Highland High School

This is a school that offers something for everyone. I have 3 kids that are either presently attending or have graduated. All three received an excellent education and found their place. The soccer teams, the physics department (the science department in general) and the FFA department are all places that my kids found to shine. I know the music department is probably the best in the nation. You can't get a better high school.

I've had kids attend Highland since 2004. All three are very different but have had great high school experiences-academically and socially. As with most things in life, your experience is all about what you do with the opportunities given to you. Highland offers something for everyone.

All my kids attended here and besides changes in administration which was needed, it was overall a very good school. First of all the performing arts and extracurricular activities are very strong at Highland. The choir made my daughter's interest in vocal performance bloom. Rita Schultz is a truly amazing educator. Sports-wise, 2 of my sons played 5A Football under decent coaches. Besides one daughter having little interest in extracurriculars both my husband and I were very impressed in almost every aspect. Second, YES there are many Mormon kids at this school. This review is brought to you by a lifelong (and very proud member) of another faith. My kids were friends with many of them. Some were rude and cliquish, some were my kids best friends. There were other cliques that didn't have Mormons in them yet those aren't discussed.Is there favoritism among teachers and coaches? My kids (except my oldest) were straight "A" students. All of them (besides my oldest) didn't claim any favoritism. My oldest did very vocally. We were concerned initially, and even considered moving him at one point to a charter, but it was 2 of his very Mormon friends who he didn't want to leave. His grades improved his Senior year and then his opinion seemed to go softer.Among my neighbors and friends there are TONS of Mormons. They seem to expect from their kids what my husband and I expect from ours. A) Hard Work. B) Faith. C) Avoiding Pot, Booze and Pregnancy during High School.If those three factors create favoritism among tracers and faculty then group my family into the clique!I attended a very prominent Catholic school back east (No not a Catholic either) and felt ostracized by my Catholic peers until I realized that we shared a lot in common in terms of values. I too ranted about the unfairness of not being in the religious majority by telling all who would listen about my "outsiderness." I grew to love those around me who weren't exactly like me in faith. I got an amazing education there just like my kids received at Highland. I'm ok with my kids being outnumbered by Mormons like I was outnumbered by Catholics. They know who they are. Highland is a great school both because of the Mormons and the non-Mormons alike. All schools have cliques and bully's. I don't blanket the problem here to Mormon kids.

This is a very good school academically and the music program is wonderful, however, there is a lot of Mormon favoritism in regard to sports and other activities. My child has had to experience first hand this religious bias. Even when it comes to dating or going out with a large group of kids my clean cut, church going, high achieving son has been discriminated against. I suppose if a student IS Mormon they would not notice the LDS preference but if you're not it is sadly obvious. He has asked to go elsewhere next year.