Forest Lake Area High School, also known as Forest Lake High School, is a public four-year high school in

Forest Lake, Minnesota Forest Lake is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States, located 27 miles northeast of Saint Paul. The population was 20,611 at the 2020 census. The 2021 population is 20,608. History Forest Lake began as a stop on the St. Paul ...

, United States, founded in 1909. The school is a member of Minnesota Independent School District 831 (Forest Lake Area School District). The school competes in the Suburban East Conference of the Minnesota State High School League. From 1941 to 1963, Forest Lake High School’s “Forest Breeze” newspaper was named the best school newspaper in the state of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

, and one of the 10 best in the country, being named the number one school newspaper in the country several times in the 1940s. Forest Lake High School was shown by the Minnesota Report Card to have proficiency in math at 60.3%, reading at 61.3% and science at 58.5%. The graduation rate is 84.8%. Forest Lake High School was named one of the top 1,500 high schools in the country by ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' Magazine in 2013. Forest Lake High School was one of only 35 schools from around the country to be awarded the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Departmen ...

Green Ribbon award for its environmental efforts in May 2019.

Athletics

Forest Lake High School Football Stadium

Forest Lake Area High School has won state team championships in: *Wrestling—1993 *Boys' True Team Track & Field—1993 *Boys' Nordic Skiing—2005 *Boys' Nordic Skiing—2006 *Boys' Nordic Skiing—2008 *Boys' Nordic Skiing—2009 *Boys' Nordic Skiing—2014 *Boys' Alpine Skiing—2015 *Boys' Alpine Skiing—2015 *Boys' Nordic Skiing—2020 *Girls' Nordic Skiing—2021 *Girls' Softball-2022

Odyssey of the Mind

The Forest Lake Area High School Odyssey of the Mind teams won state championships in 1992 and 1993.

Notable people

Patricia Anderson Patricia "Patti" Anderson (born June 4, 1966) is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2023. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, Anderson represents District 33A in the northeastern Twin Citi ...

, former Minnesota state auditor. (1984) *

Rick Bayless Rick Bayless (born November 23, 1953) is an American chef and restaurateur who specializes in traditional Mexican cuisine with modern interpretations. He is widely known for his PBS series '' Mexico: One Plate at a Time''. Among his various acc ...

, All-Big 10 and

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 expansi ...

running back. (1983) * James B. Bullard, president of the

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the United States' central bank. Missouri is the only state to have two main Federal Reserve Banks (Ka ...

. (1979) * Dick Furey, former professional basketball player, was basketball, football and baseball coach at Forest Lake High School. * Patrick Gleason, comic book artist. (1995) *

Jeff Graba Jeff Joseph Graba (born December 26, 1968) is an American college gymnastics coach. He is currently the head coach of the Auburn Tigers women's gymnastics team and has been since 2010. Early life Jeff Joseph Graba was born on December 26, 196 ...

, head coach of

Auburn Tigers women's gymnastics The Auburn Tigers women's gymnastics team represents Auburn University in the sport of gymnastics. The team competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Tigers host t ...

. (1987) *

Nora Greenwald Nora Kristina Benshoof (''née'' Greenwald; born on September 7, 1977) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler signed to WWE as a producer, she is best known for her appearances with the said company from 2000 to 2005 under the ring n ...

, known as Molly Holly during her career as a WWE world champion pro wrestler. (1996) *

Adam Haayer Adam John Haayer (born February 22, 1977) is a former American football offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at M ...

, former

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 hom ...

and

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play th ...

lineman. (1996) *

Douglas Harper Douglas A. Harper (born 1948) is an American sociologist and photographer. He is the holder of the Rev. Joseph A. Lauritis, C.S.Sp. Endowed Chair in Teaching with Technology at Duquesne University, a chair funded by a grant from the Mellon Found ...

, sociologist and photographer. (1966) *

Hal Haskins Harold F. "Sleepy Hal" Haskins (October 29, 1924 – May 31, 2003) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He was an All-American player for the Hamline Pipers who led the team to the 1949 NAIA National Championship. Haskins p ...

, was head basketball coach here 1955-1957 *

Pete Hegseth Peter Brian Hegseth (born June 6, 1980) is an American television host and author. Hegseth is an Army National Guard officer and former executive director of political advocacy groups Vets For Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America. The lat ...

, former Executive Director of Vets For Freedom. (1999) *

Dave Menne David Jeremy Menne (born July 29, 1974) is an American mixed martial artist. He was the first ever UFC Middleweight Champion and has also competed for Cage Rage, Bellator, Shooto, ADCC and RINGS. Background Menne was born in Minneapolis, Mi ...

, the first UFC (

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

) middleweight champion. (1993) * Leif Nordgren, 2014 and 2018

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

athlete in biathlon. (2007) * Bud Nygren, football player and coach. (1936) * Randolph W. Peterson, Minnesota state legislator and judge. (1971) * Brian Raabe, was a baseball coach here 2001-2011 *

Christopher Sieber Christopher Luverne Sieber (born February 18, 1969) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles Kevin Burke in '' Two of a Kind (American TV series)'' and Agatha Trunchbull in '' Matilda the Musical''. He was nominated for the Tony A ...

, Two-time

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

nominated actor from such productions as

Spamalot ''Spamalot'' (also known as ''Monty Python's Spamalot'') is a musical comedy with music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle, and lyrics and book by Idle. It is adapted from the 1975 film ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''. Like the motion pictu ...

and

Shrek the Musical ''Shrek The Musical'' is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. It is based on the 2001 DreamWorks Animation film ''Shrek'', along with elements of its sequels: '' Shrek 2'', ''Shrek Forever After'' ...

. (1988) * C.J. Suess, professional hockey player with

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

. (2012) * Jordis Unga, popular singer, ( Rock Star: INXS) and

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

attended Forest Lake High School through 1999. *

Matt Wallner Matthew John Wallner (born December 12, 1997) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). Born and raised in Forest Lake, Minnesota, Wallner played three years of college baseball a ...

, All-American college baseball player, signed by the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

. (2016)

References

{{authority control Public high schools in Minnesota Educational institutions established in 1912 Schools in Washington County, Minnesota 1912 establishments in Minnesota