Sitka High School (abbreviated SHS) is the principal

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 ...

for the Southeast Alaskan community of

Sitka russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...

and the Sitka School District. The school's student body is primarily composed of

Alaskan Natives Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik peoples, Yupik, A ...

, and Asian-Pacific Islanders and Caucasians.

Academics

Three

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 are offered:

AP Statistics Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics (also known as AP Stats) is a college-level high school statistics course offered in the United States through the College Board's Advanced Placement program. This course is equivalent to a one semester, non-ca ...

AP Calculus Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus (also known as AP Calc, Calc AB / Calc BC or simply AB / BC) is a set of two distinct Advanced Placement calculus courses and exams offered by the American nonprofit organization College Board. AP Calculus AB cove ...

, and

AP Human Geography Advanced Placement (AP) Human Geography (also known as AP Human Geo, AP Geography, APHG, AP HuGe, AP HuG, AP Human, or HGAP) is an Advanced Placement social studies course in human geography for high school students in the US, culminating in an e ...

. Sondra Lundvick is the current principal and Tyler McCarty is the current vice principal.

Extracurriculars

Sitka High School's sports teams are known as the Sitka Wolves with female teams sometimes known as the Lady Wolves. All teams compete at the 3A level of interscholastic competition in Alaska (as dictated by the

Alaska School Activities Association The Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA) is the regulating body for high school interscholastic activities in Alaska and is Alaska's member to the National Federation of State High School Associations. History The Alaska High School Activ ...

), the second highest level of competition available in the state for schools with an enrollment less than 400. SHS's traditionally most successful sports are

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

, and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

, with the former two claiming state championships in the 2004–2005 school year and with baseball and swimming claiming championships in the 2005–2006 school year. In the 2006–2007 school year, boys' swimming claimed another state championship and the Wolves baseball three-peated, winning their state for the third time in a row. In the past three years Sitka High School has won the Region V 4A Wrestling championships twice. SHS is also renowned for its competitive

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

, and

forensics Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and crimina ...

(DDF) team, which has multiple state championships under its belt, including a forensics state championship in 2005–2006, 2008–2009, and 2009–2010, starting in 2016 and continuing to 2022 the sitka high DDF tea, has gone undefeated. Sitka high is also known for its music program and jazz band, which has taken awards at the

Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival The Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival is an annual jazz festival, the largest west of the Mississippi River, that takes place in February on the campus of the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. In 2007, the festival was awarded the National Medal ...

and Columbia Basin Jazz Festival. Sitka High's traditional rivals consist of the boarding school

Mt. Edgecumbe High School Mt. Edgecumbe High School (abbreviated MEHS) is a public boarding high school in Sitka, Alaska in the United States. Located on Japonski Island, across Sitka Harbor from the northwestern corner of downtown Sitka, the school is situated on a por ...

, which is also located in Sitka (across the O'Connell Bridge on

Japonski Island Japonski Island ( tli, Yak'w Kashaneixí, russian: остров Японский, ja, ヤポンスキー島) is a small island in the city of Sitka in the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska, United States. It lies across the Sitka Chann ...

), and its 4A southeast rivals

Juneau-Douglas High School Juneau-Douglas Yadaa.at Kalé High School (abbreviated JDHS or JDYKHS) is one of three high schools in Juneau, Alaska. It is one of two primary high schools for the Juneau School District, the other being Thunder Mountain High School. While Jun ...

and

Ketchikan High School Ketchikan High School, often referred to as Kayhi, is the principal high school for the Southeast Alaska community of Ketchikan and the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District. See also * List of high schools in Alaska This is a list of hig ...

. However, the recent change to 3A means the Juneau-Douglas Bears and the Ketchikan Kings no longer compete against the Sitka Wolves for regional and state titles. , the school has an enrollment of just under 350 students, making it the fourth largest high school per enrollment in Southeast Alaska behind Ketchikan High School, Juneau-Douglas High School, and Thunder Mountain High School, the 21st largest in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. Sitka is among the largest of the 3A classified schools in the state.

Sitka High School Auditorium

The Sitka High School Auditorium is a 617-seat

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

facility attached to Sitka High. It functions as a performing center for all performance arts in Sitka from ballet recitals to band concerts.

3A switch

As of 2007, Sitka High School made the decision to move from 4A to a 3A school because of a decrease in student enrollment over the previous decade. This will affect many activities and sports such as wrestling, basketball, and cross-country. The decision took effect in the 2008–09 school year.

References

External links

Sitka High School website

Sitka School District website
{{coord, 57.0622, -135.3399, type:edu_region:US-AK, display=title Educational institutions established in the 1940s Educational institutions in the United States with year of establishment missing Public high schools in Alaska Schools in Sitka, Alaska