Central Catholic High School (Massachusetts)


Central Catholic High School is a college preparatory school with an academic campus in Lawrence, Massachusetts and an athletic campus in Lawrence, Massachusetts associated with the Marist Brothers of the Schools and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and founded in 1935 by Brother Florentius.
In 2010, Doreen Keller became the school's first woman principal. The president is Chris Sullivan. The school has approximately 1,330 students and growing and 14,000+ alumni. It was originally a boys-only school, but has been co-educational since 1996.

History

Central Catholic's campus consists of three inter-connected buildings on a small plot of land off Hampshire Street in north Lawrence. The first of which is the oldest remaining part of the Auburn St. school known as the Memorial Gymnasium, known as the "Gym Building". This building houses classrooms in a hallway known as "the Horseshoe" and the gym, along with a large performance stage. The second of which is the Hampshire Street building, known as the "Old Building".
This building houses the small gymnasium, theatre, administrative offices, computer labs, library, and classrooms. Third, an 80,000 square foot $12.8 Million building, the South Wing is known as the "New Building". This building houses the new main entrance and lobby, offices of the president and principal, the campus store, additional locker rooms, the campus ministry office, the cafeteria, state-of-the-art science labs, the chapel, and classrooms. The Lawrence campus has a softball field adjacent to the parking lot by Holly Street.
Because of a lack of playing fields at its urban campus, Central Catholic is exploring the possibility of developing a satellite athletic campus to serve its growing athletic program.

Academic departments

The two major awards given at graduation ceremonies every year are the Brother Florentius, FMS Memorial Award, which is the highest honor presented to "the graduate who best exemplifies the ideals and values embodied in the founder of Central Catholic High School" and the Florentian Yearbook Dedication, presented "by the graduating class to the person or persons whom they consider worth of special praise."
The Florentius award has been given annually since 1963 and the Florentian Dedication has been given annually since the inception of the yearbook in 1945. Also given at graduation are the Michael Garvey Award which is given to an outstanding male student-athlete and the Mary J. Kilcoyne Award is given to the outstanding female athlete.

Athletics

Central Catholic Raiders are a member of the MIAA and the Merrimack Valley Conference. Up until 1996 the athletic teams were known as the Red Raiders, but the school dropped the word "Red" in 2000. The school offers 29 varsity programs and 51 teams at levels such as varsity, junior varsity, and freshman. Central Catholic has a softball field and open practice field on its Lawrence, MA campus.
On February 24, 2007 the Central Catholic Raiders received their first-ever invitation to participate in a play-in game for the Super Eight Hockey Tournament. The team beat Waltham in the play-in game and then proceeded to win one game against Malden Catholic High School and lose to both Catholic Memorial and Weymouth High School respectively in the round-robin bracket round. The football team, track teams, and girls' lacrosse team share the Veterans Memorial Stadium with Lawrence High School. The baseball team has qualified for the MIAA tournament 20 of the past 24 years winning the North Sectional Championship once while runners up two other times. The baseball team has 8 MVC championship crowns.
In 2008 the baseball team won the MIAA prestigious sportsmanship TEAM award as well as the Massachusetts Alliance for Sportsmanship award given by the Boston Red Sox. The boys winning the state championship in 2008. Girls were state champs in 2009. The golf team year in and year out competes for the MVC championship winning 5 back to back titles in recent years as well as in 2009. Wrestling and track perennially contend for MVC, sectional, and state championships.
The boys recently won the 2009 state championship in outdoor track. The softball team in '08 won the Div 2 North Sectional Championship and more recently won the MVC Championship in 2010. The Lady raider soccer program just captured their first MVC crown in ten years in 2008 and repeated in 09'. On March 14 of 09' the girls won the state championship in girls hoop at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA. The Boys Outdoor Track team are back-to-back State Champions, in '09 and '10.
In 2013, the football team made a magical cinderella run to the Division 1 State Championship, upsetting multiple powerhouse programs throughout the playoffs including Everett, Acton-Boxborough, and Xaverian. They finished the season with a 12–1 record and defeated Xaverian in the Division 1 State Championship by a score of 34–17.
The school colors are red & navy blue. Those colors are proudly worn during pep rallies and games as Central Catholic has some of the most dedicated and enthusiastic fans in the nation. The school has had a history of fans who have gone particularly out of their way to show their dedication. "Moses Parting the Red Sea", one of unique rallying cheers, has gone viral on Facebook since his first appearance in 2010.

Sports teams

The tuition cost of Central Catholic High School was $12,690 for the 2015/2016 school year. Central Catholic offers a financial aid program. Thirty percent of students receive some form of assistance or scholarship.