Lamar High School (Arlington, Texas)

Mirabeau B. Lamar High School
Location
Arlington, Texas, Tarrant County, 76012
United States
Information
Type Public High School
Established 1970
Principal Jeff Provence
Grades 9-12
Number of students approx. 2800 (2009-2010 academic year)
School Color(s) Navy Blue, Gold
Athletics UIL District 4-5A
Mascot Vikings
Rival Arlington High School
Yearbook Valhalla
Website Lamar High School

Mirabeau B. Lamar High School is a secondary school in Arlington, Texas. It is named for Mirabeau B. Lamar, the second president of the Republic of Texas, and located at 1400 West Lamar Boulevard.

The school, which handles grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Arlington Independent School District. The current principal is Jeff Provence, who replaced Jimmy Jones in 2006 after Jones retired at the end of the 2005-06 school year. The school mascot is a viking, and the school colors are navy blue and gold. As of May 21, 2007, 2,683 students attend the school, making it the third largest high school in the city. [1]

Lamar was recognized in 1995 as one of the nation's top 50 high schools by U.S. News and World Report. Lamar boasts an unusually strong alumni base and has several outside websites related to its extracurricular and alumni activities.

Lamar High School serves areas of Northern Arlington and Northwestern Grand Prairie. It is racially and culturally integrated, with large populations of Latino and African-American students.

In addition to athletics programs, Lamar competes in UIL Academics, Academic Decathlon, and many fine arts activities. Lamar was the TMEA Honor Orchestra in 2005. LHS offers AP classes in the following subjects: English Literature, English Language, Latin, Spanish, French, German, Music Theory, U.S. History, World History, European History, Psychology, US Government, Comparative Government, Economics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, and Statistics.

Contents

History

Lamar opened in 1970 as AISD's third high school. Lamar relieved Arlington High School and Sam Houston High School. Cathy Brown of The Dallas Morning News said that Lamar's effect on Houston was "minimal" because there were very few housing units located north of Division and east of Collins.[1] Brown said that "[t]he effect on Arlington High School was huge" since the housing in the Arlington zone north to division had been moved to Lamar. 12th grade students that had been zoned out of Arlington High School continued to attend Arlington High School, despite being in the Lamar zone.[1]

In 1982 Martin High School opened. Brown said that Houston and Lamar were "relatively unaffected" by the opening of Martin, located in southwest Arlington.[1]

City Rivalry

Sports

Lamar High School's football team regularly plays deep into the state playoffs, with the best finish coming in 1990. That year, the Vikings reached the Class 5A Regular Division (now Class 5A-Division II) state championship game, where they lost to Aldine, 27-10, at the Houston Astrodome. The game was broadcast nationally on ESPN.

On two occasions, the Vikes reached the state semi-finals before suffering a season-ending loss. The 2000 team lost to Tyler John Tyler in the Class 5A-Division II semi-finals at Texas Stadium. In 2003, the Vikings fell in the Class 5A-Division I semi-finals to The Woodlands at Round Rock ISD Stadium.

Lamar reached the state playoffs for thirteen consecutive seasons from 1988 to 2000, setting an Arlington ISD record for post-season consistency.

Lamar's playoff teams: [2]

YEAR TITLE W-L-T
2010 Bi-District Qualifiers 5-6
2009 Bi-District Qualifiers 6-5
2004 District Co-Champions 8-3
2003 State Semi-Finalists 13-1
2002 State Quarter-Finalists 11-2
2000 State Semi-Finalists 10-5
1999 Bi-District Champions 8-4
1998 District Champions 9-2
1997 Area Finalists 10-2
1996 Area Finalists 9-3
1995 State Quarter-Finalists 12-1-1
1994 Regional Finalists 11-1-1
1993 Area Finalists 9-3
1992 Bi-District Qualifiers 9-2
1991 Regional Finalists 12-1
1990 State Finalists 14-1
1989 State Quarter-Finalists 13-1
1988 State Quarter-Finalists 11-3
1986 District Champions 9-1
1981 District Champions 9-1
1978 Bi-District Qualifiers 10-1
1977 Regional Finalists 9-3

Notable alumni

Feeder school

The Feeder Schools for Lamar High School are Shackelford Junior High (which is fed by Pope, Butler, Wimbish and Speer elementary schools) and Nichols Junior High (which is fed by Ellis, Sherrod, Larson, Roquemore and Webb elementary schools).

References

  1. ^ a b c Brown, Cathy (editorial columnist). "No blackboard jungles despite changing demographics." The Dallas Morning News. Wednesday October 14, 1998. Opinions Arlington 7A. Retrieved on October 25, 2011.
  2. ^ Martindale, David. "Arlington Lamar grad Billy Miller makes a name for himself on Y&R". Fort Worth Star Telegram. January 7, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2011.

External links

Dallas-Fort Worth portal
Schools portal

High schools
Arlington · Bowie · Lamar · Martin · Sam Houston · Seguin