading about it, I didn't realize that the New York, let's just say the New York School of the Arts, right?

The very famous New York School of the Arts.

Arts High was the model for that, Roger.

- Absolutely, so, you know LaGuardia High School.

- LaGuardia High.

- "Fame."

- Was that from "Fame?"

I'll date myself.

- "Fame."

I mean, how incredible is that, that that's what New York City was able to do because of an idea that was established here in our city.

We take great pride in that.

- Okay, so let's, Roger knows the history of Newark Public schools better than anyone.

Sarah Vaughan comes out of Arts High.

Michael B, the Michael B. Jordan comes out of Arts High.

Wayne Shorter, Savion Glover the great dancer.

Incredible artists, talk about that, superintendent.

- Well, you know, one of the things that I was gonna do, because as you know, I. Or maybe you don't know, I'm not a good singer but, nonetheless, my mom would always say I was a great singer.

So can you imagine Connie Francis.

♪ Who's sorry now ♪ I mean.

- Who just, as we tape this, just passed away.

- Just passed away, may she rest in peace.

You know, she winds up graduating from Belleville High School but, nonetheless, a star from our very own Arts High School.

You mentioned Michael B. Jordan.

So you have "Fruitvale Station," you have "General Hospital."

You have "Creed," "Creed II," "Creed III," "Black Panther" and he just put out "Sinners" and is doing incredible work in the industry.

You can't talk about actors and not mention Tisha Campbell, just one of our greats.

You mentioned a couple of musicians, actually, singers at the start.

You have Melba Moore, you have Frankie Negron, you have my own student from elementary school, Kat DeLuna, all incredible artists in their own rights, graduates of Arts High School.

- And Arts High School, what's so interesting to me is the idea that a school would be dedicated to the arts in this way and would give inner city young people in Brick City and the great city of New York, the opportunity to do this.

To what degree does the community understand and appreciate on what Arts High really is?

Because all these people wound up going there.

Did they go there because it was Arts High and they saw the opportunity that they would not see in any other school as good as that school might be?

- No, absolutely.

So the idea that it is called a magnet is because it attracts students that are in the arts to a school.

It's not a mistake.

The, in the late 1800s to the early 1900s, schools and school systems were evolving all around the country.

Newark had been pretty well established at that point in time.

And so what Newark Public Schools did then in the late 1800s is begin to teach about the arts.

One of the things that happens in schools, and I know that you know this very well, they evolve because of whatever is the need.

So as we're getting into this AI space or the AI space has already gotten into us, schools are changing, so too was schooling at that time.

From reading and mathematics to the arts, to technology use today, to preparing students for law, for media, for teaching.

Schools evolve because of the need of the community and definitely we were yearning in the late 1800s for some music.

And so a program began, actually in around 1879, and then you evolved the creation of the actual performing arts school.

- Fast forward.

The viral moment during graduation at Arts High, - Miguel.

(audience cheering) Miguel, I have a question for you.

Come here.

You're going to William Paterson, right?

What is it that you wanna do at William Paterson?

- I wanna become a music educator back in Newark Public schools.

- He wants to become, he wants to become a music teacher in the Newark public schools.

Well, guess what, ladies and gentlemen, here's a $74,000 contract.

(audience clapping) To Miguel Rodriguez Bermudas Talk about that, the viral moment, the graduation that you're very much connected to Roger.

- Yeah, so Miguel Bermudez is a senior, just graduated from Arts High School and his passion is.

He'll be at William Paterson University.

He's probably there already.

And he will return to Newark Public Schools as a music teacher.

So we have what is called the Red Hawks Rising Teacher Academy.

This is a program where just like college students begin student teaching experiences in elementary schools and high schools where they would wanna work, we provide that program now to our high school students.

So if you're a high school student at East Side or University High School and you would wanna become a teacher, you're either doing modeling at a high school, the high school you're probably attending, or an elementary school, perhaps the elementary school that you attended.

And so what we do is provide college courses from Montclair State University to our high school students.

That's our Teacher Academy program.

And they wind up graduating, many with an associate's degree and then continue their schooling, whether it's at Montclair State University or somewhere else.

Our high school redesign strategy is a twofold, is two parts where a college partner and a professional organization join and unite in our programming.

So Montclair State University is the higher education institution, American Federation of Teachers for the Teacher Academy is the professional organization.

So those are our partners.

And so what I announced at the graduation ceremony that you referenced was that there were 34 students that actually received $74,000 each, a contract, a modified contract when their names were called at the graduation ceremony.

My HRS assistant superintendent had official contracts and every single student signed right there a commitment.

- To teach?

- To teach in September of 2029.

- In Newark?

- In Newark Public School.

- And those young people who received this scholarship, who earned this scholarship, they will be teachers in the Newark Public Schools.

- Well, it's not a scholarship, it's an actual teacher contract to begin.

- Okay, I keep.

- To begin teaching.

Yes.

- And 74 grand?

- 74.

- Not bad.

- So definitely by the way that our contract reads today, anyone hired in September of 2029 would start at $74,000 with, obviously, as everyone is aware, in hard-to-fill positions, there are bonuses, whether there would be bonuses at that point in time, only time would tell.

But nonetheless, definitely $74,000.

- Innovative, important, and we honor and remember and think about Arts High celebrating 100th anniversary coming up.

A public magnet school.

Extraordinary.

Roger Leon, superintendent of Newark Public Schools.

Good to see you Mr.

Superintendent.

We appreciate it.

- Great seeing you.

Thank you for having us on.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- Jacqui, we remember one of the greatest architects in American history, Michael Graves.

Tee this up, because I do an interview here with David Mohney, who is the Dean of the Michael Graves College of Architecture?

- Yeah, the school over at, yeah, at Kean University.

- Yeah, what'd you take from that interview about Michael Graves?

- Well, it's really interesting, Steve.

Yesterday, just yesterday, we're taping this in August, but just yesterday, I had the privilege of visiting Michael Graves' home in Princeton.

It was called The Warehouse.

And in 2016, when Michael passed away, the house was left to Kean University.

And Kean University now has ownership of the home, and everything there is exactly how Michael left it.

So when you walk through, it's a museum of sorts, and you can just see where Michael drew inspiration from, from his travels around the world.

There's so much art and architecture within the home, and it's a really beautiful place to see and to understand a little bit more about one of the best and greatest architects of our time.

And if you reach out to Kean University at the Michael Graves College, you can even, the general public could reach out and ask for a private tour of the property.

Something really interesting to do if you're in the Princeton area.

- You say, is it fair to say that as much as people may know the name Michael Graves, for you visiting that museum, as you described it, what'd you call it, a warehouse?

- Called The Warehouse, yeah.

It was just, you could feel his presence there.

And even in the kitchen, he teamed up with Target many years ago and created tons of products for them.

Tea kettles, can openers, coffee machines, he designed all of them, and they're all in the home.

In the kitchen especially, you just see all the different things that he created as small as a dish where you put your dish soap to larger, bigger items within the kitchen.

So he created these massive buildings, but he also had his hand in other smaller things like household items.

Just very unique person to learn more about here on "Remember Them".

- Michael Graves, a visionary, a great American architect.

We check him out in a conversation that we did with David Mohney from Kean University.

Michael Graves, check it out.

- [Narrator] Architect Michael Graves may have been raised in Indiana, but he has been in New Jersey for almost 50 years, where he has become one of the most acclaimed American architects in the world.

As Professor of Architecture emeritus at Princeton, Graves has been an influential designer and theorist garnering most of the top awards in his field.

He is best known for his partnership with Target stores, which brought his signature style to a wide range of products.

But he is also designed for companies such as Alessi, Steuben, Disney, Philips Electronics, and Black and Decker.

At the forefront of architectural designs, since founding his practice, graves has influenced the transformation of urban architecture and has become world renowned for his building designs.

It is fitting that he is the first architect to be inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

- We honored to be joined by David Mohney, who's the dean of the Michael Graves College at Kean University, one of our higher ed partners.

David, good to have you with us.

- It's a pleasure to be with you, Steve.

- You got it.

Michael Graves is so important because... Finish that please, David.

- He's a major American architect, one of the most important architects in the 20th century.

He had a very active practice across numerous decades, and he also was a major teacher at Princeton University for 40 years.

- And the connection to Kean to the point where there would be, in fact, a Michael Graves college at the university.

How'd that happen?

- That's a good story.

So Kean decided that they would add a new professional program in architecture to existing programs in design, and they reached out to Michael to ask if he would help.

He was delighted to do that.

He got involved, he helped bring together a group of people who figured out courses and a pedagogy, and that led ultimately to the professional program and architecture that exists at Kean University and also our sister university in China, Wenzhou-Kean University.

- Michael Graves was a key to all that?

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

His interest in teaching in addition to being a great architect.

Talk about that, please, David.

- It was every bit the equal of his practice, and let's admit, he was a very prolific architect.

He did hundreds of projects, thousands of designs, and it wasn't just buildings.

He did all kinds of household objects and furniture.

2000 separate designs for Target that were put into production.

It was an amazing output, but teaching was every bit the equal of that, Steve.

And the great thing was, and he was my teacher 40 years ago.

I could see how important... - At Princeton?

- At Princeton, yeah.

- Well, I'm sorry if I interrupt.

He was your professor.

- He was my professor 40 years ago at Princeton.

That's right.

- What do you remember about him?

- Oh, he was one of the best teachers I ever had.

He was so insightful.

He always carried around his sketchbook, and if he saw interesting ideas at a student's desk or at a jury or review.

He'd make a note to himself, copy down the designs, carry it with him.

The sketchbooks were really important.

But the teaching informed the practice and the practice informed the teaching.

They were really equal in his mind, and that's pretty unusual talent.

- Talk about some of the... As someone who's not, I don't know that much about architecture.

It talks about his Michael Graves notable work, by the way, 2010, New Jersey Hall of Fame inductee.

The Portland building back in '82.

Why does that matter?

- That was the first really big building that he designed.

He'd done some small houses and kitchen additions and things around Princeton, but that was a major commission for institutional building.

And it changed the way we look at architecture because he introduced a classical language into the form of the building as opposed to a modern language of architecture.

He used color throughout, which was not typical at the time, but he was also a painter.

He painted every weekend at his home in Princeton, and he was very engaged with how color activates the environment, and whether it's a painting or a building, it was all the same to him.

- David, talk about Michael Graves' architecture in New Jersey, and particularly I'm fascinated by his home and studios converted warehouse in Princeton.

Share that.

- Sure.

So in the 1970s, Michael been teaching at Princeton for about 10 years.

He was out for a walk one day in his neighborhood, and he saw this abandoned warehouse in the middle of a block, about a half a mile from the campus, and he inquired about it.

It was an old storage building that basically there was 40 self-serve storage units that had been built in the 1920s.

It was derelict.

He bought it for not very much money and slowly renovated it over the next 10 years or so to be a home.

Now, the inspiration was very much time that he spent in Italy as a fellow at the American Academy in Rome, and so this became his sort of in town urban Palazzo, I think is the best way to describe it.

It's very Italian and its feeling in the way that it looks both on the outside and the inside, and it becomes a personal museum of architecture for him.

- Is it similar to a museum now?

- It's a personal museum, yes.

And you see in the image behind me, this is one view inside that warehouse.

It's really his own very personal idea about architecture and how we should live.

It combines historical artifacts that he collected as well as his own designs, combines his own art as well as paintings and other artifacts that he collected.

It's really something very special.

- So behind you, describe what we're seeing behind you.

- You're looking at the dining room and the far alcove of the dining room where there's a small sitting area.

There are a number of notable artworks there.

There's furniture that he collected as well as furniture that he designed, but the amazing thing was, as famous as he was in the 1980s and 1990s, this house was very much his retreat away from the world.

He was jetting all over the world, but when he came back to Princeton, it was to come to this house, to this palazzo.

It was his retreat where he could find himself and be with a few close friends.

- David, did he see the possibilities visually that no one else saw?

- Absolutely.

He changed the face of architecture along with a few other people, but architecture in the 1950s, 1960s was very institutional.

It was engineering-based.

It was often monochromatic.

He changed all of that.

He made it much more narrative.

It was more about telling a story and fitting into a larger historical context using color informed to do those kinds of things, and that became known as postmodernism.

Postmodernism really defy the next two generations of practice in America, and really worldwide.

I think in the 1980s, Steve, he was the most famous architect in the world.

- In the world.

- In the world, yeah.

- In 2003, Michael Graves was paralyzed?

- That's correct.

- How did it impact him his work?

- It took a while for him to recover, really about six months or so, but then with the help of one terrific caregiver, he got back to practice.

He was paralyzed basically from the chest down.

He made renovations to the house, added an elevator, for example, so that a motorized wheelchair could go up to the second floor where his bedroom was.

He made other changes to it, a roll in shower so that he could use that.

But he still resumed his practice.

He continued to be an architect for the next 11 years of his life really.

He painted every weekend in the painting studio at the house.

He was just as productive as he's been, even with his extraordinary disability.

It's a remarkable story.

- How should we remember Michael Graves?

- He loved New Jersey.

He was very committed to New Jersey, and we shouldn't overlook that at all.

The time he spent at Princeton, his commitment to Kean, the professional associations, he did work for the Newark Museum.

He did work at Liberty Island State Park.

He did houses around that are all very important works of architecture, and we've gone through a period where postmodernism sort of fell out of favor for 15 or 20 years.

It's now starting to come back, and I think you're gonna see renewed attention on Michael Graves as one of the real leaders of postmodernism in architecture worldwide.

- We honor, we remember, we recognize and pay tribute to Michael Graves, and we appreciate David Mohney, who's the dean of the Michael Graves College at Kean University.

David, thank you so much.

We appreciate it.

- It's my pleasure, thank you.

- You got it.

On behalf of the team at Remember Them and One-on-One, my colleague, Jacqui Tricarico.

We thank you so much for watching.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by PSEG Foundation.

Holy Name.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The North Ward Center.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

NJ Transit.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

And by New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Promotional support provided by NJBIA.

And by BestofNJ.com.

- [Narrator] To see more One on One with Steve Adubato programs, visit us online at SteveAdubato.org.

If you would like to express an opinion, email us at info@caucusnj.org.

Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/steveadubatophd and follow us on X @steveadubato.

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