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 Gilbert Unified School District #41 (GUSD), also known as Gilbert Public Schools (GPS), is a school district based in Gilbert, Arizona, United States in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The district is the 7th largest in Arizona, and serves over ...

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 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 ...

's 6A Conference and competes in Division I in all AIA sports.

Campus

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

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. 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. Graduation from Highland entails a

baccalaureate service A baccalaureate service (or baccalaureate Mass) is a celebration that honors a graduating class from a college, high school, or middle school. The event is typically a Christianity-based interdenominational (ecumenical) service, though it may ...

and a

commencement ceremony Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is al ...

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

Student life

Highland hosts more than 70 activities and student clubs. The school has participated in

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that weig ...

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. 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. The school's

Future Farmers of America National FFA Organization is an American 501(c)(3) youth organization, specifically a career and technical student organization, based on middle and high school classes that promote and support agricultural education. It was founded in 1925 at Vi ...

(FFA) Chapter won first in state for its ag sales team in 2007. Other groups at Highland include contingents for

Academic Decathlon The Academic Decathlon (also called AcDec, AcaDeca or AcaDec) is an annual high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). The competition consists of seven objective multiple choice tests, tw ...

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

Prom A promenade dance, commonly called a prom, is a dance party for high school students. It may be offered in semi-formal black tie or informal suit for boys, and evening gowns for girls. This event is typically held near the end of the school y ...

. Twenty-three percent of HHS students participate in a daily, release-time

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

program operated by

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

, which has a religious instruction building adjacent to campus.

Athletics

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: *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 *Girls' soccer: 2012, 2015 *Boys' volleyball: 2004, 2005, 2013 *Wrestling: 2001, 2005, 2009 *Varsity Football: 2021, 2022

Performing arts

Highland's band program has an enrollment of over 300 students in four year-round concert bands, four year-round jazz bands, four spring woodwind choirs, and a competitive marching band. The marching band has received national recognition, and has marched in the

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been pla ...

Parade (1999), the Disneyland Light Parade (2000), the

Tournament of Roses Parade A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

(2001), the

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with ...

(2004) and the 2021

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

Memorial Parade in

Waikiki Waikiki (; haw, Waikīkī; ; also known as Waikiki Beach) is a neighborhood of Honolulu on the south shore of the island of Oahu in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Waikiki is most famous for Waikiki Beach, which is one of six beaches in the district ...

commemorating the 80th anniversary of the bombings. It ranked #4 in the

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 New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in March 2007 to perform at Carnegie Hall under the direction of then

Mormon Tabernacle Choir The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir, acting as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for ov ...

director

Craig Jessop Craig D. Jessop (born 1949) is an American academic, musician and singer best known for his tenure as the music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Choir) from 1999 to 2008. Biography A native of Millville, Utah, Jessop has been a lifelong ...

. Previously, it performed at Chicago's Orchestra Hall and at the MENC National Conference in 1998. Highland's orchestra also performed at Carnegie Hall (2002), and its Symphonic Orchestra performed at the

Midwest Clinic The Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference is the world's largest instrumental music education conference, annually drawing approximately 17,000 attendees to Chicago from all 50 states and as many as forty countries. It is he ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1997, 2007, 2013 and most recently in 2021. HHS is the only school in Arizona to have been selected twice to perform at the Midwest Clinic.

Alumni

Marquis Cooper Marquis Victor Cooper (March 11, 1982 – March 2009, missing, presumed dead) was an American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) . He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft. Cooper ...

'00, former NFL linebacker *

Ryan Fitzpatrick Ryan Joseph Fitzpatrick (born November 24, 1982) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. During his career, Fitzpatrick started at quarterback for nine different teams, the most ...

'01, former NFL quarterback * Spencer Larsen '02, former NFL fullback/linebacker *

Shane Loux Shane Alan Loux (born August 31, 1979) is an American minor league baseball pitching coach for the Hillsboro Hops, the High-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks and a retired pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Ti ...

'98, former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

relief pitcher *

Alex Naddour Alexander "Alex" Naddour (born March 4, 1991) is a former American artistic gymnast. He was part of the bronze medal team at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Naddour was an alternate for Team USA at the 2012 Summer Olympics ...

'09, U.S.

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

medalist in gymnastics *

Matt Pagnozzi Matthew Thomas Pagnozzi (born November 10, 1982) is an American former professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, and Milwaukee Brewers ...

'01, former MLB catcher *

James Pazos James Manuel Pazos (pronounced PAH-zohse; born May 5, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has also played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, and Colorado Rockies. He ...

'09, MLB pitcher *

Brynn Rumfallo Brynn Rumfallo is an American dancer, actress and model. She rose to fame in 2013 as a contestant on the eighth season of '' America's Got Talent'' with her dance team called “Fresh Faces”. She later garnered attention for her contemporary ...

, American reality television show cast member and model *

Chaz Schilens Chazeray Dijon "Chaz" Schilens (born Chazeray Dijon Simmons; November 7, 1985) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played high school football at Hi ...

'03, former NFL wide receiver

References

External links

Official Highland High School website
{{authority control Education in Gilbert, Arizona Educational institutions established in 1993 Public high schools in Arizona Schools in Maricopa County, Arizona 1993 establishments in Arizona