Rock Bridge High School

Rock Bridge High School

"Where learning is for life."
Address
4303 S. Providence Road
Columbia, Missouri 65203
United States
Information
School type Public high school
Established 1973
School district Columbia Public Schools
Principal Dr. Jennifer Rukstad
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 1,866 [1] (2014-15)
Athletics conference Independent
Team name Bruins
Rival David H. Hickman High School
Newspaper The ROCK
Yearbook Flashback
Online News BearingNews
Website School website

Rock Bridge High School is a public high school located in southern Columbia, Missouri. The school serves grades 9 through 12, and is a part of the Columbia Public Schools.

History

Due to the increasing population of Columbia in the 70's, and the crowding of David H. Hickman High School towards the end of the 1960s, the Columbia Board of Education decided to form a new high school. The board bought 42 acres (170,000 m2) of land in Southern Columbia and started the construction of the new high school. The name Rock Bridge was chosen because of the schools proximity to the natural rock bridge of Rock Bridge State Park. Construction started in 1972 on the original portion of the building, consisting of 18 classrooms and one office area in the present-day east wing of the building. Many of these classrooms were connected by motorized folding walls, many of which are still operational and in use. The design of the original portion and its three planned additions, of which two were completed, won a national award in school design.

Construction started on the second portion in early 1973, which added the "Main Commons", another office area, the library, the gymnasium, and a few specialty classrooms underneath that area. In September 1973, with the completion of the second portion, Rock Bridge was considered "complete enough" to open and had a class of 583 students, mostly sophomores and juniors. This high school was the second centrally air conditioned school built in Columbia, MO, after Oakland Junior High School north of town. The planetarium (which serves the entire district) opened in 1974. The planetarium is room 303 and features a star ball and a full dome movie projector. The planetarium can seat 85 people in the seats and more on the floor. In 1979, the west wing opened, which was similar to the east wing, but had two levels. The west wing featured about ten general-purpose classrooms, as well as science, art, and band rooms, providing the school with a then-total of about 40 classrooms. The west wing has a lift (elevator) for handicapped students and other uses. A north wing similar in design to the east and west wings was proposed but never came to fruition. Three new science classrooms, as well as a performing arts center, were added in 1992.

Eight years later, in 2000, a large addition opened between the east and west wings, featuring several more classrooms and a bigger media center and more offices.

In January 2013 Rock Bridge opened a new auxiliary gym due to the expected ninth graders attending at the school. A few more science classrooms, eight English and Social Studies classrooms, seven foreign language classrooms, a new Media Center, and three new computer labs. The new facilities allowed the school to repurpose several areas, to allow for an expanded cafeteria in the old library, along with other education improvements. As of 2010-2011, the school had Wi-Fi throughout the media center, commons, and main hallways, with the entire building wired in the summer of 2012. to begin attending high school following the secondary redistricting in August. The area under the auxiliary gym featured a new wrestling room, making room for three new math classrooms in the former location. A new weight room was also added. We now need to be buzzed in if we come to the school during the day time since a new buzz in system was put in recently.

Structure

Rock Bridge runs on a block scheduling format during the hours of 8:55 AM to 4:05 PM. This format is structured so that students have four 95-minute-long classes each day. However, most of these classes meet every other day for a total of eight classes for the year. Block scheduling was established in the 1994-95 school year.[2]

Academics

The school offers 18 Advanced Placement courses and a multitude of honors classes available to students. However, RBHS does not weight grade point averages.

Athletics

Rock Bridge High offers a variety of sports. Fall sports include Cross Country, Football, Girls Golf, Boys Soccer, Softball, Boys Swimming/Diving, Girls Tennis, and Volleyball. Winter sports include Basketball and Wrestling. Spring sports include Baseball, Boys Golf, Boys Tennis, Girls Swimming/Diving, Girls Soccer, and Track & Field. Year round sports include Cheerleading and Poms. Rock Bridge is a perennial powerhouse in both boys and girls tennis, having won the Girls State Title in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2011 and 2014, as well as the Boys State Title in 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012. At the club level, Rock Bridge fields a Boys Varsity Lacrosse team in the spring.[3]

Notable former students

Notable faculty

References

  1. ↑ Columbia Public Schools 2014-15 Enrollment
  2. ↑ http://cpsk12.schoolwires.net/domain/5242
  3. ↑ http://www.bruinathletics.com/

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, May 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.