In 1849, after a decade of service, Prof. Brooks resigned as principal of the school, which had now grown to include 232 students and 7 teachers, excluding Brooks. Rev. Dr. Francis G. Waters, who had been the president of the Washington College, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Chestertown, succeeded Brooks. The following year the city council renamed the school "The Central High School of Baltimore" and granted the commissioners of the public schools the right to confer certificates to the high school's graduates. Exercising that new authority, the new C.H.S. of B. held its first commencement ceremony in 1851 with noted local philosopher, author and leader Severn Teackle Wallis, (1816-1894), as the guest speaker, (Wallis has a bronze statue to his memory and many city accomplishments at the eastern end from the Washington Monument of Mount Vernon Place/East Monument Street facing the intersection with St. Paul Street. This bolstered enrollment in the school, as students were drawn by the prospect of receiving a certificate attesting to their level of education. That year 156 students applied to the school—an increase of 50 students.