Rancho Bernardo High School
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Rancho Bernardo High School, or RBHS, is a public high school in the Poway Unified School District of San Diego County, California. Rancho Bernardo High School opened in September 1990 as the district's third high school. The student body is comprised of approximately 3,000 students in grades 9 through 12. There are approximately 150 faculty members.
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[edit] Athletics
Rancho Bernardo is a Division I school competing in the Palomar League against Poway High School, Mount Carmel High School, Westview High School, Torrey Pines High School, and La Costa Canyon High School. The school's sports teams go by the name "The Broncos". Two famous athletes to come from Rancho Bernardo are Philadelphia Phillie Cole Hamels and Texas Ranger Hank Blalock, nephew of Rancho Bernardo Varsity Baseball Coach, Sam Blalock. Rancho Bernardo High School has a reputation for being heavily focused on baseball. According to the book Moneyball, Rancho Bernardo is known in baseball circles as "The Factory" due to the consistent quality of players being produced from its program and later going on to either college, minor, or major leagues.
[edit] Tennis
Rancho Bernardo is in the Palomar League which is known as America's toughest league for Tennis. Every year, Rancho Bernardo faces competitive opponents but despite this, the Rancho Bernardo tennis team has advanced to CIF every year.
[edit] Wrestling
Rancho Bernardo wrestling has a good average score. They are 2nd division in wrestling.
[edit] Football
The athletic program at Rancho Bernardo takes great pride in its football program, led by longtime coaches Ron Hamamoto and Brad Elrod. Recent graduates include Notre Dame tight end Will Yeatman and San Diego State end Ryan Chohany.
On February 1st, 2007 Rancho Bernardo head coach Ron Hamamoto accepted a job as head football coach and athletic director at the newly renovated Lincoln High School in San Diego. Hamamoto was the coach of the Broncos for 11 years and is ranked 12th on the all-time San Diego section win-list.
On March 28, 2007 Athletic Director, Peggy Brose, announced to the football team during their first period P.E. workout that the new coach had been selected. Brad Elrod, long-time Bronco Defensive Coordinator, who was a highly sought-after head coaching candidate at numerous other schools was named Head Coach of the Rancho Bernardo Broncos.
[edit] Water polo
With a strong finish in the 2005 season, Rancho Bernardo Boys Water Polo looks to build on its already strong foundation in the 2006 season. With a new head coach, Fred Gleason, and 5 returning starters, this promising squad is returning with a punch knocking off strong San Diego teams such as Scripps Ranch, Westview, Mt. Carmel, Fallbrook, and several more along with the Orange County teams of El Segundo, Cresenta Valley, and Santa Monica.
[edit] Rancho Bernardo Royal Regiment
The school's marching band, under the direction of Tom Cole and drum major Julie Gill, is known as the Rancho Bernardo Royal Regiment. When performing on the field, the Royal Regiment (2006-2007) is comprised of 190 musicians and 52 color guard (Auxiliary). During parade, the top 99 members of the band are in the "parade block" and will perform the parade march.
The band's 2006 Field Show is entitled "Revolutions". It contains Borodin Symphony No.2 Mvt 4, Persian Dances by Mussorgsky, Polovtsian Maidens by Borodin, and Polovtsian Dances by Borodin. The show is aprox. 8 minutes 15 seconds long, with a total of 76 pages of drill. The 2006 Parade March is The Boys of the Old Brigade by Chambers.
During marching season (August through November) the Royal Regiment performs in several regional field show tournaments and band reviews: Westview, Poway, Mount Carmel, Mira Mesa, Chula Vista, Vista, and Arcadia. The Poway Unified School District has a long tradition of excellence in music. Mount Carmel, Poway High School, Rancho Bernardo, and Poway's newest high school, Westview, all have well-respected instrumental music programs. It swept the Mount Carmel competition, winning all top awards, for the ninth year in a row, and won the top overall award at the Arcadia tournament, which is arguably one of the biggest in southern California.
During the rest of the academic year the music program is focused on orchestra, concert band and wind ensemble. The groups perform at regional music festivals and local venues. The color guard also ramps up after marching season to perform at winter guard events throughout the United States.
[edit] Symphony orchestra
The RBHS Symphony Orchestra is considered to be in the top 10% of high school orchestras in the nation. First starting with an extremely small chamber style group when the school first opened back in 1990, the program has grown from some 20 strings to a full 100+ piece orchestra with full woodwind, percussion, brass, and string sections under the direction of Gary Horimoto. The program started just doing arranged pieces to full conplete symphony style pieces such as the Tchaikovsky's Symphony V and the Finale of Symphony IV. With a new school year upon the lucky students at Rancho Bernardo, Mr. Horimoto plans on taking on the Holst Jupiter and Hoedown from Rodeo by Copland, as well as The Overture to William Tell by Gioacchino Rossini. Mr. Horimoto is very proud of his program at Rancho Bernardo and plans on topping last year's performances where the Symphony played; Shindler's List by John Williams, Fugue by J.S. Bach, Shepard's Hey by Percy Granger, and of course Tchaikovsky's Symphony IV Finale.
[edit] Newspaper
The school newspaper is The Silver Spur, part of the High School National Ad Network.
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Broomstick incident
Belying the reputation of the school's baseball team is a 1997 incident in which three baseball players pleaded guilty to sodomizing a new teammate with a broom handle in the locker room after a game. The school district paid $675,000 to settle the claim -- one of the highest payments in high school hazing cases to date. The incident revealed a hazing culture that stretched back at least six years, in which older team members would threaten to rape incoming freshmen players, or would perform simulated rape. [1] [2]
[edit] Underwear incident
In April 2002, Rancho Bernardo received media attention when one of the school's assistant principals forced female students at a school dance to lift their clothing and expose their underwear, in search of G-strings and thongs. The district said the reason for the check was to "ensure appropriate school dress." [3] Rita Wilson, the assistant principal involved in this incident, was later demoted to a teaching position. [4]
[edit] Notable alumni
- Hank Blalock Third baseman for the Texas Rangers.
- Tom Caple Minor league baseball player[5].
- Cole Hamels Pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies.
- David Kennedy Guitar Player in Angels & Airwaves.
- Mark Hoppus Founding member of Blink 182.
- Jelynn Rodriguez Big screen actor and TV host of the show The Drop.
- Eugene Amano NFL Center for the Tennessee Titans.
