Shoreland Lutheran High School

In 1968, "a layman a minister and a teacher coordinating committee" studied the possibility of establishing a school for four congregations (Friedens, St. Luke, Bethany, and Mt. Zion) of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.[7] In July 1971, the synod's Lutheran high school committee chose the name "Shoreland Lutheran High School".[8]

The first classes were offered during the 1971–72 school year in Friedens Evangelical Lutheran Grade School in Kenosha, for 27 tenth grade students.[9] During the second year of operation, the school moved to Mount Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church,[10] where 46 students were enrolled;[11] the enrollment was 78 during the school's third year.[9] By that year, the school was supported by seven congregations: the original four, plus the Lutheran Church of the Abiding Word, in Somers; Immanuel, in Waukesha; and Our Saviour Lutheran Church, in Zion.[12] SLHS officially became a four-year high school in the autumn of 1973,[12] and graduated its first class in May 1974.[13]

As early as 1972, the Shoreland High School Foundation initiated "Project S" to raise $500,000 to build a new school building on property donated by Elmer Kirchner.[14]

In February 1975, its rising enrollment caused a move into a block of rooms on the third floor of the east wing of St. Joseph High School.[15] By October 1975, the school had relocated to Friedens Lutheran School, and the Shoreland School Board made plans to raise $1.4 million to build the school's first permanent home.[16] Enrollment in 1975 was 140 students.[17]

In December 1975, the school's first principal, E. J. Greve, dug the first shovel of dirt in a ground-breaking ceremony for construction of the new school building.[18] The new building was designed to be a 46,000-square-foot (4,300 m²) building with room for 350 students. Scheduled to open in 1976, the new school had eight classrooms, science rooms, an arts room, home economics rooms, music rooms, and a gymnasium.[19]

An addition to the west end and major internal renovations were completed in 1997.[20]

In April 2014, the Somers Town Board approved the school's plans for a 13,800-square-foot (1,280 m²) science wing addition, including three combination science labs and classrooms, a science technology engineering and mathematics classroom, a new mechanical room, and new handicapped accessible restrooms.[21] In September 2014, the school celebrated opening of the new $4.2 million wing,[22][23] and the start of the inaugural year of the STEM Project Lead the Way program.[24] Students participating in the program are eligible to earn college credits through the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE).

A final addition of an auxiliary gymnasium and auditorium in the near future will also include renovating the lunch area and office complex.[25]