Rio Americano High School
Template:SFHStaxoboxRio Americano High School, colloquially known as Rio, is an American public high school in Sacramento, California, part of the San Juan Unified School District. The current principal is Robert Hollingsworth (2000-present), preceded by Ronald Uzelac (1985-2000), Alice Cubo, Lloyd Snellson and Joseph Brewer. Rio also has one of the highest API scores in the state at 783. Rio is one of 41 High Schools in the nation to be named a 2006 National Blue Ribbon School, an accolade they've held consistently for many years.
Rio Americano students come from the surrounding areas of Arden Park, Arden Oaks, Sierra Oaks, Fair Oaks, Carmichael, Gold River, and to a much lesser extent, the La Sierra community. In recent years, more students have been transferring from other districts and areas, partly due to the shift of Sacramento High School to a charter school. Rio's two rival schools are Jesuit High School and to a lesser degree El Camino High School because of its close proximity to the Arden Park area.
History
Rio Americano High School was established in 1963 as a temporary high school, built to offset a huge baby boomer population increase. It was supposed to be a temporary solution for education shortages, to be demolished 20 years later and used for housing purposes. As demand increased and Rio's academic and extracurricular programs proved strong, the school has remained a permanent fixture in the community.
On November 2, 2000, a fire destroyed the school's "Little Theatre" and severely damaged several neighboring classrooms. The theatre has since been rebuilt as the "Betty Miller Little Theatre", (in honor of Rio Americano's Readers Theatre and Drama Director Betty Miller,) and the damaged classrooms have been restored. The school went through a major cosmetic overhaul known as "remodernization" from 2001-2002.
Campus
Demographic
2005-2006
| White | Asian | Hispanic | African American | American Indian | Filipino | Pacific Islander |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76% | 9% | 7% | 5% | 1% | 1% | <1% |
Curriculum
Courses
Advanced Placement
Rio Americano offers 14 AP courses in addition to various Honors classes. Although there are no official classes, students have been known to take the AP Music Theory, AP Statistics, and AP French exams.
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Band
The Rio Americano band program is nationally recognized, having 4 levels of concert band and 3 levels of jazz ensemble. The AM Jazz Ensemble was recognized as one the United States' top 15 high school jazz bands at the Essentially Ellington Jazz competition in New York City in 2001, 2002, 2006, and 2007. The Rio AM Jazz Ensemble has also won the Monterey Jazz Festival in the High School Big Band category an unprecendented 7 times. They have toured Japan, Europe and most recently China in the summer of 2006 and are scheduling a tour of Australia in the summer of 2008.
Electives
The following are electives available at Rio Americano.
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Extracurricular Activities
Academic Decathlon
Mock Trial
Mock Trial is a program that places students in a courtroom environment in which they play the parts of attorneys, witnesses, court clerks and bailiffs. Rio Americano's Mock Trial team is known for its record of success at both the county and state levels. The team has reached the final round in the California Mock Trial State Finals twice in 1999 and 2006. In the 2007 county competition, Rio failed to reach the final round of counties for the first time since 2001. This is widely attributed to the unfair scoring of a scoring judge who scored one of Rio's trials in such a slanted fashion that it was impossible to make up for the deficit. Later examination shows that the scoring sheets were altered by the scoring judges prior to being submitted and that had neither of the two scoring sheets been altered before being entered, Rio Americano would have won the trial keeping them from getting to the final round by a single point.[citation needed]
Moot Court
Rio Americano's Moot Court team has won the Sacramento County competition the past two years, in both 2006 and 2007.
Radio & TV
The Radio & Television program has won the award for best High School News show in Sacramento several times, last awarded to them in 2002, by the Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium. The program has been reportedly falling apart by students and graduates after Gebhardt retired.
Science Bowl
Science Bowl is a high school academic competition that tests students on their science in seven different categories (Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, General Science, Math, and Physics). There exist two 2007 teams (Team A and Team B), each consisting of five members. In the Sacramento Regional Completion, Team A placed 2nd and Team B 3rd. Team A defeated Mira Loma A in the double-elimination round, but narrowly failed in their attempt to beat them a second time in the final winner-take-all match. Team B lost only to Mira Loma A and Rio A.
Science Olympiad
A science competition with various events. Their '07 A team placed second at regionals, and did not place at the state level.
Speech and Debate
The Mirada
The school's newspaper. It is made by students of all grade levels, and covers nearly every event and new items. Mostly juniors and seniors are editors, two seniors for editor and chief, and junior and seniors for News, Opinions, Features and Sports. The Mirada also has three graphic artist, and one main photographer. There are many staff writers of all grade levels. The paper even has a business manager. There are about 21 staff members overall. One teacher, supervises. The features are: Bachelor and Bachelorette, Prep of the issue, Car of the issue and sometimes food reviews. The paper has an issue every month and has won various awards. The raider icon on the front page to the side of the heading changes every month. http://the-mirada.net
=Awards=
- Gold Medal Standing From Columbia University Journalism Review Program.
- Two individual awards from the International Quill and Scroll Competition.
The Tesoro
The school's yearbook. Each year the Tesoro has a different theme, the 2005-2006's being 'Curious'. On the bottom each page, varoius students wrote things they were curious about, such as: "Why do guys wear girl pants?" The yearbook also features clubs, sports, outside-of-school ports, senior favorites, quotes and pictures. Parents of seniors can submit a page dedicated to their son or daughter in the "Diapers to Diploma" section.
Sports
Baseball
is great
Basketball
Their Boy's Basketball recently won the 2006 Jack Scott Tournament, a tournament hosted by Rio. In 2002, the Rio Varsity Boy's Basketball team won the section title at Arco Arena and went all the way to the state semi-finals at UC Davis.
Cross Country
The Rio Americano cross-country teams are coached by Gordon Hubble. The varsity boys cross-country team placed 5th in the 2006 Sac-Joaquin Division III Section Finals Meet at the Willow Hills course in Folsom, CA. This is the teams best performance in many years. The varsity boys also received two CAL (Capital Athletic League) All-League awards. The varsity girls team subsequently ran to a best performance in many years, placing 7th in the 2006 Sac-Joaquin Division III Section Finals Meet, and also received two CAL All-League awards as well. Both teams placed second in the Capital Athletic League. The freshman boys team placed first in the Capital Athletic League, the SJS Div. III Sub-Sections Meet, and the SJS Div. III Sections Meet.
Football
Rio Americano's football team has been the center of many jokes in the surrounding area. In the past ten years, Rio Americano has failed to procure a winning record in the regular season. However, the 2006 season showed much promise as the team began the season 4-1, later falling off the momentum to end the season at 5-5. Yet, this record is still much better than any record for Rio Americano in the the past five years. With the incoming sophomore class (which went 8-2 in their JV season) to the varsity team, there is much hope that the program is finally turning around and returning to the high level of prestige that it was once known for.
Golf
Rio Americano's golf team is quite possibly the greatest team Rio has ever had. The team is coached by Brady Yount (2007-current) and assistant coach Sheperd.
2007 Varsity Golf: Aaron Kim, Jordan Mills, Bryson Boatwright, Philip Lee, Matt Sheperd, and Stan Jorgenson.
Soccer
Rio has boys' and girls' soccer programs coached by Jim Sullivan and Danny Cruz.
Softball
Swimming & Dive
The boys' coach is Chris Nissen, and the girls' coach is Kirk. Rio's Swim Team has repeatedly won the Section title over the perennial power, Jesuit High School.
Tennis
Track and Field
The track & field teams are coached by Gordon Hubble. With assistant coaches Tay Moore and Eric Smith. In 2006, Rio Americano's 4x100m team, consisting of Kianti Gix, Kyle Oddister, Chris Valls, and Diante Mayers, set the school 4x100m record with a time of 42.38 at the 2006 Sacramento Meet of Champions. They were also ranked 20th in the state of California. Rio Americano's track team produced four CAL All-League award winners in 2006: Laura Lilly in the girls' high jump, Phil Smith in the boys' high jump, the 4x100m team, and Patrick Nilan in the boys' 1600m run.
(Records will be published in time.)
| Boys' Records | Girls' Records |
|---|---|
| 100m - | 100m - |
| 200m - | 200m - |
| 400m - | 400m - |
| 800m - | 800m - |
| 1600m - | 1600m - |
| 3200m - | 3200m - |
| 110mH - | 100mH - |
| 300mH - | 300mH - |
| 4x100m - 42.38 (Kianti Gix, Chris Valls, Kyle Oddister, Diante Mayers) | 4x100m - |
| 4x400m - | 4x400m - |
| Long Jump - | Long Jump - |
| Triple Jump - | Triple Jump - |
| High Jump - | High Jump - |
| Pole Vault - | Pole Vault - |
| Shot Put - | Shot Put - |
| Discus - | Discus - |
Volleyball
Water Polo
Water Polo is one of the most recognized of the sports at Rio. Girls Water Polo has won 5 straight section titles. Men's Water Polo has produced division 1 players such as Brian Kinsel and Matt Hillard, both of whom play for UC Berkley. The Air Force Academy recruited Austin Bartlett.
Wrestling
Clubs
- Rowdy Raiders
- Asian Culture Club
- Suburban Life Enhancement Club
- French Club
- French Conversation Group