Richardson High School

Richardson High School
Scientia Cum Prudentia
Address
1250 West Belt Line Road Richardson, Texas, Dallas County, 75080 United States
Coordinates	32°57′06″N 96°45′44″W
Information
Type	High School/secondary school
Established	1890 (1959 - current facility)
School district	Richardson Independent School District
Principal	Charles Pickitt
Grades	9–12
Color(s)	Purple and Gold
Mascot	Eagles
Website	Richardson High School Website

Richardson High School is a High school in Richardson, Texas, United States with a 2006 enrollment of approximately 2500 and a student/teacher ratio of 12.8.^{[citation needed]}

Background

In August 2006, RHS was named one of three "best practices" high schools in the state of Texas.^{[citation needed]} 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 1985 Men's & Women's state soccer champions. All State Team Chris Foley,Allen Higgins,Nick Efthimiou,Tommy Simmons. 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 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 a Fine Arts, Culinary Arts, Theatre, Robotics, Law, Health Science 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).^{[citation needed]} Not to be outdone, the debate team has overtaken much of the success of the now declining Mock Trial team. The debate team boasts national qualifiers in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

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, Asian Student Union, Environmental Club, Mu Alpha Theta and the Writers' Guild. RHS has the world's largest Interact club. Interact, sponsored by Rotary International, focuses on service to the community. This year over 380 seniors participated in the service organization conducting over 30 service projects during the course of their senior year. In 2007 RHS 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 1961. During the period of the late 1950s, RHS shared facilities with Westwood Junior High School on Abrams Rd. Mr. Bill Passmore was principal during this transition into the new facility on Beltline Road.

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 the 2010–2011 school year, the administration at RHS is led by Charles Pickitt, principal; Ramiro Lucio, senior principal; Sue Kalny, assistant principal; Josh Eason, assistant principal; Elise Curry, assistant principal; Sharonda Tims, assistant principal; and Talandra Griffen, assistant principal.

Notable Accomplishments

• 1983-84 National Blue Ribbon School

Jeremy Delle suicide

On January 8, 1991, Jeremy Delle, a 15-year-old sophomore who had recently transferred to the school, killed himself with a .357 Magnum in front of his second-period English class. He was described by schoolmates as "acting sad". After coming into class late that morning, he was told to get an attendance slip from the school office. He left and returned with a .357 revolver. He walked to the front of the class and announced, "Miss, I got what I really went for." Delle then put the gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger. The incident inspired the Pearl Jam song "Jeremy". The band's lead singer, Eddie Vedder, read a newspaper account of the incident and was moved to write the song almost immediately.

KRET-TV

Main article: KRET-TV

In 1960 the Richardson Independent School District established KRET, the first TV station in the nation to be owned by a school district^{[citation needed]}. The studio was located at Richardson High from 1963-1970. The studio was previously located at Richardson Junior High School (1960–1963). The station was converted on August 31, 1970 into a closed-circuit network named "TAGER".

Notable alumni

• Nick Efthimiou, professional Soccer
• Del Ballard Jr., professional bowler
• Tim Cowlishaw, Around The Horn panelist and sportswriter
• Catherine Crier, TV personality, former Texas state judge
• Deborah Crombie, mystery writer
• Jeff Dunham, ventriloquist
• Bill Engvall, comedian
• Deborah Foreman, actress
• David Gordon Green, director, Pineapple Express
• Tracy Hutson, actress
• Jay Johnson, ventriloquist
• Gordon Keith, local radio personality
• Earl Levine, Silicon Valley inventor and entrepreneur
• Jake McDorman, actor
• Michael Mulvey, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer
• Bill Nichols, sportswriter
• Carla Overbeck, founding member, Women's United Soccer Association
• Anne Rice, novelist
• Stan Rice, award-winning poet and painter
• John Maddox Roberts, author
• Robert Tilton, televangelist
• Barry Watson, actor
• Emily Lyons actress

External links

• School Website
• RISD Website
• RHS Law Magnet Website
• Personal remembrance of Jeremy Delle's suicide by Jeff Ellis
• RHS Library Website