Welcome to Hughson High School and a new school year. I live in the community and am beginning my 5th year at HHS. No one could have predicted all of the craziness that has happened since my arrival in 2019, but the high school has been a rock for students during this time. While every other school in the county closed for over a year during Covid, HHS remained open for much of that time and tried to keep things as normal/regular as possible. We know how important school is to teenagers and have been responsive to their needs and the needs of our community.

I have a child that attend Hughson High School and our other 2 administrators have students attending HHS as well. I also have a child that attends Ross and Hughson Elementary. We all live in the community and have a vested interest in the success of the high school not just because we work here, but because our children attend here. The superintendent’s daughters went here, the middle school principal’s son graduated from HHS, the elementary principal’s son goes here, and we have dozens of staff members throughout the district that have sent or will send their kids here. The people that know the school the best know this is a great school and great community. Decisions are made not from an ivory tower, but in conjunction with our educational partners and with kids first because they are literally our children.

We also have almost 200 students that attend HHS that live in other communities. That means more than 1 in 5 of our students commutes from another community on an inter-district permit to attend our great school. We have grown by almost 200 students over the last 4 years and our enrollment is now approaching 870 students. People know that this is a destination school in an amazing community. With all of the craziness going on in big cities, people value a community like Hughson where they know their children are safe and the school is responsive to their needs. We are one of the only high schools/districts in the county not in declining enrollment as families continue to make the choice to send their children to HHS/HUSD.

We had an amazing year in athletics last year. Ten of our 16 teams were either TVL league champions, or runner up. Fourteen of our 16 teams made the playoffs. We won 3 section championships (Football, B track, B Cross-Country), a state championship in football, and Joseph Lighthall was the state champion for 800 meters in track and the section male track athlete of the year.  We start out this year with our FFA students at the County fair winning in multiple events including swine, heifer’s, gardens, flowers, etc. We’ve been national champions in academic decathlon, won the Occupational Olympics 10 of the last 12 years, won red ribbon week the last 7 years, and have an amazing VAPA department with exceptional band, choir, art, and drama performances.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me and find out more about what makes HHS so great. You’ll see me at football games throwing out candy to the crowd, at the homecoming parade down Hughson Avenue, and all over the community and school at events. We have a great staff that loves working with your children and coming to campus every morning. Let’s have a great year together – see you at graduation!

Loren Lighthall

llighthall@hughsonschools.org