Opened in 1963, Highland was the second of the three traditional public high schools in Pocatello, and serves the northern portion of the school district, including portions of Pocatello, Chubbuck, and Tyhee. It was originally going to be called "Gate City," one of Pocatello's historical nicknames. Students voiced their dislike for the name and a vote was held, and the winning name was "Highland".

Since its founding, Highland has been the rival of Pocatello High School. The "Black and Blue Bowl," the annual rivalry football game, received national attention across the years, most recently being named the best rivalry game in the state of Idaho in 2009 by ESPN. The rivalry's intensity was expectedly diminished with the addition of the city's third high school, Century, which opened in 1999.

Highland has three fight songs and the official one is the "Highland High School Fight Song." The more commonly sung fight song is called "Loyalty," the lyrics to which are printed on the back of student activity cards. The last is called "Ram Power," which most students know the tune of (Budweiser's 1971 jingle Here Comes the King) but not the lyrics, outside its last stanza, which is "When you say RAM POWER... You've said it all!".

Highland's "Hall of Fame", shown on the right, contains every athletic award given to the school and team members. Those awards stretch from all-conference in a certain position to State Championship Trophies. Here are some of Highland's notable athletes: