Ravenwood High School

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Ravenwood High School
Established 2002
Type public
Principal Dr. Pamela Vaden
Asst. Principal Robin Dickerson
Reggie Mason
Javier Nuñez
Leigh Webb
Students 1,700
Location Brentwood, Tennessee, United States of America
Colors red, black, and gold
Mascot Raptor, represented by the Red Tail Hawk.
Website www.wcs.edu/rhs/

Ravenwood High School is a public high school located in Brentwood, Tennessee, which serves the eastern-most part of Williamson County and is known for its football program, forensics team, and high teacher turnover rate.

Opened in 2002, the $24 million facility, designed by architect Charlie Johnson, progressively grew its student body, beginning with only 540 students in grades nine and ten, 32 teachers, and 7 staff members. Currently comprised of 1,350 students with an approximate student/teacher ratio of 20 to 1, Ravenwood aims "to become a model of successful community collaboration with the purpose of developing all learners to be able to work, learn and lead in the 21st century."[1] The mission of Ravenwood is "to develop a community of learners that cultivates the intellect, ability, and character of each person within it."[2] The school colors are red, black, and gold. The mascot is the Raptor, a bird of prey represented by the Red Tail Hawk.

Contents

[edit] Administration and Faculty

Dr. Pamela Vaden has served as the principal of Ravenwood since its inception. Before arriving at Ravenwood, she served as assistant principal at Brentwood High School. Dr. Vaden received her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt's Peabody College. Three assistant principals, Dr. Reggie Mason, Leigh Webb, Robin Dickerson, and Javier Nuñez aid Dr. Vaden with the day-to-day administration of the school.[1][3]

[edit] Academics

Most students at Ravenwood take four academic classes, two electives, one directed study, and a lunch/advocate period. Credits are distributed along a fairly standard path, with most students taking English, mathematics, foreign language, science, and social studies. One year of physical education is also required. Ravenwood has the slightly unrealistic idea that all students that attend this school will go to college, so there are no culinary arts, shop, or auto classes (etc) offered in this school. The standard high school diploma requires twenty-two credits. In addition, two honors diplomas are offered, the Williamson County Honors Diploma and the Ravenwood Honors Diploma. Ravenwood ranks students using weighted GPAs.

There are 15 Advanced Placement (AP) courses that are offered at Ravenwood; however, right now there are no International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. AP classes are fairly popular among students as 33% of 10th though 12th graders are enrolled in at least one AP class. In 2005, 62% of students scored a 3 or higher on end-of-course AP tests, and in 2006, 77% of students scored a 3 or higher.[4]

[edit] Band

The Ravenwood High School Marching Band, led by Mark Kinzer, participates in many contests throughout the region and regularly receives superior marks in the categories of Performance and Presentation. In addition to the school marching band, Ravenwood also is home to a wind orchestra which received numerous awards even in its early years of conception.

[edit] Choir

In addition to the band program, Ravenwood also has a choir program directed by Jamey Kelley. The choir quickly rose to be one of the top groups in the area, receiving repeated superior marks at the various contests and festivals they attended.[citation needed] The choir classes include separate Men's and Women's choirs, a Choraliers chorus, a Chorale chorus, and an extracurricular group called Forte.

[edit] Extracurricular activities

In addition to sports, Ravenwood has numerous teams, clubs, and organizations covering many interests. Extracurricular activities include:

  • Anime Club
  • Art & Photography Club
  • Astronomy Club
  • Book Club
  • Crash
  • Coffee House Theology
  • Color Guard
  • Culinary Arts Club
  • Distributive Education Club of America (DECA)
  • Drama & Forensics
  • Environmental Club
  • Equestrian Club
  • Expolorer Post
  • Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA)
  • Film Club
  • French Club
  • Future Business Leaders of America Club (FBLA)
  • German Club
  • Habitat for Humanity
  • Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA)
  • Interact Club
  • International Council
  • Junior Classical League (JCL)
  • Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC)
  • Knitwits Club
  • Latin Club
  • Marching Band
  • Mock Trial
  • Model UN
  • Mu Alpha Theta
  • National Honor Society
  • Newspaper Staff ('The Black & Red')
  • Red Cross Club
  • Science Club
  • Sign Language Club
  • SkillsUSA
  • Spanish Club
  • Students Taking a Right Stand (STARS) Student Executive Council (SEC)
  • Student Council
  • Songwriter's Club
  • Techno Club
  • Together Educators Are Children's Hope (TEACH)
  • Victory Club
  • Winter Guard
  • Winter Running Club
  • Yearbook Staff ('The Eye of the Raptor')
  • Youth Legislature

The 2005-2006 Ravenwood Mock Trial team was the first team ever to win both first and second place in the regional tournament, along with receiving the awards for Best Witness and Best Attorney.[citation needed] Ravenwood advanced on to the state competition and received sixth place. Harry Watson, a junior at the time, was also rewarded the Best Defense Witness Award for the state.

The Ravenwood National Forensics League competes at many local and district wide tournaments. Along with a two-time district-winning Reader's Theatre, individuals at Ravenwood have placed first in numerous events at state level, including Dramatic, After Dinner Speaking, and Duet Acting. The Duet Acting team of Mitch Miller and Lindsey Stegall placed in the top sixty in the national level with their piece "Bus Stop", the first time anyone at Ravenwood competed nationally.[citation needed]

[edit] Facilities

Ravenwood includes 51 classrooms, 7 computer labs, 10 science labs, a TV production facility, band and choral rooms, art rooms, counseling center, state-of-the art media center, full production theater, weight room, practice gymnasium, and a full-size gymnasium, as well as a bank, retail (i.e. CANDY) store, and cafeteria. Outdoor facilities include a football stadium with a surrounding track, practice football field, baseball and softball fields, tennis courts, and several multi-purpose fields for soccer, lacrosse, and rugby.

[edit] Student body

Ravenwood High School is populated primarily through Woodland and Sunset Middle Schools, which are in turn populated by Kenrose, Nolensville, Sunset, and Crockett Elementary Schools.

[edit] Sports

Ravenwood provides many various athletic teams in which students are invited to participate. TSSAA-sponsored sports include:

  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Bowling
  • Cheerleading
  • Cross Country
  • Dance
  • Football
  • Golf
  • Soccer
  • Softball
  • Tennis
  • Track & Field
  • Volleyball
  • Wrestling

Ravenwood is home to many club sports, including:

  • Hockey
  • Lacrosse
  • Rugby
  • Swimming
  • Ultimate Frisbee

Many of the teams have had the pleasure of going to state championships and tournaments, including the baseball, wrestling, rugby, lacrosse, dance, cheerleading, football, and swim teams. Raptors' head football coach Brian Rector led the Ravenwood football team to the 2005 TSSAA Division I, 5A State Championship, winning the title against Oak Ridge High School. In 2006, the football team returned to the championship, coming away as runners-up against Smyrna High School. The Raptor hockey team also won their championship in 2005 after having a stellar season and capturing the Nashville Cup.[citation needed]

Other state championships have been captured by the boys lacrosse team and the dance team, which was a finalist in the 2005 National Dance Team Championship and won the TSSAA State Jazz Dance Championship in 2006. The competition cheerleaders also gained national recognition in December 2005 when they placed first at the Athletic National Championship in Tunica, Mississippi.[citation needed]

In the spring of 2006, the boys rugby A side fell short of a championship in the Bowl Division. In 2007, the girls rugby team won their state championship. Additionally, the boys lacrosse team beat Memphis University School in overtime to win Division I State Championship, which was the first time a public high school had won that title.[citation needed]

In the spring of 2008, the Raptors baseball team made a remarkable postseason run all the way to the TSSAA Spring-Fling State tournament. Along the way the raptors won their respected district tournament as the 5th seed. Ravenwood eliminated archrival Brentwood, and also upset an annual state power by beating Franklin. In the finals Ravenwood beat Centinial 7-6 in thrilling fashion. After their district title, they finished 2nd in the regionals to qualify for sub-state. In the sub-state Ravenwood beat Beech 3-2 in 10 innings behind solid pitching and defense. In the end Ravenwood finished 3rd in the AAA state tournament. Head coach Chad Kirby got his baseball coaching career off to the right start after this succsessful season.

Since Ravenwood has opened Brentwood has gone on to win 23 state championships, far more than Ravenwood[5]

[edit] Testing

Testing is pretty much the only thing the administrators of Ravenwood care about. The ACT is a graduation requirement, and students are urged towards a class ACT goal at an annual pep rally. The 2005 average ACT score of Ravenwood was a 23.1, and in 2006, the average score was 23.8. In addition, all sophomores are required to take the PLAN, a pre-ACT course. In 2006, the average composite PLAN score for the sophomore class was 20.4, compared to the state average of 18.2 and the national average of 16.5. PSAT and SAT testing is common, but not required. In the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) writing assessment, the 91% of students passed in 2005 and 94% in 2006. In 2006, Tennessee Gateway scores were also very high, with 95.7% passing Algebra I, 99.7% passing English II, and 99.7% passing Biology.[4] There were six National Merit Semi-Finalists in the class of 2006 and one National Merit Semi-Finalist in 2005.

All test scores are recorded on a supplement to the school transcript and sent in to colleges.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Ravenwood High School. Directory of Schools. Williamson County Schools. Retrieved on 2008-06-09.
  2. ^ Mission, Vision. Ravenwood High School.
  3. ^ RHS Faculty and Staff. Ravenwood High School. Retrieved on 2008-06-09.
  4. ^ a b Ravenwood Report Card. Ravenwood High School.
  5. ^ http://tssaa.org/schdir/records/GetTheRecord.cfm

[edit] External links