The school's student body is primarily composed of Alaskan Natives, and Asian-Pacific Islanders and Caucasians.

SHS's traditionally most successful sports are softball, baseball, swimming, and wrestling, with the former two claiming state championships in the 2004–2005 school year and with baseball and swimming claiming championships in the 2005–2006 school year.

In the past three years Sitka High School has won the Region V 4A Wrestling championships twice.

SHS is also renowned for its competitive drama, debate, and forensics (DDF) team, which has multiple state championships under its belt, including a forensics state championship in 2005–2006, 2008–2009, and 2009–2010, starting in 2016 and continuing to 2022 the sitka high DDF tea, has gone undefeated.

However, the recent change to 3A means the Juneau-Douglas Bears and the Ketchikan Kings no longer compete against the Sitka Wolves for regional and state titles.