The Southeast Conference, formerly known as the Southeast 7, is a athletic conference

Athletic conference

An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams, playing competitively against each other at the professional, collegiate, or high school level. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller and smaller divisions, with the best teams competing at successively higher levels...

 made up of five high schools in the southeast corner of Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

. All of the current schools compete at the 3A level, the second-largest in Iowa.

History

This conference was once known as the Little Six Conference. In 1969 the high schools of Burlington

Burlington High School (Iowa)

Burlington High School is a four-year comprehensive high school located in Burlington, Iowa. The school is part of the Burlington Community School District, and it has an enrollment of approximately 1,400 students in grades 9 through 12....

, Bettendorf

Bettendorf High School

Bettendorf High School is a four-year comprehensive high school located in Bettendorf, Iowa. Roughly 100 instructors teach more than 1500 students using a four-period block daily schedule with 85 minute blocks, BHS also offers classes as 40 minutes skinny's which meet all year for 40 minutes each...

, Muscatine

Muscatine High School

Muscatine High School is a four-year comprehensive high school located in Muscatine, Iowa. The school is part of the Muscatine Community School District, and has an enrollment of approximately 1,700 students in grades nine through twelve....

, and Assumption

Assumption High School (Davenport, Iowa)

Assumption High School is a Roman Catholic high school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport. Charles Elbert is the current principal of Assumption High....

 left the league for conferences that made more geographical sense.

Ottumwa High School

Ottumwa High School

Ottumwa High School is a public high school located in Ottumwa, Iowa. It is part of the Ottumwa Community School District, and it is the district's only high school. It was established in 1923. The school sports mascot is a Bulldog.- History :...

 and Keokuk High School

Keokuk High School

Keokuk High School is a public high school located in Keokuk, Iowa. Located at 2285 Middle Road, Keokuk HS draws students from the southernmost part of Lee County, Iowa. Enrollment for the 2009-2010 year was 686 students. For athletics, Keokuk High School is classified as 3A, the 2nd largest...

, as the only remaining members, formed the Southeast 7 to meet their needs for a conference. The new league was made up of Keokuk High School, Ft. Madison High School, Mt. Pleasant High School

Mount Pleasant Community High School

Mount Pleasant Community High School is a public high school located in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. MPCHS is one of two high schools in the Mount Pleasant Community School District. Annual enrollments are generally between 800 and 900 students for all four grade levels...

, Fairfield High School, Oskaloosa High School, Ottumwa High School, and Washington High School

Washington High School (Washington, Iowa)

for schools of the same nameWashington High School is the local public high school in Washington, Iowa. It is a member of the Washington Community School district. The building was built in 1918 and is still currently used...

. Oskaloosa left the conference after the 1983 baseball season to join the newly-formed Little Hawkeye Conference

Little Hawkeye Conference

The Little Hawkeye Conference is a high school athletic conference in central Iowa. With Oskaloosa dropping from 4A to 3A for the 2010-11 school year, the conference now has only one 4A school . The majority of the membership is made up of only 3A schools, the second largest class of schools in Iowa...

. After Ottumwa left in 1998, the conference changed its official name to the Southeast Conference.

The conference's schools have faced shrinking enrollment. Located in the southeast corner of the state, the cities with schools in the conference were some of the first cities settled in Iowa, but have seen their populations decline in the recent decades.

Current members

• Fairfield High School
• Fort Madison High School
• Keokuk High School
• Mount Pleasant High School
• Washington High School (Washington, Iowa)

Former members

• Oskaloosa, ????-1990
• Ottumwa, ????-1998
• Burlington, 1961-1969
• Bettendorf, ????-1969
• Muscatine, ????-1969
• Davenport Assumption, 1963-1969