Athletic teams are known as the Tigers, and the school colors are black and gold.

SCHS was named after Sarah Smith Cotton, a prominent member of the early Sedalia community.

The land on which one of her previous houses stood was used for the original building.

[8] The school also has a Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), known as Tiger Battalion.

[11] The school has one competitive show choirs, the varsity-level "New Score Singers" Smith-Cotton also previously had an all-female group, "Cabaret" which was retired in 2018 and the jayvee-level group "Vocal Velocity" which was retired in 2022.