Robbinsdale Armstrong High School

Robbinsdale Armstrong High School
Location
Plymouth, Minnesota, United States of America
Information
Type	Public
Established	1970
Principal	David Dahl
Number of students	2,200
Mascot	Falcon
Colors	Red, White, and Blue
Website	http://ahs.rdale.org

Robbinsdale Armstrong High School (full name Robbinsdale Neil A. Armstrong Senior High School) (abbr. RAHS or just AHS) is a high school located in Plymouth, Minnesota, a second-tier suburb of Minneapolis. The school serves students from the cities of Robbinsdale, Crystal, New Hope, Plymouth and Golden Valley.

The school offers comprehensive secondary education, including core subjects, technology education, physical education, and the fine arts. Newsweek ranked the school #800 in their "List of the 1500 Top High Schools in America," and The Washington Post ranked AHS as #9 in Minnesota. In addition to this, Armstrong (along with the Robbinsdale Area School District) has been ranked as one of the "100 Best Communities for Music Education" by the American Music Conference.

The school's athletic programs have made it to state competitions on many occasions. School tradition maintains that the main rival to Robbinsdale Armstrong is Robbinsdale Cooper, the other sizable high school in Robbinsdale Area School District 281, located in the suburb of New Hope. Together, Robbinsdale Armstrong and Robbinsdale Cooper regularly serve the secondary school population of over 4000 traditional students in the district.

School overview

Armstrong is a four year public high school located in Plymouth, Minnesota and it is one of two public high schools in the district. Armstrong has a student population of 2259 and is 1% Native American, 5% Asian, 8% Hispanic, 17% Black, and 69% white as of the 2007-2008 school year.

The school has a large Advanced Placement program with numerous AP Scholars. It also routinely produces National Merit Scholarship award winners and semifinalists. Over 95% of graduating students go on to post-secondary educational institutions. Commonly attended institutions include: University of Minnesota Duluth, Saint Cloud State University, North Hennepin Community College, University of Minnesota, Augsburg College, Hamline, NDSU, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Kansas, University of North Dakota, and Gustavus Adolphus College .

Facilities

Robbinsdale Armstrong High School was built in 1970, and it has undergone several renovations and upgrades since its construction, with the most recent major renovation finished in 2003. The campus consists of four interconnected buildings with three+ stories. Armstrong is fully wired for high speed internet and wireless internet.

Armstrong has two lots for paid student parking and one for staff/faculty parking. The Plymouth police department provides a liaison officer for overall school security.

The grounds contain a varsity and a junior varsity football field. In addition, Armstrong has two baseball fields, several enclosed tennis courts, and a padded track. Swim teams utilize the Plymouth Middle School pools and Hosterman facilities for practices and matches.

Academics

Armstrong offers the following Advanced Placement courses:

AP Classes offered
Subject	Name	Year(s) offered	Teacher
Science	AP Biology	10th	R. Lautenschlager D. Shaikoski
	AP Chemistry	11th	J. Schreifels
	AP Physics B (precalculus-based) AP Physics C (calculus-based)	12th	S. White
	AP Environmental Science	11th 12th	K. Kneeland
Mathematics	AP Calculus AB AP Calculus BC	10th 11th 12th	C. Blow T. Hartman T. Lloyd
	AP Statistics	11th 12th	K. Jans
Social Studies	AP U.S. History	10th	J. Hohenstein
	AP European History	11th	M. Quinn
	AP U.S. Government & Politics	12th	J. Claire
	AP Macroeconomics AP Microeconomics	12th	J. Redelsheimer
	AP Human Geography	11th 12th	G. Miller
	AP Psychology	11th 12th	J. McLeod G. Miller
Language Arts	AP English Composition	11th	S. V. Olstadt P. Dotter R. Maas
	AP English Literature	12th	J. Lovitt M. Hasapopoulos
	AP Art History	11th 12th	K. Fuller
Global Language	AP Spanish Literature AP Spanish Language	11th 12th	C. Sherry
Music	AP Music Theory	11th 12th	T. Burkholder

Activities

Armstrong hosts many activities, including (but not restricted to):

• FIRST Robotics Team 2525: The Phoenix
• Math Team
• Chess Club
• Quiz Bowl
• Debate team
• Asian club
• Anime club
• Pokemon club

Athletics

The Armstrong Falcons have a heated rivalry with the other team in the Robbinsdale School District, the Cooper Hawks. Other rivalries exist with: the Hopkins Royals, the Wayzata Trojans, and the Minnetonka Skippers. Armstrong's basketball teams are perennially strong; also, Armstrong had a successful football team in the early 2000s. In 2007, Armstrong's boys basketball team made it to the class 4A state championship game, where they were defeated in a close match against the Buffalo Bison.

In 1976, the Men's Gymnastics Team, led by Coach Harlow Beyer, broke a Lake Conference all-sports record when they harvested their eightieth (80th) consecutive dual meet victory and collected their fifth (5th) State Title (1972 through 1976).

Armstrong was once a member of the Classic Lake Conference; however, it was voted out of the conference due to declining enrollment as of 2010. In 2010, Armstrong was admitted to the Northwest Suburban Conference.

State Team Championships
Season	Sport	Number of Championships	Year
Fall	Soccer, Boys	2	1979 and 2003(AA)
	Cross country, Boys	1	1974
	Cross country, Girls	2	1976 and 1978
	Volleyball, Girls	7	80(AA), 81(AA), 82(AA), 83(AA), 84(AA), 00(AAA), 02(AAA)
Winter	Nordic skiing, Boys	1	1980
	Gymnastics, Girls	2	1976, 1983
	Gymnastics, Boys	7	1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1982
Spring	Softball, Girls	1	2001(AAA)
	Track and Field, Boys	2	1985(AA) and 2002(AA)
Total		25

Additionally, Armstrong has many club sports, including (but not restricted to) girls' rugby, water polo, and Ultimate Frisbee.

Notable alumni

• David Gilreath, professional football player currently with the Buffalo Bills
• Jordan Leopold, professional hockey player for Team USA and for the NHL Buffalo Sabres
• Mo Collins, comedian
• Ember Reichgott Junge, former politician
• Actor-director Kevin Norberg, ASCAP composer, recording artist, member of Dale Warland Singers
• Todd Richards, former hockey player and coach of the Minnesota Wild
• Travis Richards, former hockey player for the University of Minnesota
• Kelly Crandall, former hockey player for the University of North Dakota and Gustavus Adolphus College
• Mark Daly, reporter for KARE-11
• Mark Merila, professional baseball player
• Dennis Vaske, professional hockey player
• Chad Hartman, KFAN radio host and son of Star Tribune reporter Sid Hartman
• Tom Dooher, president, Education Minnesota, largest union in Minnesota
• Joel Bertram, Contributing writer on hit USA show "Burn Notice", fill-in radio host (Into the Night w/ Tony Bruno), former head bartender at Whiskey A Go Go
• Jeff Schuh, All-Big Ten First Team, University of Minnesota (1980), professional football player for Cincinnati Bengals (1981–1985), Green Bay Packers (1986), Minnesota Vikings (1986)
• Bee Vang, actor
• Derek Peltier, professional hockey player
• Everette Pedescleaux, professional football player for the Denver Broncos
• Barry Darsow, professional wrestler
• Nikita Koloff, professional wrestler
• Curt Hennig, professional wrestler
• Tom Zenk, professional wrestler
• Leah Thorvilson, elite distance runner
• Ted Johnson - notable writer and blogger for LA TIMES, editor of Daily Variety and Wilshire and Washington. Also frequent contributor on HARDBALL MSNBC and the Today show covering politics and Hollywood.
• Steven J Fischer, short stop and team MVP of the JJ's Clubhouse Greenies amazing upset run to the 2011 Co-Rec Softball Championship in Minnetonka.
• Sassy Cassee, Adult entertainer - Notable Accomplishments: world's smallest stripper

External links

• Official Website
• Robbinsdale Area Schools Website