# Sugar-Salem High School

Sugar-Salem High School is a four-year public secondary school in Sugar City, Idaho, the only traditional high school of the Sugar-Salem Joint School District #322 in Madison County. The school colors are royal blue and white and the mascot is a digger, a reference to sugar beet cultivation.
The school district takes in students from the surrounding area, from the local non-census designated communities of Salem (mostly inside Madison County, but partially straddling Fremont County) and Plano on the west to beyond the town of Newdale on the east. On the north, it borders Fremont County, following the Snake River tributary known as Henrys Fork. On the south, it borders Madison School District and the city of Rexburg.

## History

Sugar-Salem High School was built in 1989. The high school was previously housed in what is now Sugar-Salem Junior High School.

## Academic Awards

Sugar-Salem High School has received academic awards including a bronze medal on the U.S. News & World Report List of America’s Best High Schools in 2008 and was listed as a top school in Redbook Magazine in 1994. Sugar Salem High School has a graduation rate of 97 percent. In 2013, it became a National Blue Ribbon School.

## Athletics

Sugar-Salem competes in athletics in IHSAA Class 3A and is a member of the Mountain Rivers Conference. It has received many sportsmanship awards in boys’ and girls’ basketball, volleyball, cross country, wrestling, track & field, and soccer. As of December 2024, the school has won a total of 105 IHSAA state championships including an astonishing 52 state titles from 2017 to 2024. For three consecutive years, in 2018, 2019 and 2020, Sugar-Salem High School was awarded the MaxPreps Cup, a title given by MaxPreps.com to the best overall high school sports program in each state. The tremendous success of Sugar-Salem’s academic and extracurricular programs has earned Sugar City the nickname “Title-town”.

### State titles

Boys
* Baseball (1): (3A) 2024
* Football (6): fall 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024
* Cross Country (8): fall (3A) 2009, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024 (introduced in 1964)
* Soccer (3):fall 2021, 2022(introduced in 2000) 2023
* Basketball (8): (AA, now 3A) 1962; (A-3, now 2A) 1973; (A-2, now 3A) 1993, 1994, (3A) 2017, 2019, 2020, 2023
* Wrestling (12): (A-3, now 2A) 1984, 1986, 1991; (A-2, now 3A) 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000; (3A) 2002, 2003, 2017, 2018, 2019 (introduced in 1958)
* Track (8): (3A)2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023
Girls
* Cross Country (8): fall (3A) 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2024 (introduced in 1974)
* Soccer (2): 2023, 2024 fall (introduced in 2000)
* Volleyball (10): fall (A-3, now 2A) 1990; (3A) 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 (introduced in 1976)
* Basketball (8): (A-3, now 2A) 1991; (3A) 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022(introduced in 1976)
* Track (11): (A-3, now 2A) 1983, 1985, 1986; (3A) 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2021 (introduced in 1971)
Combined
* Cheer (10): (3A) 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
* Drama (12): (3A) 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

## Notable alumni

* Harold G. Hillam - Emeritus General Authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, former member of the Presidency of the Seventy
* Mack Shirley, Idaho State Representative
* Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Pulitzer-prize winning author of A Midwife's Tale