The school was founded in 1972, and this year we are celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the school, and this golden year, if you will, will influence some of the events being held such as homecoming.

Over the years the school has undergone many changes, from the student body to the physical building itself.

“Lake has a much more diverse student population; it’s one of the things I love so much about it now. The old building was straight from the 70’s, everything was avocado green and yellow.  It was very retro,” Alumni and teacher Mrs. Hawkins said. “The new building is so beautiful.  When my class had their 20th reunion, I gave a tour of the school and my old classmates were shocked at how amazing and advanced the building is.”

Alongside the building changes, the traditions have also morphed as the clock ticked by, and the times and students grew, but the spirit in events such as homecoming have remained the same.

“Homecoming was always fun. When I was a student, the parade ended at the student parking lot (where Krueger field house sits now) and we had a big bonfire,” Mrs. Hawkins said. “It was always a big favorite.  Our mums were big but nothing like they are now!  Actually, when I was in high school, you only wore a mum if you had a date to the dance. I love that tradition has changed  because mums are the best part of homecoming!”

For Mrs. Hawkins, this year the anniversary has greater significance and meaning since she gets to witness her daughter be part of the 50^th graduating class this year.

“My oldest is graduating from Lake this year in the 50th class. I graduated in 1998, in the 25th class,” Ms. Hawkins said. “It is a very special year for me and my family (and Ms. Garland too!  She graduated with me, and our kids will graduate in the same class).”

The year’s significance varies from person to person, but the students and families of the graduating class aren’t the only ones being impacted. The 50^th will also influence this year’s homecoming theme.

“We just started thinking more of what we think would look upscaled and like modern kind of, so we’re kind of thinking, an old Hollywood, gold and red carpet. So, that’s where we’re going right now,” student council member Allison Poole said.

The student council is hoping to make this year’s homecoming dance a memorable event that people will never forget.

“The 50^th year just influenced us based on us wanting to make it so that people will remember, and it won’t just be one of those dances that you don’t remember; it will be something that people will remember years from now.”

In the past few years, the hardest thing about planning the homecoming dance has been Covid restrictions.

“Covid just made things harder because there was a lot of unknown so we wanted to do stuff, but we weren’t sure if we were allowed to, and getting approval for it during covid would take too long, so we couldn’t do a lot of stuff,” Poole said. “Now that that’s not really a factor anymore, there’s really no regulations except the ones we’ve always had in place.”

No one can see or foretell the future, but Poole hopes that as another 50 years roll by, the school unites and grows as a community.

“I hope that it expands based on what the school does, like with the clubs and stuff. I feel like the past couple years, ever since covid the clubs have gone down in what they do and they’re not as strong as they were in the past, so I really hope that as years continue to go on that the clubs just grow stronger, and they do more stuff and the community like the school community just becomes more involved with each other and doing more memorable things instead of just sticking to the books,” Poole said.

Here’s to 50 years of memories and many more to come!