 However, he was also innovative in many ways, including the hiring of female teachers and the admission of African-American students.By 1878, Shortridge High School served 502 students.Roda Selleck, who began teaching art at the school in the 1880s, soon won acclaim for introducing "craftwork" – leather, pottery, jewelry, and metalwork – to the curriculum, and later developed a line of pottery, "Selridge Pottery", designed by students.