Richmond Community High School

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Richmond Community High School (RCHS) is an alternative high school operated by the Richmond City Public Schools in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded in 1977 as the nation's first full-time, four year, public high school for academically talented students primarily from minority and low-income families.

The school was begun with a grant from Richmond businessman-philanthropist Andrew J. Asch, Jr., perhaps best known as the 1970s developer of downtown Richmond's Shockoe Slip area, a collection of tobacco warehouses in which are located shops, restaurants, and offices.

Mr. Asch's original grant was made to the Virginia State University Foundation, which assisted Richmond Public Schools with a demonstration program (For the first several months of existence, the project was known within the city schools system as merely the "Secondary School Experiential Learning Community.")

Asch thought bright students from minority and low-income families should have the cultural and educational opportunities his own children had enjoyed. He remained active in the affairs of the school until his death in 1991. Richmond Community High School admits applicants from within the city limits who are identified as academically gifted, with a preference for socioeconomically challenged students. Virtually all graduates continue to college.

For the first two years (1977-1979) the school was housed inside the Richmond Mosque, better known as a live music venue. From 1979-1986, it operated out of extra space in an elementary school (Carver) within the school district. From 1986-1990, RCHS had a home in the Maggie Walker building, which previously been a neighborhood high school. After years of moving from location to location, in 1990, RCHS moved into the former Westhampton Elementary School building, located on what was a large wooded site at 5800 Patterson Avenue (State Route 6) in The West End of Richmond.

In the early years, the school only accepted students every other year. The first class graduated in 1981, followed by more in 1983, 1985, and 1987. The first even-numbered year-class to graduate was in 1988, from which point forward the school has graduated a class every year.