Lawrence North High School is a public high school in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, Indiana, United States. The school was founded in 1976 and graduated its first class in 1978. Lawrence North is one of two high schools in the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township, the other one being Lawrence Central High School.

Academics

Enrollment

As of the 2019–20 school year, Lawrence North has an enrollment of 2,619 students. The student population is mostly African-American, followed equally by

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

and

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

. Thirteen percent of the students are involved in

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

, ten percent qualify for English language learner support, and fifty-four percent qualify for free or reduced price lunch. The teachers, however, are seventy-seven percent white, and most of them have more than twenty years of teaching experience.

Awards and recognition

Lawrence North is recognized by the

Indiana Department of Education The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) oversees primary and secondary education in the U.S. state of Indiana. The department is managed by the Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction, an elected office most recently held by Jennifer McCo ...

as a Four-Star School, the highest honor that body can confer. It is also fully accredited by the

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It w ...

Programs

Lawrence North offer 23

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

courses, 38 dual credit courses, and houses an

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

program, which was started in July 2003. It is also distinctive for being the only school in the district that is designated as a K-12 Spanish Language Immersion Program, a program recently recognized as an International Spanish Academy by

Spanish Ministry of Education The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MEFP) is the department of the Government of Spain responsible for proposing and carrying out the government policy on education and vocational training, including all the teachings of the educa ...

. Vocational courses are offered in neighboring McKenzie Center for Innovation and Technology. In addition, other World Languages program like French, German, and

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ...

are also offered.

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

Currently, it offer ten sports programs for both boys and girls, as well as several club and intramural teams. The Wildcats is a member of the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference, a member conference of Indiana High School Athletic Association. They have won 14 state-level championships to date. Lawrence North is a household name in Indiana high school boys basketball. They have won one national, four state, six regional, 17 sectional, and 16 conference titles under guidance of Jack Keefer, one of Indiana's most legendary basketball coach who had managed the program since its establishment in 1976. Shooting guard

Brad Leaf Brad Leaf ( he, ברד ליף; born May 17, 1960) is an American-Israeli basketball coach and former player. He played 17 years of professional basketball in Israel, first for Hapoel Galil Elyon and later for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israel Premie ...

led all

Marion County, Indiana Marion County is located in the U.S. state of Indiana. The 2020 United States census, 2020 United States census reported a population of 977,203, making it the largest county in the state and 51st List of the most populous counties in the United ...

, scorers as a senior at Lawrence North in 1978 with a 25.5-point average, with a single-game high of 38 points. The first state title came in 1989, when the team was led by

Eric Montross Eric Scott “Big Grits” Montross (born September 23, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for eight seasons with the Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, New Jersey Nets ...

. The next three titles came in a row on 2004, 2005, and 2006, guided by future NBA players

Greg Oden Gregory Wayne Oden Jr. (born January 22, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player. Oden, a 7'0" (2.13m) center (basketball), center, played college basketball at Ohio State University for 2006–07 Ohio State Buckeyes men's bask ...

and

Mike Conley, Jr. Michael Alex Conley Jr. (born October 11, 1987) is an American professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was drafted as the fourth pick in the 2007 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. Conle ...

The program has also produced 13 Indiana All-Stars. Keefer is the first coach from Indiana to be named National High School Coach of the Year by USA Today, Sports Illustrated and the National High School Coaches Association in 2006, and inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007. He is one of eight high school coaches in Indiana history to have 700 or more victories, and in 2016 the gymnasium was renamed in his honor.

Marching Band

Lawrence North's band program was merged with its Lawrence Central counterpart to form Marching Pride of Lawrence Township in 2014. It currently has more than 250 members, divided into various program such as

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 ...

, color guard, winter guard,

concert band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

, jazz band, and pep band. They are selected to participate in 2017

Rose Parade The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses Parade (or simply the Tournament of Roses), is an annual parade held mostly along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, United States, on New Year's Day (or on Monday, January 2 if N ...

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

Student publication

The main publication of the school is ''North Star'', a student-run newspaper that is published ten times a year. There is also yearbook program ''LYNX'', video news program ''Cat's Eye'', and literary magazine.

Other activities

Other Lawrence North clubs and organizations including Model United Nations,

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is a nationwide organization for high school students in the United States and outlying territories, which consists of many chapters in high schools. Selection is based on four criteria: scholarship (academic achi ...

, Academic Team, Drama Club, Speech and Debate, Inside/Out, Spanish Honor Society, Show Choir, Chess Club, Bilingual Newsletter, Performance Dance Team, International Club, Lynx (Yearbook), Ski and Snowboarding and Principal's Advisory Council.

Notable alumni

Steve Bellamy Steve Bellamy is an entrepreneur in sports and entertainment known for the founding of niche cable television networks, including the Tennis Channel, The Surf Channel, The Skate Channel and The Ski Channel. He is also a writer/director/producer of ...

– Sports and media entrepreneur, founder of

The Tennis Channel Tennis Channel is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Sinclair Television Group subsidiary of the Sinclair Broadcast Group. It is devoted to events and other programming related to the game of ...

and

The Ski Channel The Ski Channel is a Video On Demand Cable, Satellite and Telco television channel distributed on Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Verizon FiOS, Brighthouse Networks, Cablevision, RCN, AT&T U-Verse and Cox Communications. The technical term ...

Eddie Casiano Eddie Casiano Ojeda (born September 20, 1972) is a Puerto Rican former professional basketball player and is currently the head coach for Atléticos de San Germán. He also was the head coach of the Puerto Rican national team. He was born in Ma ...

– Puerto Rican basketball player, current coach of Puerto Rico national basketball team *

– NBA player for Utah Jazz * Nick Hardwick – Former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

center for the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

Kenny Irwin Jr. Kenneth Dale Irwin Jr. (August 5, 1969 – July 7, 2000) was an American stock car racing driver. He had driven in all three NASCAR national touring series, and had two total victories, both in the Craftsman Truck Series (today Camping World Truck ...

– Former NASCAR driver, killed in crash on 2000 * Felisha Johnson – Ranked 14th at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in women's shot put * Caleb Jones –

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

Forrest Landis Forrest Landis (born August 9, 1994) is an American former actor, skateboarder, producer and writer. He is perhaps best known for his roles of Mark Baker in ''Cheaper by the Dozen'' and Rhett Loud in ''Flightplan ''Flightplan'' is a 2005 m ...

– Former child actor, best known for his role as Mark Baker in ''Cheaper by the Dozen'' 1 & 2 *

Scott Leonard Charles Scott Leonard IV (born October 11, 1965) is an American singer and a member of the cappella group Rockapella, the former house band on the PBS children's geography game show '' Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'' Biography Leonard w ...

– Frontman of the music group Rockapella *

– American-Israeli basketball player for Hapoel Galil Elyon and Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israel Premier League *

Christine Montross Christine Elaine Montross (born 1973) is an American medical doctor and writer. First a published poet and a high school teacher, she later took up medical studies, and became an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown Univers ...

– Psychiatrist and writer *

– Former NBA player for the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

, New Jersey Nets,

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

, Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors *

– Former NBA player for the Miami Heat and Portland Trail Blazers * Ashley Spencer – Bronze medalist at the

in women's 400 metres hurdles *

Tiara Thomas Tiara Nicole Thomas (born September 12, 1989) is an American R&B singer. In 2013, she was featured on the Wale single " Bad", which has been certified 3× platinum. That same year, Thomas landed a label deal with Interscope Records, a label u ...

– Singer-songwriter and record producer *

Nolan Watson Nolan Watson (born August 1, 1979) is a Canadian businessman, humanitarian, investor, and philanthropist. He is known for his contribution to finance innovation in the mining industry. Watson began working in mine finance with Silver Wheaton Co ...

– MLB player for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...