Mount Rainier High School is a secondary school in Des Moines, Washington, United States; named for Mount Rainier which can be seen quite well from the school on a clear day, which is rare in the fall and winter but very common in spring and summer. Mount Rainier serves approximately 1700 students and has been active since 1957. It was created to handle the overflow from nearby Highline High School, the district's first high school located in Burien, Washington. The original, aging facility was replaced with a new building at the same location; it opened in September 2007.DemographicsMount Rainier is home to a somewhat ethnically diverse population as the school's number of minorities exceeds Washington state averages. 49.9% of students currently qualify for free or reduced price lunch.AcademicsMount Rainier is an IB World School and since July 1987 has offered an International Baccalaureate program. The first IB coordinator at Mount Rainier was Mr. Malcolm Willems. The IB coordinator was Mr. Christopher Wilder for many years afterword but is now Mr. Greg Harrington, who was previously only the IB History teacher. He is now in charge of both departments and teaches the Theory of Knowledge class that is mandated for all IB Diploma candidates. Students have the option of testing in all their IB subjects to receive an IB diploma and receive college credit. To do so, a students combined score must be over 24.AthleticsMount Rainier is in the Cascade Division of the North Puget Sound League, since 2016.Mount Rainier has been recently successful in boys' basketball, boys and girls soccer, girls volleyball, tennis, baseball, drill team, boys wrestling,boys swimming and girls basketball.
