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16245 NE 24th St, Bellevue, WA
Interlake High School (IHS) is a public secondary school in Bellevue, Washington, one of the four traditional high schools in the Bellevue School District. It is known for its offering of the International Baccalaureate program and its Gifted and Talented program. Its mascot is a Saint Bernard named Bernie, and the school's sports teams are known as the "Saints".
As of the 2014–2015 school year, Interlake has approximately 1,503 students, the largest enrollment since the 1980s. Interlake's class sizes have grown larger and larger in recent years, beginning with the 250-student freshman body of 2006.
Interlake's students include a large variety of races, ethnicities, religions, ideals, and backgrounds. 41% of students are white, 34% are Asian, 14% are Hispanic, 8% are multiracial, and 3% are African-American.Many student organizations have been created to group people of different backgrounds, including the Jewish Student Union, Campus Christian (originally known as "The Reach" or simply "Bible Club"), Queer-Straight Alliance, Black Student Union, Ginger Club (for redheads), Islamic Cultural Awareness Club, French Club, and ELITES (Estudiantes Latinos Internacionales Trabajando por una Educacion Superior).
More than a third of students speak a first language other than English, and many more are multilingual. Widely known languages at IHS include Chinese, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Hindi, and Russian. Interlake requires two language credits and offers tuition in French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese. It also has an extensive English as a Second Language (ESL) program that allows students arriving from foreign countries to learn English as a secondary language.