Red Lake Secondary Complex, formerly Red Lake Senior High School, is a public state-funded

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in unincorporated Red Lake, in Beltrami County, northern

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, United States. The high school is located on the

Red Lake Indian Reservation The Red Lake Indian Reservation () covers in parts of nine counties in Minnesota, United States. It is made up of numerous holdings but the largest section is an area around Red Lake, in north-central Minnesota, the largest lake i ...

on which members of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa (

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

) Indians live, and has over 300 students. The school's

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

s are the ''Ogichidaag'' and ''Ogichidaakwag'' (warriors and lady warriors). The school also hosts its own radio station, Ka-MOD (94.1 FM). The school is a part of Red Lake School District (Independent School District #38). Public education first began in Red Lake with the formation of School District 119. In 1935, ground was broken on the construction of what is now Red Lake High School, with the doors first opening to students in 1936. The school became well known after the 2005 shooting, receiving much attention in the media and internet.

Attendance zone

Within Beltrami County the district serves Red Lake,

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

, Ponemah, and Redby. It also serves a section of Clearwater County.

2005 shooting

On March 21, 2005, 16-year-old

Jeff Weise The Red Lake shootings was a spree killing that occurred on March 21, 2005, at two locations on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Red Lake, Minnesota, United States. That afternoon at 2:00 p.m., 16-year-old Jeff Weise killed his grandfather ...

, a former student at the school, drove his grandfather's patrol vehicle to Red Lake High School. He first shot and killed the school security guard Derrick Brun, before proceeding through the school main hallway. He then entered a study hall classroom where he shot and killed five students and one teacher, and wounded five students. He later left the classroom and injured two students in the school main hallway. He later engaged in a brief shoot-out with police in a classroom. No officers were wounded. He then committed suicide inside the study hall classroom by a shotgun-wound to the head. Weise had killed seven people inside the school, and had previously murdered his grandfather and his grandfather's companion at his home.

Ojibwe culture

Red Lake High School students can sign up for

Ojibwe language Ojibwe ( ), also known as Ojibwa ( ), Ojibway, Otchipwe,R. R. Bishop Baraga, 1878''A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language''/ref> Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous la ...

classes (the language is also taught in elementary and middle schools in the district) and have a chance to learn Ojibwe traditions from community elders. A culture center, opened in 2004, is furnished in Ojibwe style. Decorations include carved animal symbols of the seven clans of the Red Lake Band (

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...

, bullhead,

mink Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

pine marten The European pine marten (''Martes martes''), also known as the pine marten, is a mustelid native to and widespread in most of Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and parts of Iran, Iraq, and Syria. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red Lis ...

and

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

) placed on a high shelf running around the room, and the words for the four directions carved into the walls.

References

External links

Red Lake Secondary Complex

Red Lake Net News
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1936 Public high schools in Minnesota Schools in Beltrami County, Minnesota 1936 establishments in Minnesota

Attendance zone

2005 shooting

Ojibwe culture

References

Further reading

External links