Irondale High School

Irondale High School was named among the best high schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report (top 15 in the state of Minnesota) for exceeding expectations when it comes to student performance on reading and math tests, and for preparing students for college.[7]

Irondale was listed in the top 5% of high schools in the country by Newsweek in 2010.[8] This ranking is based on how much the faculty challenges students by offering AP/IB/Cambridge tests and college-level courses to students.

Irondale was the first high school in the state of Minnesota to offer a comprehensive Early College program.[9]

During the 2006–2007 school year, the school met all of the requirements for Adequate Yearly Progress and had an AYP graduation rate of 99.05%.[10] The school offers Advanced Placement classes and participates in the University of Minnesota's College in the Schools program.[11] Nearly 90% of students pursue post-secondary options.[9]

Irondale has a marching band led by Bill Sucha. The band was the first Minnesota Marching Band State Champion at the 2005 Youth in Music Band Championships held annually at U.S. Bank Stadium.[12] In 2010 the Irondale Marching Knights took first place in the AA class at the St. Louis Bands of America super regional.[13]

The Irondale High School winter drumline and winter guard have had great success at both the state and national level. In 2009, the drumline was named the Minnesota Percussion Associations State Champion in 1996, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018,and 2019 the Winter Colorguard has been North Star Circuit State Champions 1993, and from 1996 to 2014,[14] The drumline would continue on to become state champions in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.[15] Both also frequently perform at the Winter Guard International World Championships in Dayton, Ohio. The Winter Guard was crowned Scholastic Open Class World Champions in 2002 at WGI, and the Winter Drumline became Scholastic Open Class Bronze Medalists in 2003. The drumline went on to become 2016 and 2017 Scholastic A Class finalists, placing 7th and 8th respectively out of over 60 competing groups at the national competitions. They continued their success at the national level in 2018, becoming Scholastic A Class Silver Medalists by placing 2nd out of 64 groups. This was the first time in history that the Irondale Drumline made WGI Finals three years in a row, and the first time a Minnesota high school drumline achieved that feat. In 2019, they extended the streak to four years, as they were promoted to open class and placed 9th out of over 50 drumlines, placing them in the top 30 high school drumlines in the world. The Irondale Drumline is also Minnesota's only high school to medal at WGI World Championships, with their third-place finish in 2003 and second-place finish in 2018.[16]

Irondale is home for FIRST Robotics Competition Team 2052, named KnightKrawler. Formed in 2007, KnightKrawler has slowly begun to climb the rungs of FIRST and what it has to offer, from being regional finalists at multiple locations, to impacting their local communities. The team is run by multiple volunteers, as well as advisor Rebecca Young. KnightKrawler has been honored with various finalist and quarter-finalist positions. However, most notably in 2016, they were the finalists in the Carson Division at FIRST Championship - St. Louis, as well as becoming quarter-finalists at Einstein.[17] Additionally during this year, they won the Chairman's Award at the Minnesota 10,000 Lakes Regional,[18] the most prestigious award given by FIRST.

The Irondale High School robotics team has consistently had great success at both local, state, and nationwide levels. In 2013, KnightKrawler placed as Quarter-Finalists in the Newton Division of FIRST Championships in Saint Louis.[19] KnightKrawler continued to place as either Quarter-Finalists or Semi-Finalists in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018.[20] As aforementioned, in 2016, they were winners of their division. They also frequently perform at various other competitions, called regionals, as well as the state championships named MSHSL FIRST State Robotics Championship. Currently, KnightKrawler has made their way to the FIRST Championships six times in a row. In their most recent endeavor, KnightKrawler finished as semi-finalists at FIRST Championships in Detroit,[21] a new location for the 2018 season where contestants were at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan instead of Saint Louis.

“We were on the winning alliance in the Carson division. Then, all of the winners from each of those divisions play each other. And out of those six teams, we finished fifth.”[22] “This year, on April 27, their robot, “Cricket,” came in fifth place overall at the FIRST Championship, an international high school robotics competition held in Detroit.“At FIRST, there are six fields and each field has 68 teams,” explained Rebecca Young, an Irondale math teacher and the students’ staff Aside from their endeavors in the championships, KnightKrawler often partakes in community outreach events, where they assist their community in any possible way. Most notably, KnightKrawler has gone to Feed My Starving Children, where the team packs food to be sent to various parts of the world. Often, they demo their robot from either the current season, or previous seasons, at various locations such as schools, convention centers, and more. They show the community, their investors, supporters, potentially upcoming members, as well as the parents of their students what they've been up to for the entire "Build Season" during an event called a "robot reveal".

The school offers a number of sports.[23] 89% of parents are satisfied with the opportunities for participation in co-curricular activities.[9]

There are many activities that the school offers[23]

• Lisa Bender is a Democratic politician from Minneapolis.
• Scott Bjugstad is a former Olympic and NHL forward (1984–92).[24]
• Members of the band Information Society: Kurt Harland Larson, Paul Robb, and James Cassidy.[25]
• Kate Knuth is a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, representing District 50B (2007–2013).[26]
• Road Warrior Animal (Joe Laurinaitis) is a member of the professional wrestling tag team The Road Warriors.
• Lee A. Piché, a Roman Catholic bishop
• Randy Rasmussen is a former member of the Minnesota Vikings.
• Premal Shah is the co-founder and president of Kiva.org.[27]

• Official website