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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Lake Washington High School
Lake Washington High School is a four-year public high school in Kirkland, Washington, a suburb east of Seattle. It is one of four main high schools in the Lake Washington School District, with an enrollment of approximately 2,100 students as of 2023-2024 school year. Located in the Rose Hill neighborhood east of downtown Kirkland, LWHS competes in the KingCo 4A athletic conference as of the 2024-2025 school year; the school colors are purple and white and its mascot is the Kangaroo.

History and facilities

The New LWHS

Lake Washington opened as Kirkland High School in 1922, the only high school in the area at the time. It was originally located northwest of downtown Kirkland at the site of Heritage Park. With the formation of the Lake Washington School District in 1944, the high school was given its present name. It moved to its present location in 1949, with doors opening in January 1950. The former building became the junior high and was later known as Terrace Hall; it burned in a spectacular fire in 1973.

It was a National Blue Ribbon School in 1984-1985.

The campus underwent an extended renovation project beginning in the summer of 2008. The new gymnasium opened during the 2009–10 school year, and the main school building was completed during the summer of 2011. The renovation, including school parking lot, was completed in late December 2011, while students were on winter break. The new building was designed to facilitate the newly implemented "house system."

Formerly a senior high school (grades 10–12), LWHS added freshman to its campus in August 2012, and its feeder junior high schools (Kirkland, Rose Hill) were converted to middle schools (grades 6–8).

Mascot change

Kirkland's team name was the "Hornets" until 1935, when the class of that year decided to change the mascot to the "Kangaroos". The students at the time wrote a jingle involving a "rude phrase" referred to as the "horny hornets" and were punished by the district by having to choose a new mascot. The students selected kangaroos as joke, thinking the district would allow them to keep the hornets.

Notable alumni