Founded 1969

History of Carroll High School (CHS): Carroll High School was founded in 1969 by the Catholic Christian Brothers with a primary purpose of providing quality but inexpensive education to young and resource constraint men of Liberia. Its secondary purpose was to serve as a minor seminary that would eventually attract Liberians to the Catholic priesthood. 

Grassfield was selected as the ideal site for the school following series of consultations and meetings involving the Late Archbishop Francis Carroll, the Brother Superior of the Christian Brothers and the management of the Liberian American and Swedish Mining Company (LAMCO). 

In January 1969, Brothers Doherty 1st principal, Fogarty, Dean of Boys and Chincotta, Music Director, started the all-boys boarding school in Grassfield, Liberia. In 1970 the school had an enrollment of 70 students. The school colors are navy blue and sky blue. The school mascot is the Cobra. The motto is AD ASTRA PER ARDUA (To the Heavens through hard work). 

The original campus consisted of 40 family bungalows and wooden homes, equipped with hot and cold-water facilities, a rarity in those days. The school excelled rapidly in education, music, sports and the performing arts. The school took the first place in the national exams for ten consecutive years and it became well known throughout for its famous rock operas Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and His Amazing Tech Technicolor Dream coat, Gospel, Tommy, Rock and Ipi Ntombi. 

The school, though it became famous in so short a time, it faced external difficulties. CHS soon became a school of wealthy young men as opposed to its original purpose (school for resource constraint young men). The Brothers threatened to close down the school, pack their bags and leave the country. The compromise, therefore, was to move to Yekepa and provide education for both boys and girls who may not necessarily come from the rich class.  Yekepa had a conglomeration of all classes of the Liberian population. 

Carroll High School was therefore transferred from Grassfield to Yekepa in 1980. In addition to the transfer, the school was transformed from an all-boys boarding school, to a co-educational day school. With the transfer and the enrollment of female students, the school excelled exceedingly in its educational, sports and music and performing arts. It is worth noting that most of Liberia’s successful musicians attribute their success to Carroll High School’s influence.

Before the war, Cobras were instrumental in establishing musical groups around the country some of which included the Cuttington Music Society and the University of Liberia’s band. 

The Liberia Civil Conflict: In 1990, the school was closed down due to the outbreak of the civil war and the Christian Brothers left the country. The school was opened several times during the fourteen-year-period but its continued existence was threatened by harassments, intimidation and destruction that came with the war. Both students and teachers of Carroll High School lost their lives during the war. One of such teachers is Mr. George C. Jacobs in whose honor the Carroll High Alumni Association’s (CHAA) scholarship is awarded. Presently, the school is administered by a management team of both former students and non-students. The staff consists of mainly Liberians.