 In 1897, the family moved to Newark, New Jersey, where Kern attended Newark High School (which became Barringer High School in 1907).He wrote songs for the school's first musical, a minstrel show, in 1901, and for an amateur musical adaptation of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" put on at the Newark Yacht Club in January 1902.Kern left high school before graduation in the spring of his senior year in 1902.