Seven Lakes High School - Seven Lakes High School

Seven Lakes High School (SLHS) is a public senior high school located in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, inside the Cinco Ranch area south of the city of Katy. Many communities such as Seven Meadows, Grand Lakes, and Cinco Ranch are zoned to the school. While the school has a Katy address, it is within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston, and is a high school of the Katy Independent School District (KISD).

The school was rated "Exemplary" by the Texas Education Agency for the 2008-2009 school year (the highest rating any public high school in Texas can attain). In 2016, the school was ranked 703rd in the nation out of 27,000 public high schools in the US by US News; The school was one of three winners of The Houston Chronicle's Chronicle Cup in 2008 for overall athletic performance.

History

The school was originally planned by Katy ISD to relieve overcrowding at Cinco Ranch High School and Katy High School and to better facilitate the influx of students due to new development planned in the general Katy area. The school plan was the same general design used for two other KISD schools, Morton Ranch High School and Cinco Ranch High School, and was designed by PBK Architects. The school's first year in operation was the 2005-2006 school year and had its first graduating class of 408 students in the 2007-2008 school year. The school was nominated a "National Blue Ribbon School Of 2008."

Christie Whitbeck served as principal of SLHS from 2005-2011, before taking a position as Assistant Superintendent in Alvin ISD.

Background

The school is located in the Katy Independent School District, and has the distinction of being the largest high school construction project at one time in the state of Texas. Seven Lakes was designed by PBK Architects, as were many other area schools. It is also the second largest, as well as the most expensive, school in the United States to be built at one time. The total cost of the school came around to $77,424,704 after construction was complete. The name of the school is derived from two major communities that are zoned to it, Seven Meadows and Grand Lakes, taking "Seven" from the name of the Seven Meadows community and "Lakes" from the name of the Grand Lakes community. While the school is meant only for a maximum of 3,000 students, schools in Katy ISD often become overcrowded due to the rapid development in the area as was the case in 2012, when Seven Lakes reached its peak of 3,957 students.

The school maintains a rivalry of sorts with Cinco Ranch High School, another high school also located in the same school district as Seven Lakes (Katy Independent School District) and located 3 miles away. Logically, much of the area now zoned to Seven Lakes was originally zoned to Cinco Ranch High School before Seven Lakes opened, and much of the area zoned to the new Tompkins High School was previously zoned to Seven Lakes.

Demographics

• African American 6.64%
• Asian 22.56%
• Hispanic 21.92%
• Native American 0.29%
• White 45.78%
• Two or More Races 2.74%

Economically Disadvantaged 5.86%

Campus

Gilbane Building Co. built the school and PBK Architects designed the school.

The school has the following facilities:

• 615,000 square feet (57,100 m²)
• Natatorium with diving equipment.
• 9 Tennis courts
• Weight lifting room
• Aux. Weight Room
• 1 wrestling bathroom
• At least 1 computer per classroom
• Wireless technology
• Performing Arts Center
• Black Box Theatre
• 2 dark rooms
• 2 science labs
• 1 science prep area
• 4 art labs with courtyard
• Performing Arts Center
• Fine Arts Hallway with art rooms, a band hall, orchestra room and choir room

Academics

Advanced Placement courses

Seven Lakes offers a myriad of advanced "AP" course options to higher-achieving students, with 24 classroom AP courses being offered during the 2013-14 School Year in a variety of subject areas.

• Number Taken (2014)= 2,395
  • Pass Rate= 88%

2014 college entrance exams

• SAT (SLHS Average vs. National Average)
  • Critical Reading 555 vs. 497
  • Math 583 vs. 513
  • Writing 551 vs. 487
• ACT (SLHS Average vs. National Average)
  • Composite 25.5 vs. 21

Additionally, Seven Lakes High School met state standards and earned distinctions in 6 out of 6 areas surveyed by the Texas Education Agency in 2014.

Athletics

State championships

• 2007 Texas 4A Boys Cross Country State Champions
• 2011 5A wrestling
• 2013 5A wrestling

Activities

State championships

• 2008 4A UIL Academic Decathlon
• 2010 5A UIL Academic Decathlon
• 2012 5A UIL Computer Science
• 2008 Texas 4A UIL Social Studies
• 2010 4A UIL Social Studies
• 2010 5A UIL Current Issues/Events
• 2011 5A UIL Current Issues/Events
• 2012 5A UIL Current Issues/Events
• 2010 5A UIL Spelling
• 2011 5A UIL Spelling
• 2012 5A UIL Spelling
• 2012 5A UIL Literary Criticism

Enrollment trends

• 2012-2013 School Year = 3,957 Students (926 graduating seniors)
• 2013-2014 School Year = 3,584 Students (988 graduating seniors)
• 2014-2015 School Year = 3,464 Students (1,003 graduating seniors)

Feeder patterns

The following elementary schools feed into Seven Lakes (non-comprehensive):

• Roosevelt Alexander Elementary
• Bonnie Holland Elementary
• Michael Griffin Elementary (partial)
• Odessa Kilpatrick Elementary (partial)
• Stan C. Stanley Elementary (partial)
• Tom Wilson Elementary (partial)
• Fred and Patti Shafer Elementary School (partial)

The following middle schools feed into Seven Lakes High School:

• Beckendorff Junior High School
• Seven Lakes Junior High School (partial)

Notable alumni

• Caleb Benenoch (2013) - professional football player in the National Football League (NFL)

References

External links

• Official website