Highland High School (Arizona)

Public high school located in Gilbert, Arizona

Highland High School

Home of the Hawks

Address

4301 E. Guadalupe Rd.

Gilbert, Arizona

Maricopa

Arizona

85234

United States

Coordinates| 33°21′49″N 111°41′53″W﻿ / ﻿33.363611°N 111.698056°W﻿ / 33.363611; -111.698056
Information
Type| Public High school
Established| 1993
School district| Gilbert Public Schools
Principal| Brian Yee
Teaching staff| 130.20 (FTE)[1]
Grades| 9–12
Enrollment| 3,174 (2022–2023)[1]
Student to teacher ratio| 24.38[1]
Campus type| Suburban
Color(s)|  Black and teal
Athletics conference| 6A - Central, Division I[2]
Mascot| Hawks
Rival| Gilbert High School[3]
Newspaper| The Highland Sun
Yearbook| Talon
Website| Official website

Highland High School (HHS) is a public high school located in Gilbert, Arizona, United States. It was built in 1992 and is part of the Gilbert Public Schools district. It accommodates grades 9–12, and in 2010, the school had a student body of 2,957.

In athletics, the school is known collectively as the Highland Hawks. Highland is a member of the Arizona Interscholastic Association's 6A Conference and competes in Division I in all AIA sports.[4]

## Campus

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Highland High School is located at 4301 E. Guadalupe Road in Gilbert, Arizona, on the south side of Guadalupe between Recker Road and Power Road. Its campus includes a two-story main building, and separate buildings for athletics, administration, and the performing arts. It has a gymnasium, three baseball diamonds, a football field, a marching band practice field, a softball field, and two soccer fields. The school features a student-run convenience store, the Spirit Store, which also sells Highland branded merchandise. An on-campus cafeteria offers school meal options as well as offerings from nationwide vendors. A library serves the student body from 7 am to 4 pm.

## Academics

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Highland's academic offers are organized under 12 departments: Agriculture, Business, English, Family & Consumer Science, Fine & Performing Arts, Industrial Arts, Math, Modern Language, Physical Education/Education for the body, Science, Social Studies, and Special Education.

Honors courses are offered in English literature, laboratory science, and math, for first- and second-year students. Upperclassmen may then elect to participate in any of 17 Advanced Placement (AP) courses taught at the school.[5] Highland students who maintain at least a 3.8 GPA during the first three grading quarters are recognized as Golden Scholars at a ceremony at the end of each year.[6] Graduation from Highland entails a baccalaureate service and a commencement ceremony.

In 2004, Highland was honored as a Blue Ribbon school.[7]

## Student life

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Highland hosts more than 70 activities and student clubs. The school has participated in FIRST Robotics Competition either as a stand-alone entity or in partnership with other schools or universities. It won the AZ Regional FRC Competition in 2007, 2008, 2009. It won LA Vegas FRC in 2008. It won the AZ regional FTC competition in 2011 and 2012.[8] It took first place in 2009 and 2010 at the university level at NURC in cooperation with teammates from Arizona State University. It won the Sparkfun AVC (Autonomous Vehicle Challenge) competition in 2012.[8]

The school's Future Farmers of America (FFA) Chapter won first in state for its ag sales team in 2007.[citation needed]

Other groups at Highland include contingents for Academic Decathlon.

Dances sponsored by the school are Homecoming, Winter Formal, Morp (Valentine's dance; "Prom" spelled backwards, where girls ask guys), and Prom.

Twenty-three percent of HHS students participate in a daily, release-time seminary program operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has a religious instruction building adjacent to campus.

### Athletics

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Highland is known collectively as the Highland Hawks in athletic competition and has won several team and individual state titles.

State championships for the Hawks in sports include the following:

* Boys' basketball: 2023
* Girls' basketball: 1994, 1995, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009
* Girls' cross country: 2021
* Boys' cross country: 2011, 2019
* Boys' croquet: 2003, 2010
* Boys' soccer: 2007, 2009[9]
* Girls' soccer: 2012, 2015
* Boys' volleyball: 2004, 2005, 2013 [10]
* Wrestling: 2001, 2005, 2009
* Varsity Football: 2021, 2022
* Girls Track: 2023

### Performing arts

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Highland's band program has an enrollment of over 300 students[11] in three year-round concert bands, three year-round jazz bands, two spring woodwind choirs, and a competitive marching band. The marching band has received national recognition, and has marched in the Fiesta Bowl Parade (1999), the Disneyland Light Parade (2000), the Tournament of Roses Parade (2001), the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (2004)[12] and the 2021 Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Waikiki commemorating the 80th anniversary of the bombings.[13] It ranked #4 in the Fiesta Bowl National Band Championship Competition in 1999 and in 2009. In addition, the Highland Marching Band has been in the top division(s) in the State of Arizona for over 28 consecutive years and consistently qualify for state championships. Furthermore, they are two time state champions with being the first band to ever win the ABODA Division 1 State Marching Band Championship in 2009 and the AzMBA 4A State Championship in 2016.

Uniquely, The Jazz Program hosts a yearly Highland/ASU Jazz Festival for the past 11 years and has the only United Sound Jazz Band Program in the United States. Accolades from the Highland jazz program includes the 2010 and 2017 Judge’s Most Outstanding (Jazz Black), and the 2013, 2015 AMEA State In-Service Performance (Jazz Black).

The Concert Choir traveled to New York City in March 2007 to perform at Carnegie Hall under the direction of then Mormon Tabernacle Choir director Craig Jessop. Previously, it performed at Chicago's Orchestra Hall and at the MENC National Conference in 1998.[14]

Highland's orchestra also performed at Carnegie Hall (2002),[15] and its Symphonic Orchestra performed at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago in 1997, 2007, 2013 and most recently in 2021.[16] The orchestra program currently has over 250 enrolled students and five performing groups.[17] The Highland orchestra has also been a participating program in the nationwide program United Sound since United Sound first started with five schools in 2014.[18][19]

In 2023 the theatre program performed Disney's Frozen: The Broadway Musical. This performance was made possible by winning the rights to perform the production through the United States of Frozen nationwide competition, in which one school in each state was awarded the privilege to be the first school in their state to perform the musical.[20]

## Alumni

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* Marquis Cooper '00, former NFL linebacker[21]
* Ryan Fitzpatrick '01, former NFL quarterback[22]
* Spencer Larsen '02, former NFL fullback/linebacker[23]
* Shane Loux '98, former MLB relief pitcher[24]
* Austin McNamara '19, college football punter for the Texas Tech Red Raiders[25]
* Alex Naddour '09, U.S. Olympic medalist in gymnastics[26]
* Matt Pagnozzi '01, former MLB catcher[27]
* James Pazos '09, MLB pitcher[28]
* Brynn Rumfallo, reality television show cast member and model[29]
* Chaz Schilens '03, former NFL wide receiver[30]

## References

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1. ^ a b c "Highland High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
2. ^ "2018 - 2020 Master Conferences". Arizona Interscholastic Association. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
3. ^ "Arizona HS rivals helping elementary school principal fight cancer". USA Today High School Sports. November 27, 2018. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
4. ^ AIA member schools directory
5. ^ "Advanced Placement". HHS. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
6. ^ "Hawk Talk" (PDF). Highland High School. March 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
7. ^ http://www2.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-2003.pdf [bare URL PDF]
8. ^ a b "FRC Event Web : Home".
9. ^ Kyle Odegard, Tribune. "Gilbert Highland boys win soccer title | VarsityXtra - Arizona High School Sports". Varsity.evtrib.com. Retrieved September 17, 2010.[permanent dead link‍]
10. ^ http://www.azcentral.com/sports/preps/articles/2011/04/26/20110426arizona-best-high-school-boys-volleyball-programs.html [dead link‍]
11. ^ "Welcome". HHS bands. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
12. ^ "Gilbert band heats up NYC". Azcentral.com. November 26, 2004. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
13. ^ "Highland High School band to play in Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Hawaii". 12news.com. December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
14. ^ "About the choir". HHS choir. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
15. ^ "Festival of Orchestras". Carnegiehall.org. December 1, 2002. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
16. ^ "Midwest Clinic Performing Organizations - Hig..." Midwest Clinic. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
17. ^ "** Highland Orchestras **". highlandorchestras.org. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
18. ^ Tribune (November 27, 2014). "Highland High in Gilbert adds United Sound to orchestra program". East Valley Tribune. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
19. ^ Reichl, Lori Schwartz (April 2020). "United Sound: Putting Passion to Practice". Teaching Music.
20. ^ "Highland High theatre wins rights to put on Disney's Frozen: The Broadway Musical - Daily Independent". The Daily Independent at YourValley.net. September 26, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
21. ^ "Highland honors the late Marquis Cooper". Sports 360 AZ. October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
22. ^ Cameron, Brody. "Fitzpatrick: Most Successful Highland Football Alumni". Highland Sun. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
23. ^ "Spencer Larsen football stats". Stats Crew. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
24. ^ "Shane Loux Stats". MLB. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
25. ^ Scott, Dana (October 19, 2018). "Highland's McNamara a tall order for foes". Arizona Republic. p. C9 - via Newspapers.com.
26. ^ "Alex Naddour". Team USA. Archived from the original on October 25, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
27. ^ "Matt Pagnozzi Stats". Baseball America. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
28. ^ "Chandler-Gilbert Community College honors alumnus for Major League Baseball debut | Chandler". eastvalleytribune.com. February 11, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
29. ^ Rimal, Samriddhi (May 23, 2021). "Does Brynn Rumfallo still dance? How much is her worth?". American Star Buzz. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
30. ^ "Chaz Schilens helps Raiders take emotional win over Texans". AZ Preps 365. Retrieved October 10, 2021.

## External links

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* Official Highland High School website

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI

Geographic|

* NCES