Clear Lake High School is a public secondary school located in Houston, Texas, United States.
The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Clear Creek Independent School District. The school serves portions of Houston (including most of Clear Lake City) and Pasadena (including Clear Lake City). It previously served the cities of Seabrook, El Lago, and Taylor Lake Village, and the El Jardin del Mar portion of Pasadena, until Clear Falls High School in League City opened. Its colors are red, blue, and white. Its mascot and symbol is the Falcon.
Clear Lake High School opened in 1972 to alleviate overcrowding at what was then the district's only high school, Clear Creek High School with the first class graduating in 1973. The current campus has a ninth grade center — formerly Space Center Intermediate School — field house, and athletic fields, all across the street from the University of Houston–Clear Lake.
The ninth grade annex was first added to the Clear Lake High School campus in 1978. Later, the 9th grade center was used as Space Center Intermediate School but returned to a 9th grade center when SCIS moved to a newly built campus for the 1999-2000 school year.
For the 1986-87 school year Clear Lake High School became a National Blue Ribbon School. Clear Lake High School is currently the largest school in Texas with a Texas Education Agency (TEA) ranking of Recognized.
The school discovered large-scale cheating in an English IV final examination in 2012. The school invalidated all English IV final exam results, allowing students who did not cheat to have a final grade without the final or to take the final again. The students who cheated received scores of zero.
In the 1980s, the high school was perhaps most known for the suicides that occurred in 1984. Six teenagers committed suicide, with five of them doing so in the community of Clear Lake, and with the final one being a Clear Creek High School student. From August until October of that year, two Clear Lake students and three former Clear Lake students killed themselves.
Loren Coleman, author of The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines, wrote that "Needless to say, the community was alarmed by the deaths and feared more." The New York Times reported that there were rumors of a suicide pact that included up to thirty students but that this story turned out to be "a lark." Psychologists were sent to the school to deal with any residual stress that resulted from these events. In January 1985 area police department stated that since October 1984 there had been no suicides of teenagers. In 1985 Scott Lally, a 17-year-old fourth year student who worked for the school newspaper, stated "It's funny but you really don't hear the suicides talked about that much any more. But the kids who are having trouble now have a place to go."
B. Comstock, the author of "Youth Suicide Cluster: A Community Response" in Newslink, argued that the "wide press coverage" and the "abundance of volunteers eager to help but not organized to do anything" were problematic. He stated that there was a lot of panic and confusion in the Clear Lake community and that the residents of the area were not happy with the media presence.
In May 2013 voters in CCISD approved a $367 million district bond. According to the referendum, Clear Lake High will get new campus buildings, valued at $98.6 million total. PBK Architects designed the new additions, a two story classroom building and a fine arts center. Construction is scheduled to begin in April 2014.
In 2005 the school had 525 students enrolled in its music classes. That year, the school was named a Grammy Signature School. Its music department received a grant for $2,000.
Student body
As of 2009, many students at Clear Lake High are children of NASA engineers and executives in oil companies. As of the 2013-2014 school year there was 2300+ students enrolled
Academics and extracurricular activities
1972, 1982: the girls' swimming team won the State Championship.
1976-77, 1979, 1981-84: the boys' swimming team won the State Championship.
1981: the Theatre Department won the 4A Texas State One Act Play Competition for their production of "Idiot's Delight"
1981: The CLHS Symphonic band, conducted by Richard Bass, finished 1st in the World Music Festival in Vienna, Austria, competing against bands from all over the globe. Their 14-day trek took the band through such countries as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
1984: The Theatre Department won the 5A Texas State One Act Play Competition for their production of "Children of a Lesser God"
1988: The Theatre Department won the 5A Texas State One Act Play Competition for their production of "Black Angel"
1989: The CLHS Boys' Basketball team won the 5A Texas State Championship.
1991: The CLHS Orchestra, conducted by James Kidwell, finished 1st place in the state for full orchestra performance in the Texas Music Educators Association Honor Orchestra competition.
2000: The CLHS Marching Band qualified for the Texas State Marching Band Contest at Baylor University's Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco. The band's show featured music by Samuel Barber including his Adagio for Strings and his Second Symphony.
2007: The CLHS Orchestra, conducted by Bryan Buffaloe and Kevin Black, finished in 2nd place in the state for string orchestra performance and 3rd place in the state for full orchestra performance, its best finish ever for multiple events in the Texas Music Educators Association. The CLHS Scholars' bowl team again took first place at the NHS Scholars' Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia, and swept the individual-category competitions. The CLHS Earth Angels, representing TEAM USA, won first place in the Global Enterprise Challenge in Wales in June. The Clear Lake Rocketry Club made it to the National Finals of the Team America Rocketry Challenge in The Plains, VA in May.[1]
2008: The Clear Lake Team Tennis Team won 2nd place in the State Championships. However, due misconduct by the 1st place school, the tennis team was retroactively declared the State Champions. The allegations were that the 1st place team hired a professional coach to coach their team. Because the Texas High School Tennis Rule Book forbade such a hiring, the team was disqualified, and the Clear Lake team was declared to have won.. [2]
2009: The CLHS Wind Ensemble was invited to perform at the prestigious Midwest Clinic.
1990-2010: The boys' waterpolo team won 12 out of 20 5A state championships.
2010: The Girls' Basketball team finished 2nd in their district, then went on to the 4th round of the Texas State UIL Playoffs.
2010: The CLHS Full Orchestra, conducted by Bryan Buffaloe, Kevin Black, and John Law, was named the 2011 State Honor Orchestra in the High School Full Orchestra Division by the Texas Music Educators Association and performed at the annual TMEA Convention in San Antonio in February 2011.[3][4]
2012: The CLHS cheerleaders competed at the Cheer America National Championship and won their division. They were also named as Cheer America Grand Champions for having the highest all around score.
2012: The CLHS Full Orchestra was named 2013 State Honor Orchestra.
2012: The varsity baseball team made the playoffs for the first time in four years.
2012: The CLHS Marching Band qualified for the Texas State Marching Band Contest at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The Falcon Band finished 24th out of the 38 bands who competed. The band's show was titled "Key to the World," and it featured music from New World Symphony by Antonín Dvořák.
2012: The CLHS girls' volleyball team went undefeated in 5A district. They continued on to playoffs where they won every regional match in 3 of 5 games. The girls then went to the State Tournament and tied for third.
2013: The CLHS Academic Decathlon Team placed fifth at the State competition with a final score of 47,032.3.
2013: The CLHS Full Orchestra won the National Championship in New York.
2013: 29 students from CLHS Business Professionals of America finish as finalists in their events at BPA Nationals in Orlando, FL. The CLHS Administrative Support Team finishes 1st in the nation and the CLHS Software Engineering Teams finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 7th.
2014: The CLHS Talon Yearbook staff won a Cover Award for the 2012-13 yearbook from publisher, Balfour Yearbooks.
2014: The CLHS Orchestra is 1st in Texas
2014: The CLHS Debate Takes First At State Competition
2014: The CLHS Boys’ Soccer Team is the District Champion for 24-5A
2015: The CLHS Boys' Basketball Team finished as 6A state runner up
Christine Paolilla, perpetrator of Clear Lake murder
Craig Veasey, c/o 1985, Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston Oilers, and Miami Dolphins
Timothy McAllister, classical saxophonist
Heidi Van Horne, c/o 1995, actress, pinup model and author Houston Chronicle
Jeff Novak, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars
Seth McKinney, c/o 1997, Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns
Steve McKinney, Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans
Josh McNary, Indianapolis Colts
Jon Switzer, c/o 1998, Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Mike Swick, c/o 1998, UFC Fighter
Dustin Hopkins, former Florida State Seminoles place kicker
Pete Olson, U.S. Congressman
Scott Sheldon, Former Major league baseball player for the Oakland A's and the Texas Rangers
Eric Patrick, independent filmmaker, freelance animator, Guggenheim fellow, musician, and educator. He is presently a tenured professor at Northwestern University.
Jared Woodfill, Houston attorney and Harris County Republican chairman from 2002 to 2014
Dan Heath, NY Times bestselling author and columnist for Fast Company
