Cactus Shadows High School is a public

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located in Cave Creek, Arizona. It is the only high school in the

Cave Creek Unified School District The Cave Creek Unified School District is the school district serving Cave Creek and Carefree, Arizona, as well as the northern portion of Scottsdale and a sliver of eastern Phoenix. It operates one high school (Cactus Shadows High School C ...

. In 1974 the first committee met in Cave Creek to form a high school. In the fall of 1982, the doors opened to the first campus located at 60th Street with grades 7-9. (This campus is currently Black Mountain Elementary School.) The first graduating class was in 1986. In January 1995, Cactus Shadows High School opened in its current location at 5802 E. Dove Valley Rd. In the summer of 1999, the second phase of building the campus was completed. In 2006 six classrooms were occupied at the former Black Mountain Elementary School, now called Cactus Shadows East Campus. The district is building 38,000 new square feet of classroom space at Cactus Shadows and an expanded cafeteria, as well as repainting the school and upgrading its numerous systems.

Athletics

Cactus Shadows athletics compete at the Division II level and is a member of the

Arizona Interscholastic Association The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) is one of two regulatory bodies for high school athletics and activities in the state of Arizona. It comprises all of the state's public district high schools (except Ajo High School, Beaver Dam High S ...

. Programs provided include: *Boys Golf (Fall) *Girls Golf (Fall) *Cross Country (Fall) *Swim and Dive (Fall) *Football (Fall) *Girls Volleyball (Fall) *Hockey (Fall) *Mountain Biking (Fall) *Boys Basketball (Winter) *Girls Basketball (Winter) *Boys Soccer (Winter) *Girls Soccer (Winter) *Wrestling (Winter) *Baseball (Winter) (Spring) *Softball (Spring) *Boys Tennis (Spring) *Girls Tennis (Spring) *Track and Field (Spring) *Girls Beach Volleyball (Spring) *Boys Volleyball (Spring) *Cheer (All Year) *Pom (All Year) *Unified Sports (Cheer/ Track & Field) Cactus Shadows Cheer is the current 2014 USA National Champions in the Super Varsity Show Cheer Advanced Division. The All Girl Stunt Group took 2nd Place in the 2014 Nationals. The All Girl Stunt Group are the 2011 USA National Champions! They are the reigning 8 time AIA Division II Varsity Cheer State Champions (2006-2007-2008-2009-2010-2011-2013-2014) and Spiritline Overall Champions (2006-2007-2008-2009-2011-2013-2014), and the 7 time AZ State Cheer Varsity Champions. Cactus Shadows Football was the 4A Division II State Champion in 2006 Cactus Shadows Boys Tennis was the 4A Division II State Champion in 2006 and 2007 Cactus Shadows Baseball was the 4A Division II State Champion in 2006

Cactus Shadows Nest

The Cactus Shadows Nest is the student section at Cactus Shadows. Among basketball student sections, Cactus Shadows was ranked 7th best in Arizona by AZCentral in 2014, and the only division II school in the rankings. The Nest is known for their annual Silent Night game. Cactus Shadows Nest 1.jpg Cactus Shadows Nest 2.jpg

Notable alumni

Taylor Lewan Taylor Curtis Lewan (born July 22, 1991) is an American football tackle for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Michigan, where he twice received first-team All-American honors, and was sel ...

, Class of 2009, Professional football player for the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

(transferred to Chaparral High School) *

Jaron Long Jaron Long (born August 28, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. Prior to playing professionally, Long played college baseball for Chandler-Gilbert Community College and Ohio State University. Career Long atte ...

, Class of 2010, baseball player *

Lauren Lazo Lauren Taylor Lazo (born May 5, 1993) is an American professional soccer player who played for the Boston Breakers in the National Women's Soccer League. Career College and amateur Lazo played college soccer at Princeton University between 20 ...

, Class of 2011, Professional Soccer Player *

Kiowa Gordon Kiowa Joseph Gordon (born March 25, 1990) is an American actor of Hualapai descent. He is best known for his role as shapeshifter Embry Call in '' The Twilight Saga,'' as well as Junior in the TV series ''The Red Road''. Early life Gordon wa ...

, actor

References

{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1982 International Baccalaureate schools in Arizona Schools in Maricopa County, Arizona 1982 establishments in Arizona Public high schools in Arizona