Carman-Ainsworth High School

Carman-Ainsworth High School is a high school located in Flint Township, Michigan. It is the only high school in the Carman-Ainsworth Community School district.

History

Carman-Ainsworth High School traces its roots back to 1930, when a new multi-room school building was built on what is now Baker College's main campus. Originally built to serve Kindergarten through 8th grade, the Carman School was built with the ability to add the high school grades, and in response to Flint Central High School, where many Flint Township residents were attending high school at the time, being split into two with the 1928 opening of Flint Northern High School. The first high school graduation took place in 1935 and included the namesakes of its two successors, who had the last names Mandeville and Ainsworth.

During the 1950s in Carman-Ainsworth's current territory, there were four high schools, all in Flint Township: Dye, Herbert Hoover, Mandeville and Utley High Schools. From its completion in 1949 on what is now the Baker College campus, Mandeville's territory included eastern Flint Township, Mundy Township and northern Fenton Township. Utley was built in 1941, a short drive away from Carman-Ainsworth's current campus. Dye High School, presently the oldest building in the district as Dye Elementary School, was built during the 1940s. Hoover High School, in northern Flint Township adjacent to the present Stalker Adult Education building, was built in the late 1940s.

The 1960 opening of Lake Fenton High School, part of the Lake Fenton Community Schools district, reduced Mandeville High School's territory to the point that the school was too big for a small student body. In 1961, the four high schools merged to become Ainsworth High School, which was located in Mundy Township. Dye, Mandeville and Utley became middle schools for the expanded Carman school district at this time. Ainsworth inherited its team colors (scarlet and grey) and nickname, the Spartans, from Mandeville.^[4] The present Carman-Ainsworth Middle School, Ainsworth High's permanent home, was built that year; its football team relocated from Mandeville to a newly completed athletic stadium which is now home to Carman-Ainsworth's football and track teams. Not soon thereafter Ainsworth High School was suffering from overcrowding and it would take a second high school, Carman High School, to be built. Carman's football and track teams would inherit Mandeville's athletic fields, playing their home games there until the 1985-86 school year.

The current format of Carman-Ainsworth was preceded in time by two high schools in the district from 1967 to 1986, namely the Flint Carman Cougars (Navy Blue & Gold) and the Flint Ainsworth Spartans (Scarlet & Grey). Flint Carman competed in the Metro League in sports until 1975, when they outgrew the competition and joined the Big 9 Conference. Flint Ainsworth remained a member of the Metro League. The two schools were bitter rivals, until declining student counts forced the district to merge the two schools into one, forming today's Flint Carman-Ainsworth High School, housed in the old Flint Carman's campus at 1300 N Linden Rd. in Flint, MI. The school colors were changed to blue (taken from Carman High School) and grey (from Mandeville/Ainsworth High) and a new mascot, the cavalier, was adopted.

Demographics

Flint Carman-Ainsworth High School Profile 2012-2013^[2]

Notable alumni

Carman-Ainsworth High School's entrance hallway.

• Jeff Hamilton, Former MLB player (Los Angeles Dodgers)
• Jon Runyan. Former NFL player and currently with the House of Representatives
• Dan Skuta, NFL linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers
• Brandon Carr, NFL cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys

References

External links

• Carman-Ainsworth High School's website