Middleton High School (Middleton, Wisconsin)

Middleton High School is a public secondary school located in the city of Middleton, Wisconsin. It was established in 1879. Part of the Middleton-Cross Plains School District, the school serves more than 2,000 students in grades 9 to 12 from the Middleton and Cross Plains areas. Middleton High School's mascot is the cardinal. The school colors are white and cardinal red. Its athletic teams play at the WIAA Division 1 level in the WIAA Big Eight Conference. Middleton High School is often praised for having highly rated STEM and athletics programs.

In 2021, in a report by U.S. News & World Report, Middleton High School was named as the best high school in Dane County and it was also named best high school out of around 540 in the state of Wisconsin.

Orchestras
Middleton High School has four school orchestras, the Cardinal Orchestra for freshmen, the Sinfonia Orchestra for sophomores and juniors, the MHS Philomusica Orchestra playing music from many different musical genres from outside the world of regular orchestra music, and the Symphony Orchestra with winds, brass, and percussionists selected from the Wind Ensemble for the full orchestra experience.

Bands
Middleton High School has four school bands: Cardinal Band for freshmen and Concert Band, Symphonic Winds, or Chamber Winds for sophomores, juniors and seniors by audition. The MHS marching band was invited to perform in London in the 2011 and 2015 New Year's Day Parade.

At the Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA) State Marching Band competition in 2021, the Middleton High School Cardinal Marching Band show named “Imaginarium” took 2nd in class AAAA, and 4th overall. For Middleton High School this is the highest they have ever scored at 83.388, and the highest they have ever placed.

State championships
(*Fall 2020 sports competed in Spring 2021 due to COVID-19)
 * Baseball: 2003
 * Cross country (boys): 1992, 2017, 2019
 * Cross country (girls): 1995, 1996, 1997, 2006, 2020*, 2021
 * Football: 1983, 1987
 * Golf (boys): 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2011
 * Golf (girls): 2009, 2015, 2019, 2020*
 * Lacrosse (boys): 2003, 2015, 2024
 * Rugby (co-op boys): 2018
 * Snowboarding (girls): 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
 * Soccer (boys): 2004, 2023
 * Soccer (girls): 2006
 * Softball: 1989
 * Swimming and diving (boys): 2020, 2023, 2024
 * Swimming and diving (girls): 2016, 2017, 2018, 2023
 * Tennis (girls): 2013, 2020*
 * Track and field (girls): 1997, 1998
 * Ultimate Frisbee (boys): 2024
 * Ultimate Frisbee (girls/non-binary): 2022, 2023
 * Volleyball (boys): 2023

National Science Bowl
Middleton High School competes in the National Science Bowl, an academic competition ran by the United States Department of Energy. The team was founded by a member of the Class of 2021, David Jiang.

In recent years, Middleton High School's Science Bowl team has achieved notable success. The team has won Wisconsin's regional competition, held at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and advanced to the national competition in both 2021 and 2023.

Notable alumni

 * Casey Cramer, Professional Football Player
 * Jill Karofsky, Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice
 * Jon Erpenbach, Wisconsin State Senator
 * Nick Toon, Professional Football Player
 * Ryan Groy, Professional Football Player
 * Josh Lambo, Professional Soccer & Football Player