Smoky Hill High School celebrates 50 years of excellence

In the half century since Smoky Hill High School opened its doors, the school has earned numerous honors. It was named a National Blue Ribbon School and selected as one of the top high schools in America by both Newsweek and the Washington Post. Most recently, Smoky Hill was honored as the 2025 Chaka Sutton Unified School of the Year for Colorado and will be inducted into the Special Olympics Colorado Hall of Fame during a ceremony later this fall.

But more important than the accolades Smoky has garnered, is the outstanding education and strong community it has provided for generations of students.

“I remember Smoky being a space of incredible enthusiasm and connection,” said 2014 graduate Lindsay Paricio-Moreau. “The sense of community was strong, and that allowed me to find my people, find people to push and challenge me, and people to support me. Looking back, the strength of the Theater and IB (International Baccalaureate) communities especially made an impact on my life.”

Smoky Hill is known for the excellence of its academic programs. A comprehensive high school, it offers both Honors and Advanced Placement courses, including AP Capstone (Seminar and Research) courses. Smoky is also an International Baccalaureate School and offers the prestigious IB Diploma Program. In addition, students can take more than 20 Career & Technical Education courses at Smoky Hill, with more offered at the state-of-the-art Cherry Creek Innovation Campus. Students can also earn college credits before they graduate, through concurrent enrollment classes. All classes at Smoky Hill are taught by exceptional educators who make a long-lasting impact on their students.

“My teachers cared about my education. I still keep in touch with some of them,” said 1987 graduate Adrian Miller. He believes his time at Smoky Hill helped prepare him for his pathway of purpose as a lawyer, public policy advisor, and historian who has authored several books examining the culinary traditions of African Americans across the U.S.

Miller is one of many notable SHHS alums. Others include Jenny Cavnar, the first female play-by-play announcer in Major League Baseball; Bowen Yang, an actor, comedian, and primetime Emmy Award recipient for his work on Saturday Night Live (SNL); Stephanie Murphy, Director of Capstone Programming for Junior Achievement Rocky Mountain; and Paricio-Moreau and her brother, Eric Paricio, both recipients of the prestigious Boettcher Scholarship and now teachers in the Cherry Creek School District.

While students at Smoky Hill, many of those alums participated in the school’s rich array of cocurricular clubs, activities, and sports. Miller said participating in Speech and Debate helped put him on a trajectory to attend Stanford, while the Paricio siblings have fond memories of both the friendships they forged and the skills their learned in athletics and performing arts.

Smoky Hill was the Cherry Creek School District’s second high school. Its first students attended classes at what was then the new Laredo Middle School during the 1974-75 school year while construction on the high school building was completed. SHHS was built along Smoky Hill Road, which followed the historic Smoky Hill Trail, so having a buffalo as a mascot seemed appropriate. Through the years, Buffalo pride and school spirit grew and grew.

“I have still never attended pep assemblies with as much pep and energy!” recalled Paricio-Moreau.

That’s evident in the school’s annual lip dub, a wildly popular production that involves hundreds of students every year. You can watch the 2024 version here.

With five decades of Smoky Hill success to support them, past, present, and future SHHS students and families are looking ahead. The coming years will bring continued excellence and innovation, as well as the first phase of improvements to the Smoky/Laredo campus, thanks to voter approval of the 2024 bond.

The Buffalo Way – Pride in the Present, Success in the Future – holds ever true.

“I may teach at Cherry Creek High School now, but Smoky will always hold a big piece of my heart,” Paricio-Moreau said.

Adrian Miller agreed.

“I’m so grateful to have been able to go to a public school like Smoky Hill,” he said.

Congratulations to Smoky Hill High School on its first 50 years!