Lawndale High

From DariaWiki
Establishing shot of Lawndale High School, in a scene from Is It Fall Yet?. In earlier seasons, the drop-off lane has speed bumps.

Lawndale High is a fictional location featured regularly in MTV's animated series Daria.

The high school, located in the fictional town of Lawndale, was the learning/teaching place for most of the show's primary characters and the setting of many stories. Little information was ever given in the series about the history of or educational programs of the school, but it is certain that the subjects English, History, Art, Science, Physical Education, and Economics were taught there in some form, as well as a special self-esteem class for sufferers of a lack thereof.

As shown on LHS letterhead featured in The Daria Database, the school motto is 'High Security for High Performance'.

A PTA or PTSA is also assumed to exist, bringing parents into the educational equation (if Ms. Li listens to them).

Lawndale High's History

The Lawndale High School campus, and seen in Daria!

Now-extinct webpages once found on MTV's Daria site offered information on the high school's origins and internal workings. One was the main page to the Lawndale High School Web Page (c. 2001), which revealed the following tongue-in-cheek info.


Lawndale High School is a public co-educational high school set amongst the rolling hills and flatter surfaces of Carter County. Lawndale is an attractive suburban community conveniently located within driving distance of two airports, four malls, and 27 mini-malls. Lawndale is also home to the soon-to-be-landmarked Big Strawberry.
LHS was formerly located in that big white building downtown which now houses the place you go to get out of parking tickets. In 1953, the school moved to its present location (formerly the site of Elgin Felt and Dye) after follow-up testing concluded that the presence of leached mercury in the soil had been greatly exaggerated. (Please see the school nurse for an informative cartoon brochure on the subject, especially if you've gotten any of those sores.)
LHS has a diverse student body of 1400, with an ethnic balance reflecting Lawndale's proud tradition of multiculturalism (we'd rather not give hard numbers). Many of our students go on to higher education, and of the ones who don't, the vast majority manage to stay out of prison. Our accomplished athletes, extracurricular activities, and high academic standards assure Lawndale High School's reputation as "The Swarthmore of Regional School District 8."
* To join the Save the Strawberry campaign, see Mr. O'Neill. He says someone at the National Register of Historic Places finally returned one of his phone calls.


For some reason (likely to create dramatic tension), Lawndale High was subject to an extraordinary number of calamities while Daria was there, and even before. Perhaps it was built over an ancient Indian burial ground and was thus cursed.

Faculty

Students

The following list only includes students of Lawndale High that were seen or referenced in any significant way during the show. It is assumed that hundreds of other students attended and still attend the school, but only a limited number of students are widely known. (See the Backgrounders website for an extensive list of students at LHS.)

* Were never given surnames on the series.
** Were already ex-students of Lawndale High by the beginning of the series.
*** Were never given first names on the series.

Sports, Clubs and Extracurricular Activities (Canon)

In addition to academia, there are a number of other activities, including sports, in which the students of Lawndale High can engage. They are referenced to in the TV episodes and in the two Daria books (The Daria Diaries and The Daria Database). Extracurricular activities mentioned in canon are listed below with the sources of information on them.

Sports [Note: Multiple sources indicate that most sports at Lawndale High have both boys and girls teams, and might further be subdivided into junior varsity (JV) and varsity teams.]

School Newspaper

Others

Sports not mentioned in canon, so far as can be told, include: baseball, cross-country, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, softball. Roller hockey was shown in "The Big House," but it was a specialty sport played only by faculty competing against local disk jockeys, as a school fund-raising event. Swimming is not mentioned, but Lawndale High has a pool ("This Year's Model").

Other School Personnel

The Daria Diaries and "Quinn the Brain" mention a school janitor or custodian (named Pavlov, or something like that), and several janitors are shown in "The Misery Chick." Security guards are also mentioned in The Daria Diaries.

LHS School Personnel in Fanfic

Trivia

There is an actual school in Lawndale, California, U.S.A., called Lawndale High School. No deliberate or accidental resemblance to the cartoon-show school is evident.

External links

About Lawndale High

PPMB Threads about Lawndale High

Character Information

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