1999-2009 

The start of the 21st century brought renewed prosperity for Cardinal Gibbons High School, which continued to grow under the guidance of the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn. In 2005, at the recommendation of the CGHS Board of Trustees, Bishop Gossman appointed Fr. Daniel Kenna, O.F.M., as President of Cardinal Gibbons.

Fr. Dan together with then Assistant principal Jason D. Curtis spearheaded a five-year strategic planning process, initiated the first summer (2005) leadership conference for   rising seniors and updated the school’s Mission Statement:

Cardinal Gibbons High School is a college preparatory school of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh. We embrace the mission of Jesus Christ:

To form men and women of faith, service, and leadership in church and community.

In 2006, when Br. Michel Bettigole, O.S.F., retired as principal, the leadership of Cardinal Gibbons High School was turned over to Principal Jason D. Curtis. He along with four assistant principals: Mike Curatolo (Student Life), Mike Rogosich (Student Activities), Nancy Barkan (Instruction) and Fr. Scott McCue (Spiritual Life), administer the school, which continues to flourish as its academic, spiritual outreach, athletic and extra curricula programs grow and expand.  In August, 2006, The Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge became the fifth Bishop of Raleigh.

From the outside, the Cardinal Gibbons High School of today may seem a vastly different school than the one that opened a century ago. But inside, little has changed. Here, the Gibbons spirit can be felt – then as now – in the students, faculty and staff who along with parents and alumni make up the Cardinal Gibbons High School community. It is that spirit and that community that embrace students and, in turn, students embrace – often for a lifetime.

Students and graduates – young and old alike – talk wistfully of life at their alma mater: sitting in classrooms heated by potbellied stoves, marching in the May Procession, meeting friends under the shade of the giant oak tree on the Western Boulevard campus and finding solace in a tiny corner of Kristie’s Garden at the current campus. And so, the past forms the bridge to the present - and to the future.

As Cardinal Gibbons High School continues to evolve, its devotion to providing Catholic education to the Diocese of Raleigh’s youth is stronger than ever, as is its commitment to its mission of forming men and women of faith, service, and leadership.  On any given day stroll onto campus and watch today’s students arrive. Their faces are bright with promise, recalling those of students in 1909 and portending those of students in 2109.