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). 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 Fundamental 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
2006-2007
| White | Asian | Hispanic | African American | American Indian | Filipino | Pacific Islander |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75% | 14% | 6% | 2% | 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 and AP Statistics 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 unprecedented 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. Their AA band won first place in the Reno Jazz Festival in 2007 as well.
Featured Talent
Alexander Koumis
Alexander Koumis (class of 2010), more popularly known as "Zander", is a musician known for his unfamiliar but fascinating sounds that originate from the Emotronic, Christian Rap, and Zouk genres. He is an inspiration for all children with severe Autism and he will start touring multiple countries and perform at many recognized venues such as The Dog Pound, The Seven Eleven, and Synagogue of the Infidels starting in March of 2008. Exclusive tracks, both produced and performed by Alexander, can be found on his Myspace Music homepage.[1]
Electives
The following are electives available at Rio Americano.
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Summer School
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 reached the final round in the California Mock Trial State Finals in 1999 and 2006.
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, after the previous several years of placing second at state to fellow San Juan School District high school, Mira Loma.
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-in-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; "What's the Difference", "Curious", "Continued Inside", and "Raided R" are the most recent. 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
for the 06-07 season the jv baseball team had a record of 20 wins and 6 losses taking league, the varsity achieved second place in league, and the freshman team captured a league title. the Rio baseball program is currently ranked 9th in the state and are looking to take a section title next year.
Basketball
Their Boy's Basketball 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 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
The team is coached by Brady Yount (2007-current) and assistant coach Shepherd.
2007 Varsity Golf: Aaron Kim, Jordan Mills, Bryson Boatwright, Philip Lee, Matt Shepherd, Stan Jorgenson and Zachary Shannon.
Led by captain Jordan Mills along with strong players such as Bryson Boatwright and Matt Shepherd, the team finished third in the Capital Athletic League. Del Campo and Casa Roble placed first and second in the league, the only teams to defeat Rio Americano in matches during the regular season.
Soccer
Rio has boys' and girls' soccer programs coached by some new guy who nobody knows the name of. The varsity girls soccer team won the division II section title in 2007 by defeating Bella Vista 6-0 in the championship game.
In 2003, Boy's soccer team finally beats Jesuit High School, Rio's Rival, 1-0 in an intense game. Tim Carr scores late in the second half, giving Rio the lead and the win.
Team Roster for 2003: Pai Asnaashari Pay Asnaashari Tim Carr Chad Cortvriendt John Faniani Tom Fong Sasha Ghovanlov Jeff Gillaspy Kevin Gillaspy Shadi Hayek Josh Hewins Nico Lauria Ideen Maleky Matt Morrison Don Pham Adam Tschannen
Softball
Swimming & Diving
The boys' coach is Chris Nissen, and the girls' coach is Kirk. Rio's boys team has repeatedly won the Section title over the perennial power, Jesuit High School.
Tennis
The boy's varsity tennis team has been outstanding, mainly, because of the talented players and coaches through out the past years. They have been division champions for the last six years since 2001, at many times being undefeated. In 2003, Rio's tennis team qualified for the state championship tournament at Stanford University lead by Captains, Erwin Briones and Curtis Lee, but lost to Monte Vista High School in the fist round 2-7. However, the boy's Tennis team still remains at the top in Sacramento. Interesting facts: In 2002, Rio's #1 ranked Erwin Briones plays against Sam Warburg from Jesuit high school who is now a professional tennis player.
Track & 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 Odister, 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. Also during the 2006 track season, junior Laura Lilly jumped to a school-record height of 5'3" in the women's high jump at the CAL Center 2 Meet. During the 2007 track season, Rio Americano had 4 CAL All-League award winners. At the Sac-Joaquin Division II Section Trials, senior Kianti Gix set the school record in the 200m sprint with a time of 21.83 while junior Patrick Nilan set the school record in the 800m run with a time of 1:56.80. At the Sac-Joaquin Division II Section Finals, Kianti Gix set yet another school record, the 400m record, with a time of 48.85 seconds, placing first in the race. The Rio Americano varsity boys team won the 2007 SJS Division II Section title with a total of 46 points, beating Oak Ridge High School by 3 points. At the SJS Section Masters meet, the track team qualified 4 athletes to the CIF State Meet, with 4 new school records being set. At the 2007 CIF State Track & Field Championships, Laura Lilly jumped to another personal best and school record height of 5'5" in the girl's high jump. Kianti Gix ran in the 200m state finals placing 7th with a time of 21.56.
Track & Field Records
(Records will be published in time.)
| Rio Americano Track & Field Records | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys' Records | Girls' Records | ||||||
| Event | Mark | Name | Year | Event | Mark | Name | Year |
| 100m | 100m | Obiamaka Eke | 2005 | ||||
| 200m | 21.31 | Kianti Gix | 2007 | 200m | |||
| 400m | 48.79 | Kianti Gix | 2007 | 400m | |||
| 800m | 1:56.80 | Patrick Nilan | 2007 | 800m | |||
| 1600m | 4:19yc | 1600m | |||||
| 3200m | 9:24yc | 3200m | |||||
| 110mH | 100mH | Obiamaka Eke | 2005 | ||||
| 300mH | 300mH | ||||||
| 4x100m | 42.38 | Kianti Gix, Chris Valls, Kyle Odister, Diante Mayers | 2006 | 4x100m | |||
| 4x400m | 4x400m | ||||||
| Long Jump | Long Jump | ||||||
| Triple Jump | Triple Jump | ||||||
| High Jump | 6'8" | High Jump | 5'5" | Laura Lilly | 2007 | ||
| Pole Vault | Pole Vault | ||||||
| Shot Put | Shot Put | ||||||
| Discus | Discus | ||||||
Note: Times followed by a "y" were converted from yards to meters. Times followed by an "c" were converted from hand timing to FAT (by adding .24 seconds for the 100m and 200m, and .14 seconds for the 400m).
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, sending players to schools such as USC and UCLA on athletic scholarships. 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.
Rugby
Rio, although lacking an officially-sanctioned rugby team, does have a team that plays under the name "Rio Rubgy."
Wrestling
Clubs
- Rowdy Raiders
- Asian Culture Club
- Suburban Life Enhancement Club
- French Club
- French Conversation Group
Notable Alumni
- Jennifer Parker, Former KTXL FOX40 Morning Anchor, Now runs a family owned business
- Dave Marquis, Currently a General Assignment Reporter for KXTV News10 in Sacramento, CA
- Barbi Benton, Former Playboy Playmate and girlfriend of Hugh Hefner
- Matt Bouza, former wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts
- Mike Flanagan, NFL center who currently plays for the Houston Texans
External links
- Official Website
- Rio Americano Band Website
- Rio Americano Miranda - School newspaper