Kamiakin Middle School
Kamiakin Middle School is a middle school in Kirkland, Washington and is part of the Lake Washington School District. It was established in 1974, and accommodates 627 students as of the 2020–2021 school year. The school is named after Kamiakin, a chief of the Yakama Tribe in the 19th century and a leader of the American Indian side in the Yakima War. Sports. The Kamiakin Cougars compete against six other Middle schools in the Lake Washington school district. Sports offered include 7th grade basketball, badminton, boys tennis, in the first season. They offer girls basketball 7–9 and  boys basketball 8–9 in the second quarter. In the third quarter they have wrestling and 8-9 volleyball. In the 4th quarter they offer girls tennis, 7th grade volleyball, and boys and girls track. Gifted Program. Kamiakin offers the Quest Gifted Program. The Middle School Quest program allows students to engage in challenging curriculum. The program meets the needs of students who have been identified as having exceptional cognitive and academic ability by accelerating and enriching the district curriculum. Classes include greater breadth and depth of subject matter and a wide variety of learning processes and teaching methods. Covid Response . Kamiakin Middle School closed school during March of 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and Governor Inslee's school closure mandates. Starting in April of 2021, Kamiakin Middle School gave students the option to come back to school, and started hybrid learning, in which students who chose to stay at home could continue to attend class online. At the start of the 2021–2022 school year, Kamiakin fully returned to the in-person school format, introducing strict contact tracing rules. In September there were two confirmed cases of Covid-19 at the school, and within the first 3 days, 81  people who had close contact were quarantined.