Richardson High School

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Richardson High School
File:Richardson-high-school-logo.jpg
Location
Map
Richardson, TX

United States
Information
TypeHigh School/secondary school
Established1890 (1951 - current facility)
School districtRichardson Independent School District
PrincipalCharles Pickitt
Grades9-12
Color(s)Purple and Gold
MascotEagles
WebsiteRichardson High School Website

Richardson High School is a high school in Richardson, Texas, United States with a 2006 enrollment of approximately 2300 and a student/teacher ratio of 12.8.

Background

In August 2006, RHS was named one of three "Best Practices" high schools in the state of Texas. The award granted by the National Council of Educational Accountability and the Just 4 Kids Foundation is based upon staff development, staff retention, standardized test scores and support programs for students.

In May 2007, the Richardson Independent School District was awarded the "Excellence in Education Award for Large School Districts" by the HEB Foundation. Richardson High School and Richardson West Junior High played instrumental roles in the the selection process and hosted the site visit committee in March 2007. In addition to the award, the RISD received a check for $100,000.

Richardson High School is part of the Richardson Independent School District. The school has an arts, law, and science magnet program and an acclaimed Mock Trial team, the Legal Eagles, who have been the regional champion for eleven of the past twelve years, state champions in 2002 (St. Paul - 9th in nation) and 2003 (New Orleans - 8th in nation) and 2007 (Dallas - 8th in nation).

Richardson High School began to offer magnet programs 18 years ago. Based upon the school within a school concept, Richardson offers magnet students the chance to fully participate in all areas of academics and extracurricular activities while exploring specific career interests. From the robotics lab to the full service commercial kitchen for culinary arts, the magnet strands are centered on hands on curriculum designed to build life skills, expose students to specific career related skills and offer authentic experience in their chosen field of study. Currently RHS offers magnet strands in visual arts, communication, law, science, robotics, culinary arts, performing arts, health science technology and theater tech.

In addition to the magnet strands, RHS offers students over 40 clubs and organizations - from National Honor Society and Student Council to Teens In Action, Mu Alpha Theta and the Writer's Guild. RHS boasts the world's largest Interact club. Interact, sponsored by Rotary International, focuses on service to the community. This year over 380 seniors in a class of 420 participated in the service organization conducting over 30 service projects during the course of their senior year. In 2007 RHS proudly hosted the Rotary International District convention - with all support services provided by senior volunteers.

The school, which opened shortly after the first public school in the city was burned down by the infamous Ross Inman in 1890, began in a two-room building on Old Pike Road, a street that is now part of Greenville Avenue. A rural school with fewer than 100 students up to 1950, the school opened its present facility in 1959.

Richardson's sports mascot is the Eagles and the team shares Eagle-Mustang Stadium (capacity 11,000) with J.J. Pearce High School. The school's student news magazine is the Talon.

As of 2006, the administration at RHS is led by Mr. Charles Pickitt, Principal; Mr. Henry Hall, Senior Principal; Mr. Ramiro Lucio, Junior Principal; Mr. Tony Palagonia, Sophomore Principal; Mrs. Shannon Tovar, Freshman Principal and Mr. Steve Whiffen, Curriculum and Instruction Principal.

Notable Accomplishments

Battlebots - National Championship - 2007 Economics Team - State Championship - 2007; State Finalist - 2006 Mock Trial - State Championships 2007 (8th in Nationals), 2003 (8th in Nationals), 2002 (9th in Nationals)- 11 time regional champions - most appearances at state competition by any Texas team HOSA - 11 students qualified for National Competition 2007 Debate - qualified for Nationals 2007 DECA - students qualified for Nationals 2007 Citizen Bee - Student finishes in Top 15 in Region - 2007, 2006 UIL District Competition - Host 2007 "Open Mike Night" - Full Length Motion Picture - written, produced and directed at RHS - premiered May 2006 at the AMC Valley View - awarded Honorable Mention at the Twin Rivers Film Festival 2007 and shown at the Studio Movie Grill Addison

RHS Alma Mater

Richardson High School Football Team, 1919
Richardson High School Class of 1917.
All hail to thee
Our Alma Mater honored;
Richardson, we're loyal to you.
In days to come
Your memories we'll cherish;
Through the years
We'll still be true.
We are really gay!
All gay all day!
We suck at everything
Our school is filled with illegal Mexicans
We need to deport all these Mexicans
But then we would lose half of our school population
But that's ok we suck anyway!

Jeremy Delle incident

On January 8, 1991, Jeremy Wade Delle, a 16-year-old sophomore who had recently transferred to the school, killed himself with a .357 Magnum in front of his second-period English class. The tragedy inspired the Pearl Jam song Jeremy.

Steele Shepherd, a former student at nearby J.J. Pearce High School, has gathered information for years on the Delle incident. Based on an interview with a school employee, he claims that Delle spent time in a psychiatric hospital prior to his arrival at Richardson High School and had been placed in in-school suspension for several weeks prior to the incident. "Imagine getting out of a hospital under those conditions and going to a new school, a new start, only to be thrown into suspension shortly after arriving," he writes.

KRET

In 1960 the Richardson Independent School District established KRET, the first TV station in the nation to be owned by a school district. The call letters "RET" stood for "Richardson Educational Television".

KRET began broadcasting 29 February 1960. KRET broadcast only on weekdays eventually matching school hours and not during the summer. KRET had a broadcast range of about 20 miles. KRET was station 23 on the TV dial.

The studio was located at Richardson High School from 1963-1970. The studio was previously located at Richardson Junior High School (1960-1963). The station was converted on 31 August 1970 into a closed-circuit network named "TAGER".

Notable alumni

Catherine Crier

External links


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