Edina High School

History

Before a high school opened in Edina, students looking to extend their education past eighth grade had to find their way down to the old Central High School at 4th Avenue and South 11th Street in Minneapolis. By the 1940s some Edina students in grades 10 through 12 attended private high schools. Of those who could not afford to attend a private high school, some were enrolled at St. Louis Park High School while many others were being "farmed out" to West and Southwest High Schools in Minneapolis. In 1941, Minneapolis schools raised their tuition for out-of-city students, and despite the increase, Edina residents voted to pay the increased tuition rather than build their own high school.

During the mid-1940s, support for an Edina-Morningside junior and senior high school was increasing. However, World War II and the resulting shortage of building materials delayed construction of the Edina-Morningside Junior and Edina-Morningside Senior High School. But after the war, support for the new school began to resurface. Two sites for the new school had the most support. One was on the property that is currently occupied by the Edina Country Club near 50th Street and Wooddale Avenue and the other was at West 56th Street and Normandale Road. Although the 50th and Wooddale site was the center of the village's population at the time, the 56th and Normandale site was nearer to the school district's geographic center and was the eventual site chosen to build the new school.

The first high school to open in Edina, later known as Edina East, is now the site of the Edina Community Center and Normandale Elementary School. It was built as a combination high school/junior high. A $1.25 million school bond issue was passed in 1946 by the residents of Edina and ground was broken in October 1947. A year later the school was dedicated. It was not until the fall of 1949 that classes began and it was at that time that the student body chose the school colors (green and white) and the school mascot, the Hornet. The school had 28 classrooms, 11 special rooms and laboratories, a library and a special radio room. In 1952, one year after the first class graduated, a gymnasium and auditorium were added to the building.

In the 1960s, the high school was becoming overcrowded. As a result, on October 20, 1970, a $9.255 million bond issue was approved by voters to construct a new high school attached to Valley View Junior High School. Construction of the new high school began on May 24, 1971, and the school was opened in the fall of 1972. The Edina East High School retained the "Hornets" and Edina West High School became the "Cougars".

Demographics

As of 2026, Edina High School has a student population of 2,641 that is 0.1% Native American, 6.6% multiracial, 7.5% Hispanic, 8.2% Asian, 11.9% black, and

65.8% white. The school's graduation rate is 95%. According to a survey done by Edina Schools, 95% of seniors go on to college and 86% finish in five years. 10 years after graduation, 30% of Edina graduates stated that they had completed graduate school degrees or were pursuing graduate degrees.

Extracurriculars

Edina High School offers various extracurriculars for students.

The school's publications include the yearbook, a student newspaper, and a literary arts magazine. The yearbook is titled Whigrean, meaning white and green annual. The school newspaper is the Zephyrus, and is a member of the High School National Ad Network. The school has a student-published literary arts magazine entitled Images [on the wind].

In 2011, Edina was the first high school in Minnesota to perform on the Main Stage of the International Thespian Festival in over forty years, where they performed Anything Goes. In 2013, they brought "Fiddler on the Roof" to the Main Stage at the International Thespian Festival. In 2016, they were one of the first high schools in the nation to perform a Disney-sponsored show called "Peter and the Starcatcher", which they once again brought to the Main Stage. In 2018, they brought "The Visit" to the Main Stage at the International Thespian Festival.

Edina has a nationally recognized FIRST Robotics Competition team: Team 1816, or "The Green Machine". The team won the FIRST Championship The FIRST Impact Award (formerly the Chairman's Award), the highest honor a robotics team can receive, earning them a spot in the Hall of Fame at the 2019 FIRST Championship

Edina High School has had an Ultimate Frisbee program that has competed since 2003, both locally in the Minnesota Ultimate High School League,and nationally through USA Ultimate-sanctioned tournaments. The Boys & Girls teams have combined to win a state record 13 State Championships. Girls Varsity won in 2014, 2019, 2021, and 2022, while Boys Varsity won in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Edina High School also participates in Quiz Bowl. In the 2024-2025 season, Edina's A Team for Quiz Bowl won the Minnesota High School Quiz Bowl League and the state championship. This was one of three times this feat was accomplished for the team.

Finally, Edina has a nationally recognized debate team, which has been nationally ranked in the recent past (16th in 2009-10 and 19th in 2010–11)

Athletics

Edina High School is a member of the Lake Conference of the Minnesota State High School League. Previously a member of the Lake Conference and the Classic Lake Conference, the school joined the new Lake Conference in 2010. Edina claims 210 athletic high school state championships, a state record, with most of them earned in tennis, swimming & diving, and boys hockey. In 2000, the school was recognized as the first school in the state of Minnesota to win more than 100 state championships. In 2019, the record was broken for most state championships won in a school year as Edina claimed 8 titles. The boys' hockey team has won a state-record fourteen championships (including three titles by Edina East), eight under Willard Ikola alone. Edina held the record for most consecutive state championships in girls tennis with fifteen from 1978 to 1992. In 2012, Edina broke their own record by winning nineteen straight state championships from 1997 to 2015. In June 2023, Edina was the first school in Minnesota to achieve 200 state championships.

In 2005, Sports Illustrated ranked Edina as the 8th best sports program in the United States.

Key: E = Edina East, W = Edina West, * = Not included in MSHSL count

^Prior to the inception of the Minnesota State High School League football tournament, the Edina Hornets were ranked #1 in the state for the following years: 1952, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1971

^Denotes state record

^The 1999 state championship was a tie between Eden Prairie High School and Edina High School; this was the first tie at a state championship in Minnesota

Notable alumni

Business

Roy J. Bostock (class of 1958), business executive

Robert Bruss (class of 1958), lawyer, real estate broker, author, and newspaper columnist

Dave MacLennan (class of 1977) former CEO of Cargill Edina-East

Brian J. Dunn (class of c. 1978), former CEO of Best Buy

Ron Johnson (class of 1977), former CEO of J.C. Penney, former Senior Vice President of Retail Operations at Apple Inc.

Politics

Ron Johnson (class of 1973) (attended), current Republican Senator of Wisconsin

Mary Anderson Pawlenty (class of 1979), Minnesota District Court Judge and wife of former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty

Erin Matson (class of 1998), action vice president of the National Organization for Women

Sports

Jeff Wright (class of 1967), former safety with the Minnesota Vikings

Bill Nyrop (class of 1970), hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens and was a member of three Stanley Cup winning teams (1976, 1977, and 1978)

Paul Siebert (class of 1971), Major League Baseball pitcher for Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, and New York Mets

Brian Burke (class of 1973), general manager and executive VP, Toronto Maple Leafs and 2010 United States Men's Olympic Ice Hockey Silver Medalist Team

Gord Hampson (class of 1977), retired National Hockey League player

Karl Mecklenburg (class of 1978 West), NFL Pro-Bowl linebacker with the Denver Broncos

Greg Olson (class of 1979), former catcher for the Atlanta Braves

Chris Perry (class of 1980), golfer with one PGA Tour victory

Paul Ranheim (class of 1984), hockey player who played for Calgary, Hartford, Carolina, Philadelphia, and Phoenix from 1988 to 2003

Jenny Schmidgall-Potter (class of 1997), ice hockey player and gold medalist at the 1998 Nagano Games

Hilary Lunke (class of 1997), golfer, winner of the 2003 U.S. Women's Open

Adam Goldberg (class of 1998), former NFL player

David Ostlund (class of 1999), semi-professional World's Strongest Man competitor

Entertainment

Stan Freese (class of 1962), tuba player, band director, and talent booking and casting director with The Walt Disney Company

Julia Duffy (class of 1969), actress

Barbara Peterson Burwell (class of 1972), Miss USA 1976

David Bloom (class of 1981), news reporter, NBC

Christopher Straub (class of 1997), contestant on the television show Project Runway; finished fifth in the sixth season

Paris Bennett (class of 2004) (through 11th grade), contestant on the television show American Idol; finished fifth in the fifth season

Jenny Taft (class of 2006), sportscaster