Centennial High School is a secondary school in Ellicott City, Maryland, that opened in 1977. The school is based in Howard County and is part of the Howard County Public Schools system. The school is named after its road frontage on Centennial Lane, built in 1876 as a shortcut through Denton Hammond's slave plantation Burleigh Manor between Clarksville and Ellicott City.In 1969–85, the school was recognized as one of the top 100 high schools in the country through the USDE Secondary School Recognition Program. In 1996, Centennial High School was the first high school within Maryland to achieve the excellence standard in all categories of the MSPAP's report card. The school maintained these standards throughout 2000 and 2001. In 2008, the school was nominated by US News & World Report as a "silver medal" school, placing in the top 505 high schools nationwide. In a 2012 joint study by Newsweek and The Daily Beast, Centennial was ranked the second-best public high school in Maryland and number 111 in the nation In 2014, Centennial was ranked as the best public school in Maryland and 18th in the U.S.The school has a maximum capacity of 1,332 students, but through the addition of four portable classrooms currently (as of 2015) enrolls over 1,402 students. Of those in attendance, 48.3% are White, 34.9% are Asian, 8.0% are African American, 3.7% are Hispanic, 0.1% are Native American, 0.1% are Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 4.9% are two or more races.
