Miami Northwestern Senior High School opened its doors as a learning institution \"with tremendous fanfare" in the fall of 1955. The atmosphere at the opening of such a unique facility was full of excitement: it was a new vocational high school. It was the first new high school for Miami blacks in a generation, and it was a million and one-half dollar plant; however, it was also a school with unfinished rooms, no auditorium, and a cafeteria without tables or chairs. This new school replaced the old Dorsey Senior High and was built on a 21-acre tract of land known as "Little Korea." A little known fact is that the land on which Northwestern High School was built was purchased by Dade County to serve as a (buffer) zone between black and white communities. These unique circumstances have played a major role in determining the subsequent history and character of Miami Northwestern Senior High School. A school-wide atmosphere of expectation relative to student achievement and student conduct placed appropriate demands on students in support of academic excellence. The faculty and staff refused to blame the students for their background or let students use it as a crutch for their inability or lack of efforts, academically. This general attitude on the part of the staff continued to grow with their total involvement in the academic efforts at the school. The staffing of Miami Northwestern over the years of its existence, have also been a major factor in shaping the history of this institution. During the 1969-70 school year, desegregation of the instructional staff was implemented, thus triggering the mechanism to realize the goal of bringing the school staff into compliance with judicial guidelines. Another program established at Miami Northwestern, was the Performing and Visual Arts Center. This center, commonly referred to as "PAVAC," has been housed in Miami Northwestern since the 1974-75 school year and initially was opened to secondary level students from all Dade County Public Schools. Then, its curriculum only included art and music. Today, however, drama, art, music and dance directs the curriculum. These performing arts students provided cultural, lyceum type features for the Northwstern Community, as well as for numerous community-based organizations throughout the county and state. Today, Miami Northwestern is one of the top predominantly African American institutions of secondary learning. Despite the spoken difficulties of the urban area, Northwestern will continue to rise as one of the largest and most prideful landmarks of the Liberty City area.