Lake Highlands High School (LHHS) is a secondary school serving grades 9–12 in the Lake Highlands area of northeastern Dallas, Texas, United States, primarily serving the Lake Highlands community. The school is part of the Richardson Independent School District and is in central Lake Highlands near the DART Blue Line. The Lake Highlands Freshman Center (which sits on the same property as LHHS) formerly housed the 9th-grade students, but has recently been integrated into the rest of the school, housing classes for all 9–12 students. The first graduating class of Lake Highlands High School was in 1964.
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History
The first two schools in the Lake Highlands community were Lake Highlands Elementary School, which hosted grades 1–4, and Wallace Elementary, which housed grades 5–8, as the original high school building was under construction in 1959. Officially, Lake Highlands High School was established in 1960 at what is now Lake Highlands Jr. High School at the corner of Ferndale and Walnut Hill. The current campus on Church Road was opened (albeit under construction) in 1964, with the class of 1970 being the first to graduate from the new campus. The 1978 made-for-television film Cotton Candy was shot at the high school. The film was both directed and produced by Ron Howard.
On May 16, 1983, Lake Highlands High School was the site of a fatal armed robbery when Billy Conn Gardner (1943–1995) entered the school's office, shot and fatally wounded 64-year-old cafeteria supervisor Thelma Row, and stole $1,600 in cash. Gardner was sentenced to death for the crime and was executed by lethal injection in 1995.
On May 30, 2021, valedictorian Paxton Smith replaced her approved speech to the graduating class to attack the limitations on abortion in Texas Senate Bill 8 of the 87th legislature, a heartbeat bill signed by the governor earlier that month.
Academics
In 2002, the school received a Blue Ribbon award from the U.S. Department of Education.
Extracurricular activities
Athletics
The school mascot is the Wildcat. This is also the mascot of several of the high school's feeder schools including Lake Highlands Elementary, Northlake Elementary, and Lake Highlands Junior High School.
The school won its first state title in 1964 in Class 2A Cross Country, and repeated in 1965 and 1966 in Class 3A.
The school's football team won the class 5A state championship in 1981.
The school has also won the 1968 and 2023 State Championships in Class 3A and 6A, respectively.
Boys golf won the Class 5A Team State Championship in 1988.
The powerlifting team won Texas High School Powerlifting Association State Championships in 1982, 1983 and 1987. The school won National High School Powerlifting Championships in 1983 and 1986.
Students at Lake Highlands play in the Texas High School Lacrosse League under the banner of The Black Cats, which is composed of players from LHHS as well as Hillcrest High School (Dallas), Bryan Adams High School and Woodrow Wilson High School (Dallas) and play their home games at Franklin Field.
As the second high school in the Richardson Independent School District, the Wildcats maintained a long standing rivalry with the Richardson High School Eagles. The two teams shared the old Greenville Avenue Stadium, which was located by the now RISD Administration Building, before both schools opened stadiums on their respective campuses. With the opening of L.V. Berkner High School and the eventual sharing of Wildcat-Ram Stadium, that rivalry naturally occurred. Recently, a rivalry with the J.J. Pearce High School Mustangs has grown. Outside of the RISD, the Wildcats and Plano Senior High School have played each other since the 1960s, while a recent rivalry had blossomed with Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas due to both proximity and the fact that the private school pulls a large number of its students from north Dallas, often from the RISD areas.
Band
The school is the home of the "Wildcat Band", which consists of the Wildcat Marching Band, Jazz Band, several Concert Bands (including Concert, Symphonic, and Wind Ensemble), Winterguard, Percussion Program, Symphony Orchestra, and puts on a yearly Musical. The Symphonic Band made its first trip to the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in December 1971. Later that school year, the band was selected as the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Honor Band and performed at the TMEA convention in February 1973.
Dance team
The school is home of the "Wildcat Wranglers", one of the few high school Country/Western dance teams existing in the United States.
The school is also the home of the "Highlandettes", a Texas-style dance squad. They have performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade numerous times, as well as at many Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Stars, and Dallas Mavericks games. They have also danced in Dublin, Ireland for the St. Patrick's Day parade; in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii, London, England; and Italy.
Notable alumni
Amy Acker - actress, Angel
Erin Aldrich - track and field athlete, high jumper in 2000 Summer Olympics
Nicole Bilderback - actress
Paul Broome - Major League Soccer player
Josh Carter - basketball guard; Texas A&M University, Maccabi Ashdod B.C.
Warren Carter - University of Illinois basketball forward
Marcus Coleman - former NFL safety for New York Jets, Houston Texans, and Dallas Cowboys
John A. Davis - film director, writer, animator, voice actor and composer
Phil Dawson - NFL kicker; Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns
Matt Dunigan - CFL Hall of Famer
Morgan Fairchild - Emmy and Golden Globe Award-nominated actress
George Gimarc - local radio personality
Merton Hanks - former NFL safety for San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks
Chris Harrison - host of TV show The Bachelor
Gibby Haynes - musician, lead singer for rock band Butthole Surfers
C.B. Hudson - lead guitarist of rock band Blue October