H. L. Bourgeois High School

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Official name	H. L. Bourgeois High School
Established	1973
Principal	Nason 'Tony' Authement
Location	#1 Reservation Court Gray, Louisiana
Website	HLB Official Website
Enrollment	1469
School newspaper	Smoke Signals
Mascot	Brave
School colors	Blue and Grey
School motto	It's a Matter of Pride

H. L. Bourgeois High School (commonly called H.L. or HLB), is a public high school in Gray, Louisiana. Named after Henry Louis Bourgeois, an educator who served as superintendent of the Terrebonne Parish Public School System in the early 1900s, the school opened in 1973. It was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1975.

HLB opened its doors on December 3, 1973, after a decision had been made to build a new high school in the northern part of Terrebonne Parish. Prior to that, Terrebonne High School (built in 1908) had served the northern part of the parish, and South Terrebonne High School (built in 1961) served the southern part. An influx in the population caused Terrebonne High to become overcrowded, and the new school had to be built.

The school's colors are blue and grey. The mascot is the American Indian brave, and this influences lots of things on campus: the fight song is modeled after an instrumental song named "Cherokee," and the campus itself is frequently called "The Reservation." The marching band is known as "The Marching Sensation from the Brave Reservation," while the dance team is "The Raindancers." The two main publications, the yearbook and monthly newspaper, are known as the Calumet and Smoke Signals, respectively.

Students of the school live in Gray, as well as the neighboring communities of Schriever and Gibson. A large percentage of the student body, though, live in Houma, Louisiana, fueling HLB's long-standing rivalry with Terrebonne High. The total count of students fluctuates between school years, but generally stays between 1000 and 1500.

The majority of students start attending the school in their sophomore year. The freshman year is completed at Evergreen Junior High School, along with grades seven and eight. Most of the "braves" attended the following feeder schools: Broadmoor Elementary, Caldwell Middle, Coteau-Bayou Blue Elementary, Gibson Elementary, Greenwood Middle, Oakshire Elementary and Schriever Elementary.

The 2005-2006 football team was declared district champions of the 6-5A district, defeating all of the other teams in the district (excluding Ellender Memorial High School; the HLB/EMHS game was cancelled due to Hurricane Rita). The current school performance score is 91.7, an impressive increase over last year's 76.5.