Author:	Kate McGree
	Grade:	Junior
	School:	La Salle HS
	Mascot:	Lightning
	League:	Mid Valley
	Classification:	1A

I go to La Salle High School in Yakima Washington and at our school, we have about 200 students. Our student body is ethnically diverse and it reflects the makeup of our valley. We are a private catholic education system with rigorous academic courses and high standards that teach all our students to be leaders in our community. La Salle High School started in 1998 with a few brave souls who pursued their dream to give kids a good catholic education in the Yakima Valley. One of those brave souls was my dad. He is currently the President of our school and has been since La Salle was started.

In the beginning, our campus began at Holy Family which used to be a grade school in Yakima many years ago and currently is still a parish. After our school grew a bit, our campus moved to a 40 acre piece of land out in Union Gap which is another part of Yakima. It borders the beginning of the Indian Reservation and a creek runs right behind it. We use the creek as part of our science program and have established a salmon release program every spring bringing in fourth graders from our local grade schools to be a part of the experience.  We started off with just one building and two portables, but as we exceeded the limit for that, the school worked to raise more money and we were able to build a wonderful gathering hall with classrooms and a whole new science complex. We also have a chapel on our campus which is the most sacred building we have. It was built so that when we finish the rest of the buildings and complexs, the chapel is in the center of everything.

Our school is the only catholic high school in the valley and our academic courses are at the college level. Since it was started, it has been a college preparatory high school that gets you ready for your future. Sports are also important at La Salle because they help build strength and character. We have competed for league championships, district championships, and state championships in many of our sports over the years.  Most of the money we have received to help us to continue to build our campus was given to us by extremely generous people.

Each year, from the first class to graduate to the most recent class, we have had 100% of our students accepted to a college after graduating from La Salle. There are a lot of wonderful schools in the Yakima Valley and I am lucky to be part of such a unique one that has come a long way since it started 14 years ago.