Cardinal Carter Catholic Secondary School
Cardinal Carter Catholic Secondary School is a high school in Leamington, Ontario under the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board. It was once attached to the elementary school, Queen of Peace, but moved next door in the early 1990s into a new building.
History
In 1986, with the advent of full funding for Catholic Secondary education in Windsor Ontario, The Essex County Roman Catholic Separate School Board commissions Michael Haugh and Kevin Mulvey to study and implement the extension of secondary school education in Essex County. The result of their efforts saw the creation of two new Catholic Secondary schools in Essex County to take the pressure off the already overpopulated St. Anne Catholic High School in Tecumseh. Following the division of the County into three districts, two new Catholic High school sites were proposed, one for the Leamington area and one for the Lasalle area. Faith communities from Essex, Kingsville, Leamington, and Woodslee jumped on board by promoting the proposed idea of a Leamington-based Catholic Secondary School in their respective elementary feeder schools.Soon, Grade 8 Students from Holy Name in Essex, St. John de Brebeuf in Kingsville, St. John the Evangelist in Woodslee, and St. Louis/Queen of Peace in Leamington were being made aware of the possibility of attending a new Catholic High School in their area. The beginnings of this school were to be humble. Students coming on board were made aware that the first years of their high school experience would probably take place in a portable building setting, with a permanent structure to be built in the near future.
In the fall of 1987, the decision was made by future staff and students to ask permission of Gerald Emmett Cardinal Carter, to use his name for the future Leamington area school. In the past, the Cardinal who was instrumental in the bid to bring full funding to Ontario had refused the offer to have his name used for a school. The Cardinal agreed to give his name when a letter arrived from the future students of CCCSS politely asking for the honor of using his name for their yet-to-be-constructed school. The team mascot, chosen by a vote from the Grade 8 students registered, was to be "The Cougars."