Lawrence Free State High School (FSHS or LFS) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

secondary 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 '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

, operated by

Lawrence USD 497 Lawrence USD 497 is a public unified school district headquartered in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. The district includes the communities of Lawrence, Clinton, Pleasant Grove, and nearby rural areas. It was organized in 1965 and currently ...

school district, and serves students of grades 9 to 12. It is one of two public high schools within the city limits of Lawrence. The current enrollment is 1,786 students. The school colors are hunter green, garnet red, and silver. The current principal is Amy McAnarney. Lawrence Free State is a member of the

Kansas State High School Activities Association The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the U.S. state of Kansas at the high school, high-school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, ...

(KSHSAA) and offers a variety of sports programs. Athletic teams compete in the 6A division and are known as the "Firebirds". Extracurricular activities are also offered in the form of performing arts, school publications, and clubs. Free State's fine arts department received the 2019-2020 KSHSAA Performing Arts School of Excellence award.

History

Lawrence Free State was established in 1997 in response to overcrowding at Lawrence High School, the only public high school in Lawrence at the time. Almost one-third of students at Lawrence High transferred over to Free State at the start of the 1997 school year.

Academics

The College Board recognized Free State High with the 2007-08 Siemens Award for Advanced Placement Participation and Performance. One high school in each state receives this honor and a $1,000 grant for math and science education.

Extracurricular activities

The Firebirds compete in the Sunflower League and are classified as a 6A school, the largest classification in Kansas according to the

. Throughout its history, Lawrence Free State has won fifteen state championships in various sports. Additionally, a small number of graduates have gone on to participate at the collegiate and professional levels.

Athletic programs

From the school's inception in 1997 until 2008, football games were played at

Haskell Memorial Stadium Haskell Memorial Stadium is a sport stadium in Lawrence, Kansas. The facility is primarily used by Haskell Indian Nations University Haskell Indian Nations University is a public tribal land-grant university in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. ...

. Some games were also played at Memorial Stadium at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

. They are now, however, played in a home stadium built in 2009–2010, when a stadium was built for Lawrence High School as well. The boys basketball team is coached by former KU All-American

Sherron Collins Sherron Marlon Collins (born March 18, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for the Kansas City Tornados of the NAPB (NAPB). He formerly played for the Charlotte Bobcats of the National Basketball Associat ...

Non-athletic programs

Free State has a strong music program that is recognized as a top program throughout the state of Kansas. The Free State

chamber choir A chamber choir is a small or medium-sized choir of roughly 8 to 40 singers (occasionally called 'chamber singers'), typically singing classical or religious music in a concert setting. (This is distinct from e.g. a church choir, which sings in rel ...

, advanced treble choir (Aurora), and concert chorale have all received "I" Ratings at KSHSAA every year since its inception in 1997. Free State's theatre program is regionally recognized and has performed shows such as

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the ...

The Pajama Game ''The Pajama Game'' is a musical based on the 1953 novel '' 7½ Cents'' by Richard Bissell. The book is by George Abbott and Richard Bissell; the music and lyrics are by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. and dances were staged by Bob Fosse in his c ...

and

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap ant ...

. The theatre program also performed at the Kansas Thespian Festival in Wichita in 2019 and was named a Gold Honor Troupe there. The Free State

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, ofte ...

were grand champions at the

Missouri Western State University Missouri Western State University is a public university in Saint Joseph, Missouri. As of 2019, it enrolled 5,413 students. History Missouri Western State University was founded in 1915 as a two-year institution called St. Joseph Junior College ...

Tournament of Champions in 2000, 2001, and 2002, in addition to being finalists at the

University of Central Missouri The University of Central Missouri (UCM) is a public university in Warrensburg, Missouri. In 2019, enrollment was 11,229 students from 49 states and 59 countries on its 1,561-acre campus. UCM offers 150 programs of study, including 10 pre-profes ...

Festival of Champions in 2006 and 2007 and the Kansas Bandmasters Marching Championships in 2015. The Free State

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

traveled to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in early 2019 and is starting their tradition of excellence that they have been building since the school's inception. In Fall of 2019, Free State won the

KSHSAA The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the U.S. state of Kansas at the high-school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and sponsors ...

Performing Arts School of Excellence Award for the immense success in Choir, Band, Orchestra, Theater, Debate, and Forensics. In 2022, debate became the first extracurricular activity at Free State to win a National Championship by winning the 2022 Tournament of Champions.

State championships

Notable alumni

Christian Ballard Christian Ballard (born January 3, 1989) is a former American football defensive tackle. He was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round (106th overall) of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football at Iowa. High school career A ...

, former defensive end for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

Cody Kukuk Cody Scott Kukuk (born April 10, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher who played from 2012 through 2014 in the Boston Red Sox Minor League system. In 2015, he was sentenced to prison for an armed robbery. Pitching career Kukuk att ...

, former baseball player drafted by the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Public high schools in Kansas Schools in Lawrence, Kansas Educational institutions established in 1997 Lawrence, Kansas 1997 establishments in Kansas