Lindbergh High School (Washington)

Lindbergh High School is a (senior) high school in the southeastern section of Renton, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, in the Renton School District. It is named after Charles A. Lindbergh, the famous aviator who was first to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1927. The school was founded in 1972. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors attended the first year, making the class of 1974 the first to graduate. Lindbergh's school motto is ad astra, which is Latin for "to the stars". The crest features the Spirit of St. Louis (the plane that Charles Lindbergh flew), and the school's motto flanked by stars with the dates 1927 and 1972, respectively.

Lindbergh features unusual architecture compared to traditional boxy high school buildings. Originally intended to be a community college, the school is constructed with concrete floors and brick walls with wooden beams supporting sloped roofs. The building stretches up and across a small hill. It was originally built around two "houses", where home rooms and lockers were located, with a third planned house for expansion that was never built. The floors and sections of the school still function as a kind of departmental divide, with the right side of the third floor containing the math classes, the first floor containing the language arts classes, etc. Another distinct feature is a skybridge linking the main building with the gymnasium and the student parking lot. In 1998, Renton voters approved a construction bond to rebuild, remodel, and renovate school buildings throughout the district. Following this bond, other unique architectural features of Lindbergh were replaced or redesigned. The school was originally built featuring many open areas in addition to conventional walled classrooms, but most of these spaces were closed by the 1990s. The original lockers were small wooden cube shaped coat racks placed out in the open, but this use was abandoned as coats could not be securely hung and the wooden hangers were found to be easily broken, and were replaced by conventional steel lockers. The former steel and auto shop was converted to a robotics lab as of the mid 1990s. As of June 2006, building of a new commons area is complete, and as of the 2007–2008 school year, all bathrooms within the school have been remodeled. The school also recently underwent a 2 year remodel to replace asbestos containing areas of the building. During the spring of 2009, a football and track field have been constructed behind the school. In 2010, the weight room has been renovated along with replacing the roofs and window exterior. At the start of the 2011–2012 school year, the staff parking lot, walkways have been remodeled and added throughout the school. When the summer vacation 2012 started, the hill in the center of the lower parking lot has been torn out to make improvements on both student and lower parking lots have begun, this all summer long construction consists of making more parking spaces and the improvement of traffic when dropping and picking up students, and an undercover area for students to stand in when it rains or on warm sunny days to keep them dry and away from the sun's rays up in the upper parking lot. While that was in process, inside the building had some undergone renovations as well. Classrooms with emergency exit doors have all been replaced with brand new doors. In the 2018–2019 school year, all classroom doors were replaced with ones that are able to be locked from the inside rather than the previous models that were only lockable from the outside. The new door is made of steel and has a wood grain finish on the surface along with smaller windows.

When the school was opened in 1972, each class had only a handful of Asian, Hispanic and African American students, though one notable Asian American family sent seven children to MIT and Stanford. Today, Lindbergh, along with Renton High School, Foster High School, Tyee Educational Complex, and many other south King County schools, is noted in its region for its diversity. In 2013, Lindbergh had an Asian student population of 24.7%, as well as nearly 20.3% African American, 20% Hispanic, and 1.9% American Indian/Alaskan Native/Pacific Islander. 49% of students are eligible for free or reduced price meals, 13% receive special education services, 12.5% are transitional bilingual (and many more are native speakers of both English and another language).

Lindbergh High School has a number of extracurricular activities, ranging from student government to pre professional organizations to cultural clubs. A number of organizations focus on cultural or personal identification. International Club organizes around regular presentations about certain countries. The Black Student Union, Latina Club, and Alphabet Soup (LGBT youth support group) serve more specific communities. Other organizations are focused on career exploration or pre professional pursuits. Future Business Leaders of America prepares students for business careers, while DECA focuses on marketing. Skills USA helps students develop career and technical skills. Meanwhile, members of Key Club focus on community service. As part of Division 32 of the Pacific Northwest District of Key Club, members perform service in and around the Renton area. Some organizations are built around hobbies, allowing students to participate while meeting peers of similar interests. Examples include the Art Club, Poetic Justice Club, and Environmental Club. Robotics is an extremely popular extracurricular activity at the school with its own website being created in the 2018 season. Sponsored by FIRST, the Lindbergh Robotics team is known as Team #3588, The Talon. While in recent years, dance programs were cut, past dance teams have been very successful. The dance team has placed in major invitationals. In 2007 at State, they received 6th for hip hop and in 2008, they received 4th place. Although they were cut along with the dance teams, the drama programs have made a return with the 2018–2019 school year. The Ad Astra choir, jazz choir, orchestra, and band programs are still thriving, however, choir is one of the most popular extracurriculars at Lindbergh. In the 2017–2018 school year, the Jazz choir qualified for state in TBB Vocal Large with the Men's Ensemble and in SMA Vocal Large with the Women's Ensemble.

Student government is run by the Associated Student Body, or ASB. The Lindbergh ASB Executive Board makes high level decisions and includes the offices of president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. The executive board intends to foster school spirit, and encourage involvement in the Benson Hill community. The ASB Student Senate is composed of student senators representing each advisory period. The Senate is headed by the ASB Vice President. The school participates in several regional, state, and national associations. Lindbergh is also part of the Seamount Association of Student Councils. Lindbergh High School is now a member of the Washington Association of Student Councils. Lindbergh High School is also a member of the National Association of Student Councils.

Most of the students entering Lindbergh went to Nelsen Middle School. Feeder elementary schools include Cascade, Renton Park, Benson Hill, and Tiffany Park elementary schools. In addition, most alumni of the local K 10 alternative school, the HOME Program, attend Running Start via Lindbergh after finishing second year. These facilities are located across the Fairwood, Cascade, and Benson Hill regions. Kentridge, part of the neighboring Kent School District, borders Lindbergh to the south, and Renton and Hazen high schools serving to the west and north respectively.