[7] The next year, fifteen acres on what is now Walnut Street were donated by James M. Templeton Jr. for hands-on learning in farming.

[7] An additional $1,500 was donated by others and the Town of Cary to add a barn, farmhouse, dairy cows, and other stock to the model farm.

[14] Busing allowed the county to consolidate schools in Morrisville, Reedy Creek, and Sorrell's Grove with Cary, closing the smaller locations.

[14] At the same time, the Board of Education allocated $38,000 to construct a new building for the Cary High School campus, and an additional $12,000 to update heating systems.

[15] When the Great Depression hit Cary, property values dropped which reduced the school tax income.

[19] At the dedication ceremony on March 4, 1940, Governor Clyde Hoey said Cary was "a beacon of hope and inspiration to other communities of the State".

[22] The next year, the Wake County Board of Commissioners purchased forty acres of land for $30,000 from Luther M. Maynard as a site for a new Cary High School.

[23] In 1958, 150 residents debate the proposed location with the Wake County Board of Education; while many liked the new site, others thought the property which was one mile from downtown was too far out in the country and lacked good road access.

[28] Board of Education member Ferd Davis recalled that Cary was specifically selected for integration because it was an area that was already rapidly changing and "would accept something new more readily".

[27] Some white parents sued the school system over the integration, and the suit was thrown out by the North Carolina Supreme Court.

[25][24] These six African-American girls, chosen to be bright, outgoing, and "strong-willed enough to take what was inevitably coming to them", came to the school amid intense verbal opposition from whites.

[35] In 2012, Clark Nexsen designed a master plan for Phase III of campus updates, including a dining addition and a 100,000-square-foot classroom.

[40] In 2019, Nolan Bryant received a Maggie Award for Best High School Principal in Western Wake County.

[47] Cary High School invested more than $100,000 in electrical, electronic, instrumentation, pneumatic/flow control, and robotic equipment that incorporates current technologies.

[50] At graduation, Honor Students with a GPA of 3.75 or greater receive gold/silver/red tassels for their mortar board and a patch to add to their gown.

[25] The winning seal features pine cones and dogwood blossoms and the Latin phrase Cognito Vincit or Knowledge Conquers.

[25] The Cary High School Alma Mater is sung to the tune of "Over the Summer Sea" or "La Donna e mobile" from the opera Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi.

[52] Research finally revealed the tune and the song were performed by the Cary High Marching Band and Concert Chorus at a football game on October 22, 2021.

[57] In 1972, the band entered and won the Sun-Fun Festival at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, beating the national champs of Wilson High from Reading, Pennsylvania.

[58] That year, the band also competed on a television show called Sounds of '73 that was emceed by Jerry Lewis and viewed twenty to thirty million people.

[30] On December 31, 1973 (televised January 1, 1974), the band marched in the King Orange Bowl Festival parade in Miami, Florida.

[62] Under new director Don Stubblefield, they also marched in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City and were seen by eighty million television viewers.

[65] In 1989, the band marched in the inaugural parade for Governor James G. Martin and the San Diego Holiday Bowl Music Festival.

[68] In 1996 under the leadership of director Tony Robinson, the band received fourteen of fifteen first-place awards at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, including the Grand Champions trophy for best in both parade and field show.

[72][49] In March 2022, the club was involved in fighting censorship of books related to gender, sexuality, and race in the school's library.

[49] In the fall of 1996, alumnus Del Richards donated $40,000 to start a Navy Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (NJROTC) program at the high school.

[75] During the COVID-19 pandemic, students replaced live performances with videos that were edited by alumnus Michael Shorb and then streamed to audiences.

[24] In 1987, The Spirit student newspaper placed first at the American Scholastic Press Association Writing Contest under the leadership of advisor Janice Richardson.

[22] Players included fullback John Yarborough and quarterback Charles Maison who was later an All-American at Elon College.

[86] In 1987, the team was ranked 25th in the nation of 8,600 programs by Amateur Wrestling News and was also featured on ESPN's Scholastic Sports America.