Forest Hills Central High School is located in Ada Township

Ada Township, Michigan

Ada Township is a civil township of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 9,882. Ada is the corporate home of Alticor and its subsidiary companies Quixtar and Amway.- Communities :...

, in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

. It is one of three high schools in the Forest Hills Public Schools

Forest Hills Public Schools

Forest Hills Public Schools is a school district serving portions of the townships of Ada Township, Cascade Township, and Grand Rapids Township and portions of the cities of Grand Rapids and Kentwood in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan...

 system. The district also includes Forest Hills Eastern High School

Forest Hills Eastern High School

Forest Hills Eastern High School is located in Ada, Michigan. It is newest of three high schools in the Forest Hills Public Schools district. The school district includes Forest Hills Northern High School and Forest Hills Central High School also...

 and Forest Hills Northern High School

Forest Hills Northern High School

Forest Hills Northern High School is one of the three high schools in the Forest Hills Public Schools in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The district's two other high schools include Forest Hills Central High School and Forest Hills Eastern High School...

.

Central High (originally just "Forest Hills High School") became the first high school of the newly formed Forest Hills School District in the fall of 1958. The doors opened in September with only freshman and sophomore students. The first graduating class was 1961.

The school was memorable for its campus style construction consisting eventually of thirteen separate buildings, including an auditorium added in 1977. The classroom buildings were long hallways, which connected five or six individual rooms. Michigan winters were not amenable to the open campus and the constant walks outside from building to building. In addition, the student population continued to grow, and the buildings began to quickly deteriorate.
In 1986, Central High was completely rebuilt with the exception of the auditorium, the gymnasium, the cafeteria, and the art/industrial arts wing, all of which were incorporated into one new building. Since that time, the school has undergone numerous building and remodeling projects.

In 2009, the building underwent a multi-million dollar construction project that included a new weight room, student and staff parking lots, main office renovation, athletic field entrance, athletic office, classrooms, and a new gym entrance and foyer. Also added to the new gym entrance was heated sidewalks. In 2010, the auditorium was remodeled.

The school celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2008.

Central's yearbook is called "Profiles," the morning video news is called Central Sights and the newspaper is The Forest Edge.

Education

Forest Hills Central has been ranked as one of the top 1,300 public schools nationwide in Newsweek's "America's Top Public Schools" since 2005. It was ranked 739th in the United States in 2005. It has been on the list five times.

Central offers 186 courses taught by an 84 person staff. Students from Central High have scored in the top one percent on the Michigan Merit Test (MME) and have out performed the state average in each category every year the test has been given.

Athletics

Forest Hills Central's athletic teams compete under the "Ranger" mascot. Most teams compete in the Ottawa-Kent Conference

Ottawa-Kent Conference

The Ottawa-Kent Conference is an athletic league located in West Michigan. It has member schools from Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Montcalm, Muskegon, and Ottawa Counties. It has 51 member schools that partake in athletics. According to the MHSAA they have the main offices located at Grandville...

Black Division. Forest Hills Central currently offers the following varsity sports.
Men's Sports:

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Bowling
• Cross Country
• Crew 2006 HEBDA State Champions.
• Football 1994 State Runners-up
• Golf 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988 State Runners-up, 2009 State Champions
• Hockey
• Lacrosse 2007 was the first year of competition separate from Forest Hills Northern. Prior to that, the two schools fielded a combined team. 1990 State Champions, 2008 Runners-Up. 2010 Division II State Champions.
• Rugby 1997, 2004,and 2006 State Champions
• Skiing 1996 State Champions
• Soccer 2004 State Champions,
• Swimming and Diving 2009 Varsity MVP( Senior Taylor Digby)
• Tennis 1998, 2003 State Champions, 2001, 2002 Runners-up
• Wrestling

Women's Sports:

• Basketball
• Bowling
• Competitive Cheer
• Crew 2000, 2002, 2004 & 2005 HEBDA State Champions.
• Cross Country
• Golf
• Gymnastics
• Lacrosse
• Poms
• Sideline Cheer
• Skiing
• Soccer 2005, 2007, 2008 State Champions, 2003 Runners-up
• Softball
• Swimming and Diving 1993, 1994 State Champions, 1995 Runners-up, 2006 Runners-up
• Tennis 1985 State Runners-up
• Track & Field
• Volleyball 1986, 1987 State Runners-up
• Water Polo

Co-Educational:

• Crew 2005 & 2006 HEBDA State Champions.