Papillion-La Vista Senior High School, often referred to as Papio, PLHS, or ‘’’Monarchs’’’ is located in

Papillion Papillion is a city in and the county seat of Sarpy County, Nebraska, United States. The city developed in the 1870s as a railroad town and suburb of Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha. The city is part of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, larger ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, a suburb southwest of

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

. Operated by the Papillion-La Vista Public School District, its

school colors School colors, also known as university colors or college colors, are the colors chosen by a school, academy, college, university or institute as part of its brand identity, used on building signage, web pages, branded apparel, and the uniforms ...

are

maroon Maroon ( , ) is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word , meaning chestnut. ''Marron'' is also one of the French translations for "brown". Terms describing interchangeable shades, with overlapping RGB ranges, inc ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

, and the mascot is a

monarch A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...

History

The Papillion-La Vista Public Schools District originated well over a century ago. It is reported to be the first school district to be established in

Nebraska Territory The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Nebraska. The Nebrask ...

, in 1872. Papillion High School dates back to September 1876. Originally housed in a single brick building at the corner of Halleck & Adams Streets, Papillion's only school served students in all 12 grades. In 1893 the school moved to a new brick building at 420 S. Washington Street, the present site of the district offices. The city continued to grow, and in February 1957, Papillion High School opened in a new building across Washington Street (presently

Papillion Junior High Papillion Middle School is a middle school in Papillion, Nebraska, United States, which currently holds 7th grade and 8th grade. The school building was opened in 1957 as Papillion High School, which relocated to its present site in north Papill ...

) to students in grades 7–12. Directly north of Papillion, the city of La Vista incorporated in 1960 and presented no education system. The students of this new development area had been incorporated into the Papillion School District, and Papillion's steady growth continued. By September 1969, voters in the district had passed a bond issue to build a new high school facility at 84th Street and East Centennial Road; a similar bond issue the preceding year had been defeated. The high school moved north to its present location in August 1971, serving students in grades 9 through 12. La Vista was officially added to the district in 1987 and the high school's name was formally changed to Papillion-La Vista.

Second high school

Continued population growth resulted in the construction of

Papillion-La Vista South High School Papillion-La Vista South High School (commonly referred to as Papio South, PLSHS, PLSouth, or PLS) is a high school in Papillion, Nebraska, United States. It is one of two high schools in the Papillion-La Vista Public School District. The school' ...

(PLSHS) in southwest Papillion, which opened in August 2003. Because of overcrowding prior to this, Papillion-La Vista was a senior high school (grades 10–12) for several years, with freshman remaining at the two junior high schools in the district. With the opening of PLSHS, the freshman class was added back to both high schools.

Popular culture

The

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

film ''

Election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

'', starring

Matthew Broderick Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is an American actor. He starred in ''WarGames'' (1983) as a teen government hacker, and ''Ladyhawke (film), Ladyhawke'' (1985), a medieval fantasy alongside Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer. He play ...

and

Reese Witherspoon Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Reese Witherspoon, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Aw ...

, was shot mainly at Papillion-La Vista in autumn 1997. The high school had actual classes going on during much of the filming, and the background noises during much of the film are actual teachers and their students in nearby rooms.

Sports

* Football - Class A Champions 1990 and 1996;Runner-up 1986, Runner-up 1987, Runner-up 1995 and Runner-up 1997 * Softball - 13 Class A Championships, 2 Runners-up from 1995-2010 (including 10 straight) * Volleyball - Class A Champions - 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, and 2008 * Girls' track and field - Class A State Champions - 1997, 1998, 1999 * Boys' golf - Class A Champion - 1999 * Boys' tennis - Class A Champion - 1978 * Boys' basketball - Class A Champion - 1993, Runner-up 2013, 1971 * Boys' swimming - Class A Champion - 2003 * Boys' soccer - Class A Champion - 1991 * Wrestling - Class A Champion - 2001 * Boys' All-Nebraska All-Sport Award -2012 * Cross country * Baseball - 1997, 1998 * Girls' tennis - 2015

Notable alumni

Jordy Bahl Jordyn Bahl (born July 24, 2002) is an American college softball pitcher for Nebraska. As a freshman at Oklahoma she was named NFCA National Freshman of the Year in 2022. As a junior in 2025 she was named NFCA National Player of the Year. High ...

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

player for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding t ...

* Kenzo Cotton, All American and

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

Champion sprinter at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

. *

Merle Dandridge Merle Dandridge (born May 31, 1975) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for performing in Broadway musicals such as ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', ''Spamalot'', '' Rent'', and ''Once on This Island'', as well as her video game rol ...

, Broadway actress and the voice of

Alyx Vance Alyx Vance is a fictional character from Valve's ''Half-Life'' video game series. She is introduced as a non-playable, supporting character in '' Half-Life 2'' (2004), accompanying the player's character, Gordon Freeman, throughout much of the ...

in the award-winning action game ''

Half-Life 2 ''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' is played ent ...

'' and its sequels, '' Episode One'' and '' Episode Two'' *

Allan Evridge Allan Evridge (born June 24, 1985) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the Kansas State Wildcats football team from 2004 to 2005 and the Wisconsin Badgers football team from 2007 to 2008. College career Wis ...

, former

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

quarterback *

Matty Lewis Matty is a given name or nickname, frequently of the male given name Matthew. It can also be a surname. People with the given name or nickname Notable people with the given name or nickname include: A–E * Matty Alou (1938–2011), Major League ...

, Musician and lead singer of the band ''

Zebrahead Zebrahead is an American rock band from La Habra, California, formed in 1996. The group's current line-up comprises rapper Ali Tabatabaee, bassist Ben Osmundson, drummer Ed Udhus, lead guitarist Dan Palmer and lead vocalist and rhythm guita ...

'' * Gina Mancuso, Gatorade Volleyball player of the year * Carlos Martínez, professional football player, formerly with the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

* Jeremy Slechta, former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

and

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

* Becca Swanson, nicknamed "the strongest woman in the world" for lifting more weight than any other woman in the world; squatting over 800 lbs, benchpressing over 500 lbs, and total lifting (squatting, benchpressing and deadlifting) more than 2000 lbs *

Allison Weston Allison Elizabeth Weston (born February 19, 1974) is a former indoor volleyball player. She won the 1995 national championship while playing for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and also played for the United States national team at the 2000 ...

, 2000 Olympic Volleyball Captain and University of Nebraska Volleyball, All-State Nebraska High School volleyball, basketball, and soccer

References

External links

School website

District website
* {{authority control Public high schools in Nebraska Educational institutions established in 1971 1971 establishments in Nebraska Schools in Sarpy County, Nebraska