Clover Park High School is located approximately 40 miles south of Seattle in the city of Lakewood, Washington. Lakewood lies near the southern edge of the Puget Sound in a section of western Washington commonly referred to as the Lakes District. Natural lakes dot the city’s landscape and Mount Rainier’s snow-speckled peak dominates the horizon.

Lakewood’s geographic features and its proximity to Seattle, the Puget Sound, two nearby military bases and one National Guard station have created strong socio-economic crosscurrents. Affluent families often live in expansive and well-maintained lakefront homes nested within gated communities, while poor families are concentrated in rundown apartments and small bungalows clustered around the town’s commercial strips and military installations.