Lake Highlands High School (LHHS) is a secondary school serving grades 9–12 in the
Lake Highlands area of northeastern
Dallas,
Texas,
United States, primarily serving the Lake Highlands community. The school is part of the
Richardson Independent School District and is in central Lake Highlands near the
DART Blue Line. The Lake Highlands Freshman Center (which sits on the same property as LHHS) formerly housed the 9th-grade students, but has recently been integrated into the rest of the school, housing classes for all 9–12 students. The first graduating class of Lake Highlands High School was in 1964.
History
On May 16, 1983, Lake Highlands High School was the site of a fatal armed robbery when Billy Conn Gardner (1943-1995) entered the school's office, shot and fatally wounded 64-year-old cafeteria supervisor Thelma Row, and stole $1,600 in cash. Gardner was sentenced to death for the crime and was executed by
lethal injection in 1995.[2][3]
The school
mascot is the Wildcat. This is also the mascot of several of the high school's feeder schools including Lake Highlands Elementary, Northlake Elementary, and
Lake Highlands Junior High School.
The school's
football team has been in the
UIL regional and state playoffs numerous times, and won the class 5A state championship in 1981. The school has won district championships in
baseball over 20 times since 1964.[citation needed]
The school has also won several district titles in boys Basketball including winning the 1968 and 2023 State Championships in Class 3A and 6A, respectively.
Boys golf won the Class 5A Team State Championship in 1988.[7]
The powerlifting team won Texas High School Powerlifting Association State Championships in 1982, 1983 and 1987.[8] The school won National High School Powerlifting Championships in 1983 and 1986.[9]
As the second high school in the Richardson Independent School District, the Wildcats maintained a long standing rivalry with the
Richardson High School Eagles. The two teams shared the old Greenville Avenue Stadium, which was located by the now RISD Administration Building, before both schools opened stadiums on their respective campuses. With the opening of
L.V. Berkner High School and the eventual sharing of Wildcat-Ram Stadium, that rivalry naturally occurred. Recently, a rivalry with the
J.J. Pearce High School Mustangs has grown. Outside of the RISD, the Wildcats and
Plano Senior High School have played each other since the 1960s, while a recent rivalry had blossomed with
Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas due to both proximity and the fact that the private school pulls a large number of its students from north Dallas, often from the RISD areas.
Opened in 1969 as "Lake Highlands Stadium", RISD's Wildcat-Ram Stadium is located on the western border of the campus. The stadium is shared with
L.V. Berkner High School as the Berkner campus is home to a natatorium but not a full size stadium. The facility seats approximately 9,000 and was upgraded to field turf in 2000. The 2006 bond issue included funds to renovate the original pressbox and a new videoboard in the north endzone replaced the original scoreboard in the south endzone. Prior to the installation of the artificial playing surface, Wildcat-Ram had served as the showcase facility for the Dallas Cup youth soccer tournament due to the fact that it was the only facility of its size with natural grass inside Interstate 635. It was re-named for the mascots of both schools after the opening of Berkner's permanent campus in 1970-71.teams.[10] Lake Highlands and Berkner have long been rivals in football and other sports.[citation needed]. Wildcat-Ram Stadium earned the nickname "The Boneyard" from LHHS students and fans and local sports media in reference to the team's use of the
wishbone formation rushing attach and suffocating defense under then head coach Mike Zoffuto. It also utilized as the home field for both of Lake Highlands High School's feeder junior highs, Lake Highlands Junior High School and Forest Meadow Junior High School, which end their football regular seasons with the annual "Battle for the Boneyard" trophy.
The Multi-Purpose Activity Center ("MAC") was completed in 2021 as part of the renovation of the entire campus. The 78,000 square foot facility includes an 80 yard indoor practice field and 24,000 square feet for offices, locker rooms, weight room and sport support areas.[11]
Band
The school is the home of the "Wildcat Band", which consists of the Wildcat Marching Band, Jazz Band, several Concert Bands (including Concert, Symphonic, and Wind Ensemble), Winterguard, Percussion Program, Symphony Orchestra, and puts on a yearly Musical. The Symphonic Band made its first trip to the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in December 1971. Later that school year, the band was selected as the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Honor Band and performed at the TMEA convention in February 1973. In 2021, the Marching Band was ranked as the top marching band in Richardson ISD, for the first time in the school’s history, after being named Grand Champion at the Midlothian Marching Showcase.[citation needed]
Dance team
The school is home of the "Wildcat Wranglers", one of the few high school
Country/Westerndance teams existing in the United States.[citation needed]
The school is also the home of the "Highlandettes", a Texas-style
dance squad. They have performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade numerous times, as well as at many
Dallas Cowboys,
Dallas Stars, and
Dallas Mavericks games. They have also danced in Dublin, Ireland for the St. Patrick's Day parade; in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii, London, England; and Italy.
This list is incomplete. Italicized public schools are not in the "full purpose" Dallas city limits but have portions of Dallas in their attendance boundaries.