R. T. Alderman Junior High
R. T. Alderman Junior High is a school in southeastern Calgary in the province of Alberta, Canada. It is part of the community of Maple Ridge.
History
The school is named after Robert Thomas Alderman. Alderman was an influential person who brought junior high schools to Calgary in the late 1940. This school has been around since 1975 and is situated beside the Willow Park recreation center (whose outdoor facilities are often used for physical education by the school), and Maple Ridge Elementary School. The main colours of this school is blue, grey and white. The school logo was a hippopatamus for a number of years. The school logo now is a snake wound around the letters "RTA" The school's motto is "Together We Make A Difference"
Programs
At R.T alderman there is NSA National Sports Academy for the athletes, you can be in NSA soccer, NSA Hockey or NSA Lacrosse. There is an amazing music program, with the band being one of the best in the province. The school has also won many awards for its excellence. Also has an art and drama program. Where plays are put on yearly, with months of practices. In the 2009-2010 year, the production was "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", in 2010-2011 "Little Shop of Horrors", in 2011-2012 "Grease and in 2012-2013 The Wizard Of OZ (musical). Almost the whole school year is spent practising for these plays. Two second language courses are available, French or Spanish, which have recently been made optional.
Many extra program outside of school include:
-Trip to Quebec
-West Coast Sailing trip with SEAS (for grade 9)
-Band camp (Only for those in band)
-Sports teams
- and much more
The default follow-up for most RTA students is Lord Beaverbrook High School
Athletics
The school's team is the RTA Blues.Their mascot is a snake, though it has previously been a hippopotamous. The school has cross-country, track and field, badminton, volleyball, soccer, and basketball teams. In the annual Miracle Mile, all students run a course of roughly a kilometer around the fields, nearby community center, and Maple Ridge Elementary. The NSA program transferred to RTA in 2011. Students enrolled in the national sports academy at Fairview will either have to go to RTA or go into a different program at Fairview, such as tLC, French Immersion or late French.
Campus
The school has a design shared by two other Calgary schools. The architecture features slanted roofs and columns on the windows. The school overall has about 70 rooms. It has a band room, an industrial arts room, a home economics room and more.
Students
Total student enrolment in September 2009 was 494 . This year there were 130 Grade 9 students, 96 Grade 8 students, 111 Grade 7 students, 113 Grade 6 students and 44 Grade 5 students. In 2006, the school became a middle school.
Alumni
One of the alumni is astronaut Robert Thirsk.[1] Another, is Kaleb Toth of the Calgary Roughnecks professional lacrosse team. He holds many track and field records for the school.