1959-1969

As the only Catholic high school in Raleigh in the 1960s, space was limited at Cathedral Latin High School, which was on the verge of outgrowing its granite building in downtown Raleigh.  In turn, Bishop Waters decided to build a new high school on a portion of the former Nazareth Orphanage site off Western Boulevard. Since that time Sacred Heart Cathedral School has occupied the entire downtown building.

The new high school building - designed by Raleigh architects Holloway and Reeves and built by Clancy Construction Company at an approximate cost of $160,000 - was completed and dedicated by Bishop Waters on Friday, July 27, 1962. It was named Cardinal Gibbons Memorial High School. The new brick high school opened with 148 students and contained a science room, a language laboratory, and a classroom for business courses. The library was a separate building, while a third building housed the administration offices, a health room, and a chapel.

All of the clubs, athletic teams, and activities, including the May Procession that had existed at Cathedral Latin High School were transferred to Cardinal Gibbons High School. In 1962 the phrase Cum Deo Omnia Possum or With God, I Can Do All Things, became the official school motto. The new yearbook, starting in 1963, was called the Landmark; and the monthly school newsletter was named Veritas or truth to retain the Dominican spirit of Cathedral Latin High School. Its school seal - a bishop’s crosier above the Dominican Order breastplate around which was the new school motto, Cum Deo Omnia Possum – is still used today as is the Alma Mater song:

Alma Mater, we salute three.
Alma Mater, school we love.
Make us worthy of they lofty standards
And they noble teaching prove.

Cheer for Gibbons, High School of fame!
Chant her praises, great is her name.
Raise her colors, float them on high
While singing, “Hail to the High School we love.”

Alma Mater, Home of Wisdom
Alma Mater, Shrine of Truth
We will ever as they loyal children
Bless the Mother of our Youth.

The 1963-1964 academic school year brought significant change in our school’s climate and culture. In response to Pope John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical that sought to foster a greater sense of brotherhood among all people, theology classes at Cardinal Gibbons High School started to feature lessons with a social justice emphasis. The intent was to encourage young men and women to be active in their community and to help the less fortunate - values that characterize Cardinal Gibbons High School today. 

The first lay faculty member, Mrs. John Fr. Deery, was hired to teach biology in 1964; two years later Homecoming was introduced and Carol L. Janesick was named the school’s first Homecoming Queen. Meanwhile, the dress code was relaxed - in the mid-1960s and then again at the start of the next decade.