Lincoln Southwest High School

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Lincoln Southwest High School
Lincoln Southwest High School
Address
7001 South 14th Street Lincoln , Nebraska 68512 United States
Coordinates	40°44′23″N 96°42′15″W / 40.73972°N 96.70417°W / 40.73972; -96.70417
Information
Type	Public High School
Motto	"S.O.A.R."
Established	c. August 2002
Sister school	Senshu University Matsudo High School
School district	Lincoln Public Schools
Principal	John Matzen[1]
Faculty	200+
Teaching staff	109.88 (FTE)[2]
Grades	9-12
Number of students	2,199 (2023-24)
Student to teacher ratio	19.76[2]
Color(s)	Forest Green and Silver
Athletics conference	Heartland Athletic Conference[3]
Mascot	Sylvester Silver Hawk
Nickname	Silver Hawks
Rival	Lincoln Southeast High School
Newspaper	Hawk Talk
Website	Lincoln Southwest High School

Lincoln Southwest High School is a Lincoln Public high school located 74 acres adjacent to Wilderness Park in Lincoln, Nebraska.^[4] The school opened in August 2002 and was designed to hold around 1,500 students.^[5] The student population as of the 2023-24 school year is 2,199 students in grades 9-12.^[6]

Southwest offers dual enrollment education through three local tertiary education institutions. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln offers dual enrollment to students on the university's campus, Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) offers dual enrollment at Southwest's campus through the NWU Honors Academy, and Southeast Community College (SCC) offers dual enrollment on both Southwest's campus and the Lincoln Public School's Career Academy campus located on the SCC campus.^[7]

In 2006, Southwest was awarded the National Speech and Debate Association's National School of Excellence Award for their debate program.^[8] In 2013, Southwest's speech program also received the National School of Excellence Award.^[9]

The Southwest Girls swim and dive team has won four state championships, including a three-peat from 2016 to 2018.^[10] The Silver Hawk first swimming and diving championship was in 2014, which was also the first swim and dive championship for a Lincoln school since 1999.^[11] In 2017 the girls' swimming and diving team took first at state and set five new individual state records.^[12]

The Southwest Science Olympiad team has, since 2008, won ten out of eleven state championships, each annually qualifying them for the national tournament.^[13]

After going win-less in their first season, the Southwest football team made the state playoffs during fourteen of the following sixteen seasons.^[14]

The Southwest golf teams have won five combined team state title for the school, including a four-year run where the Boys team won three championships.^[15] In 2018, the Girls golf team won state championship in the first round of competition, finishing with a seventeen stroke lead.^[16]

The Southwest Music program consists of three primary divisions; band, orchestra, and choir. Nearly a quarter of Southwest's student body is involved in the Music Department.

Southwest also has three a cappella ensembles: Hawktet, their varsity octet group,^[17] Silver Lining, their women's group, and the Quicksilvers, their men's barbershop quartet. Though these groups are operated inside of the school, they are not directly affiliated with Southwest or its vocal music program.

The Southwest softball team have won three state titles, including back-to-back championships in 2008 and 2009.^[18] In 2018, the Silver Hawks was first team in Nebraska to lose their first game in the double-elimination tournament to come back and win a state title.^[19]

The Southwest tennis teams have won a combined three state championships.^[20] During the 2017 Boys State Finals, Southwest swept the entire championship bracket, winning both singles and both doubles bracket.^[21]

The Southwest Girls track and field teams have won three state titles. The Boys' team placed second in the NSAA state meet in 2017^[22] by half a point to Lincoln High School.

Silver Hawk Theatre is a member of the International Thespian Society and has performed at the International Thespian Festival four times, most recently debuting the MTI licensing version of Kinky Boots at the 2022 festival in Indiana.^[23]

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lincoln Southwest High School.

• LSW homepage