Wilde Lake High School

History

Bids were requested by January 1970 for a 1,350-seat school to be built for an estimated US$2.6 million. Opened in 1971 as a model school for the nation, it was Columbia's first high school. It had an open doughnut-shaped design with "open classrooms," and was a model school for new teaching settings.

In 1994, the original 910-student building, which did not meet current safety standards, was demolished. A new $20 million 1,200-seat building with a more traditional style was reconstructed on the same site by Cochran, Stephenson and Donkevoet. The new building, which opened in 1996, replicates the open design, with a central "main street", and halls surrounding it and a bridge across the second floor.

Students

The racial makeup of the population during the 2017–2018 school year was 26.7% White, 43.8% Black or African American, 7.2% Asian, 14.6% Hispanic or Latino, 0% Native American, 0.4% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 7.4% two or more races.

Jim Rouse Theatre

Wilde Lake has a modern 750-seat theater named for Columbia founder James Rouse, who went by "Jim". The theatre has its own separate entrance and is used by both school and community groups. The 12,500-square-foot performance space is also used for community meetings, sales rallies, exhibitions, and business training sessions. The theatre has a total of 739 seats and eight handicapped accessible locations. Coincidentally, Rouse’s grandson Edward graduated from Wilde Lake in 1987.

Athletics

Wilde Lake High School has a number of sports teams for each season of the academic year, including football, soccer, golf, volleyball, basketball, and cross country. The school has won the following state championships:

Cross country

• 1971 – Boys' cross country
• 1996 – Girls' cross country
• 1996 – Boys' cross country
• 2005 – Boys' cross country
• 2006 – Boys' cross country
• 2007 – Boys' cross country

Football

• 1985 – Football
• 1990 – Football
• 1991 – Football
• 1992 – Football
• 1997 – Football
• 2010 – Football

Soccer

• 1976 – Boys' soccer
• 1981 – Boys' soccer
• 1982 – Boys' soccer
• 1983 – Boys' soccer
• 1984 – Boys' soccer
• 1991 – Boys' soccer
• 1997 – Boys' soccer
• 2019 – Boys' soccer

Basketball

• 1985 – Boys' basketball
• 1994 – Boys' basketball State Finalist
• 1995 – Girls' basketball

Ice hockey

• 2008 – State Finalist Wilde lake no longer fields an independent ice hockey team. From 20112018, a co-op team with players from Oakland Mills and Hammond High Schools was formed, known as the “WHO”. In 2018, Centennial and Long Reach High Schools joined the WHO to form the Wolves.

Tennis

• 1985 – Boys' tennis doubles
• 1986 – Mixed doubles
• 2001 – Mixed doubles
• 2006 – Boys' tennis singles

Track and field

• 1975 – Boys' track and field

In 2015, Carol Satterwhite, a physical education teacher at the Wilde Lake High School was selected for the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Hall of Fame.

Band program

The school has a band program consisting of groups including the marching band and wind ensemble.

The Paw Print

The Paw Print is an independent publication of Wilde Lake High School.

Accommodations

Wilde Lake has a special education program. In addition to its programs for the disabled, Wilde Lake accommodates teen mothers through their in school daycare center.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni include actors Edward Norton (1987), Carly Hughes (2000), Sara Lindsey (2007), and Adria Tennor (1988). Alumni also include the authors and journalists Laura Lippman (1977), and Robert Kolker (1987). David Bentley Hart (1982) is another writer, theologian, and cultural critic.

Wilde Lake alumni lawyers of note include national security and human rights attorney Jesselyn Radack (1988), who has represented constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein and whistleblowers Edward Snowden, Thomas Drake, John Kiriakou, and Daniel Hale.

Wilde Lake also produced a number of prominent athletes, including Olympic gymnast Elise Ray (2000), Major League Baseball player Jim Traber (1979), and football players Zach Brown and Isaiah Coulter, who attended freshman through junior year.

Politicians of note include Manhattan borough president Mark D. Levine (1987) and Dr. Terri L. Hill (1977), Maryland State Delegate, District 12

Notable musicians include Lo-Fang (2002) and Greg Saunier (1987).

Teen prodigies who graduated from Wilde Lake High include John Overdeck (1986) (a billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist); and Curtis Yarvin (1988) (a computer scientist, political philosopher, and neoreactionary) thinker

References

References

1. "2017-18 School profile". HCPSS.
2. Louise Vest. (January 13, 2015). "Bid deadline for Wilde Lake High School builder History Matters". The Baltimore Sun.
3. [http://archone.tamu.edu/CRS/engine/archive_files/efl/6000.0504.pdf "Five Open Plan High Schools: A Report from Educational Facilities Laboratories"] (1973) (archived at Texas A&M University).
4. (September 23, 1993). "Renovation at Wilde Lake is to be more extensive". The Washington Post.
5. "1993 to 2017 Enrollment for All Grades".
6. "Jim Rouse Theatre".
7. "Technical Specifications". Jim Rouse Theatre for the Performing Arts.
8. Parnell, Vincent [http://www.wildelake.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1033:fall-2012-athletic-information&catid=175:sports-instructions&Itemid=232 "Fall 2012 Athletic Information"], Howard County Public School System, 2012.
9. "MPSSAA Girls' Cross Country".
10. "MPSSAA Boys' Cross Country".
11. Levine, David. (November 28, 1985). "Wilde Lake 1 Victory Away". The Washington Post.
12. "MPSSAA Football".
13. (December 3, 2010). "Wilde Lake holds off Franklin to win 3A state title, 21-14".
14. "MPSSAA Boys' Soccer".
15. Melnick, Kyle. (November 16, 2019). "Md. 3A boys' soccer final: Wilde Lake wins with golden goal". The Washington Post.
16. "MPSSAA Boys' Basketball".
17. (March 13, 1994). "Milford Mill balancing act too much for Wilde Lake".
18. "MPSSAA Girls' Basketball".
19. "MPSSAA Tennis Mixed Doubles".
20. "MPSSAA Boys' Tennis Doubles".
21. "MPSSAA Boys' Track & Field".
22. (December 1, 2015). "James Simmons to be Inducted in NIAAA Hall of Fame". [[Louisiana High School Athletic Association.
23. "Band {{!}} Wilde Lake High School Band {{!}} United States".
24. "The Paw Print : The Student News Site of Wilde Lake High School".
25. "Wilde Lake High School Profile".
26. Rubin, Sarah. "Wilde Lake's Teen Parenting Program Serves Students Countywide".
27. (June 6, 2017). "Edward Norton, Laura Lippman, and more Columbia notables reflect on a changing city". The Baltimore Sun.
28. McCauley, Mary Carole. (October 12, 2020). "Columbia native Robert Kolker is having a moment, with an Oprah's Book Club selection and HBO, Netflix movies based on his work".
29. (September 29, 1982). "National Merit Scholarship Honored". The Washington Post.
30. Langfitt, Frank. (October 25, 1992). "Late bloomer flowers brilliantly at Yale Law School Student overcomes rocky youth, MS".
31. Shapira, Ian. (September 21, 2000). "Flipping For the Olympics". The Washington Post.
32. (April 7, 2020). "The Athletic's 2020 NFL Draft Guide". The Athletic.
33. Len Lazarick. "A 50-Year-Old-Town-Faces-Its-Future". The Maryland Reporter.
34. Mencius Moldbug. (October 26, 2011). "The Holocaust: a Nazi perspective".