Lake Highlands High School is a secondary school serving grades 9-12 located 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 located centrally within Lake Highlands near the DART Blue Line. The Lake Highlands Freshman Center 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.
In 2002, the school received a Blue Ribbon award from the U.S. Department of Education.
Extracurricular activities
Band
The school is the home of the Wildcat Band, which consists of the Wildcat Marching Band, Jazz Band, several Concert Bands, Winterguard, Percussion Program, Symphony Orchestra, and puts on a yearly Musical. Under the direction of Eddie Green, 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 Honor Band and performed at the TMEA convention in February 1973. The band has been invited to perform at the Midwest International Band Clinic and Convention five times, has received a superior rating in marching and concert band more than fifty times, and has been a participant at the Texas State Marching Contest and a finalist in the TMEA Honor Band Contest.
Dance team
The school is home of the "Wildcat Wranglers", one of the few high school Country/Westerndance teams existing in the United States. The group performed for the 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009, and 2017 presidential inaugurations, including at the Black Tie and Boots Balls and in the Inaugural Parades associated with the aforementioned inaugurations; in the 2005 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; and in the 2008, 2012, and 2015 New Year's Day Parade in London. 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; and Italy.
Athletics
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|Lake Highlands Junior High. The school's football team has been in the UIL regional and state playoffs numerous times, and won the 5A state championship in 1981. The school has won district championships in baseball over 20 times since 1964. The school has also won several district titles in boys Basketball including winning the 1967 State Championship. The school also shares a football stadium with L.V. Berkner High School. Lake Highlands and Berkner have long been rivals in football and other sports.
In 1983, Lake Highlands High School was the site of a fatal armed robbery when Billy Conn Gardner entered the school's office, shot and fatally wounded cafeteria worker Thelma Row, 64, and stole $1,600 in cash. Row died from her injuries nine days later. Gardner was ultimately sentenced to death for the crime and was executed by lethal injection in 1995.
