Show up for something that isn't yours
Go to a match for a sport you don't play. Sit through a concert for a band you're not in. The gym is louder and the season is better when the stands aren't only parents.
Brookings High School / Brookings, South Dakota
Home of theBobcats
One school, one town, one set of colors. Whatever you are here for — a classroom, a court, a stage, a shop bay — you are part of it the day you walk in.
850Students
17Varsity sports
9–12Grades served
ESDConference
Our school
A public high school that punches its weight
Brookings High School serves roughly 850 students in grades 9 through 12 as part of the Brookings School District. It sits in a college town on the eastern edge of South Dakota, and that shows up in the building: strong academics, a deep activities program, and a community that turns out for its kids.
Bobcat teams compete in the Eastern South Dakota conference, which means most Friday nights involve a bus ride and a gym full of people who drove to get there. Seventeen varsity sports run alongside band, choir, theatre, debate, FFA, robotics, and a long list of clubs that start because a student asked to start one.
Athletics & activities
The year, season by season
Fall
Football · Volleyball · Boys & girls soccer · Cross country · Boys tennis · Competitive cheer & dance · Marching band
Winter
Boys & girls basketball · Wrestling · Gymnastics · Swimming & diving · One-act play · Debate
Spring
Track & field · Boys & girls golf · Girls tennis · Softball · Baseball · Spring musical
Schedules, rosters and live scores are posted by the activities office each season. If a team is playing at home, admission is free with a student ID.
Bobcat pride
Pride is a thing you do, not a thing you feel
School spirit gets talked about like a mood. It isn't. It's a set of small, repeatable actions, and any student can start doing them tomorrow.
Leave the building better
Pick up the wrapper that isn't yours. Push in the chair. Report the broken thing instead of walking past it. Custodial staff notice, and so does everyone else.
Learn one freshman's name
Every senior was a lost ninth grader once. A hallway that says hello is the cheapest and most durable thing a school can build.
Wear the colors on purpose
Theme nights work because they're visible. Orange and black in the student section reads as one thing from across the court, and that's the whole point.
Represent off campus
Away games, speech meets, work shifts, the grocery store. People form their opinion of BHS from students they meet in town, not from the website.
Start the thing you wish existed
Most clubs here started with one student, one teacher willing to sponsor, and a sign-up sheet. If it's missing, that's an opening, not a verdict.
“You don't inherit a school's reputation. Each class rebuilds it from scratch, whether they mean to or not.”
For families and community
Brookings is a town that shows up. Booster clubs, music parents, FFA alumni, and local businesses keep a lot of this running, and the easiest way to help is usually the most direct one: buy the season pass, work the concession stand, sponsor a program, or just be in the seats.
If you want to get involved and don't know where to start, the activities office can point you at whichever program is shortest on volunteers this month. There is always one.