Interlake High School

History

Interlake High School opened in 1967 to serve students from the Eastside, mainly those within a few miles of Lake Sammamish. In 1997, Interlake began offering the International Baccalaureate program, and in 2006, the Gifted And Talented Education program started as an extension of the middle-school PRISM program.

In 2003, the Interlake High School Construction Project began. Over the next few years, most of the school was torn to the ground and rebuilt while its students continued to attend class in portables. Interlake reopened its brand-new doors at the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year.

Interlake's outdoor facilities include a turf football field and eight-lane rubber track, two concession stands (run by different groups), baseball and softball fields, seven tennis courts, a courtyard, and three parking lots. Its indoor facilities include three gyms, a Performing Arts Center, a technology wing, a horticulture building, a music wing with four soundproof practice rooms, a commons area, and a library.

Demographics and special programs

As of the 2014–2015 school year, Interlake has approximately 1,503 students, the largest enrollment since the 1980s. Interlake's class sizes have grown larger and larger in recent years, beginning with the 250-student freshman body of 2006.

Interlake's students include a large variety of races, ethnicities, religions, ideals, and backgrounds. 41% of students are white, 34% are Asian, 14% are Hispanic, 8% are multiracial, and 3% are African-American. Many student organizations have been created to group people of different backgrounds, including the Jewish Student Union, Campus Christian (originally known as "The Reach" or simply "Bible Club"), Queer-Straight Alliance, Black Student Union, Ginger Club (for redheads), Islamic Cultural Awareness Club, French Club, and ELITES (Estudiantes Latinos Internacionales Trabajando por una Educacion Superior).

More than a third of students speak a first language other than English, and many more are multilingual. Widely known languages at IHS include Chinese, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Hindi, and Russian. Interlake requires two language credits and offers tuition in French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese. It also has an extensive English as a Second Language (ESL) program that allows students arriving from foreign countries to learn English as a secondary language.

Another special program at Interlake is its Center program for Special Education. Students with disabilities from all over the district, age 14 to 21, come to Interlake to experience a typical school day adjusted to their individual needs. Interlake's Center program has five classes, including Self-Contained (for the students who are best suited to staying in a primarily Special Ed environment), several classes of students who spend part of their day in the building referred to as the Apartment and part of it in mainstream IHS classes, and the Transition program. The Transition program teaches 18- to 21-year-olds work, interaction, and life skills to prepare them for later life; the students go out and work in different jobs for most of the day to practice these skills. A unique feature to Interlake's Center program is that mainstream students can sign up to help out in the Center for a period in their schedule.

Academics

Newsweek magazine has consistently ranked Interlake High School among the best high schools in the nation (as measured by the number of AP and IB tests administered, divided by the number of graduating seniors) since it initiated its ranking of U.S. high schools in 2003. Interlake ranked 13th in the nation in 2010. In 2013, the Washington Post ranked Interlake as #1 in the state of Washington, as well as #34 in the nation.

Gifted and Talented Program

The PRISM program continuation from Spiritridge Elementary School and Odle Middle School to Interlake began in 2006, allowing students to be in the program through high school. Due to the PRISM program continuation and the International Baccalaureate program, which students in the PRISM program at Interlake take one year earlier than usual, the school has seen a population increase.

The program extends the International Baccalaureate (IB) program further. In the IB program, PRISM students complete the IB diploma during 10th and 11th grade, rather than the usual 11th and 12th grade. PRISM students in their senior year take college-level English and social studies classes through Bellevue College or the University of Washington (depending on the year) and participate in an internship for two school periods.