Ralston Valley High School

Ralston Valley Senior High School

Challenge yourself to be a person others admire.
Location
13355 West 80th Avenue, Arvada, Colorado
United States
Coordinates 39°50′34″N 105°09′02″W / 39.84275°N 105.15054°WCoordinates: 39°50′34″N 105°09′02″W / 39.84275°N 105.15054°W
Information
Type Public secondary school
Established 2000
School district Jefferson County Public Schools
Principal Gavan Goodrich
Staff 129[1]
Faculty 77[1]
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 1,828[2]
Campus size 54 acres (220,000 m2)
Color(s) Navy blue, Carolina blue and Silver             
Athletics 5A
Athletics conference Jefferson County League
Mascot Mustangs
Rivals Regis Jesuit High School, Pomona High School, Arvada West High School, Valor High School
Information 303-982-5600
Website Ralston Valley High School

Ralston Valley High School (RVHS or RV) is a public high school in Arvada, Colorado. Since it opened for the 2000 school year, its enrollment has grown to around 1800+ students. Area rivalries include Standley Lake High School, Pomona High School and Arvada West High School.

Ralston Valley is a comprehensive, four-year high school located in Arvada, CO, a northwest suburb of Denver. Opened in 2000, Ralston Valley has established a solid reputation as one of Colorado's premiere public schools. Offering a full complement of courses, with complete Honors and Advanced Placement programs, Ralston Valley has earned the highest rating (Excellent) given by the Colorado Dept. of Education. The school also features outstanding athletic and activity programs, with numerous state championships, award winning bands, choirs, drama groups, along with art and student publication groups. The school climate is incredible: safe, inclusive, spirited, and positive![3]

Tradition of Excellence

School Motto: Challenge yourself to be a person others admire.

RVHS opened in the fall of 2000. With exception to a few years that the award program was discontinued, RVHS has received the Colorado Department of Education's John Irwin School of Excellence Award yearly since 2005 and proudly received the award again for the 2013 school year. This award recognizes public schools that have demonstrated the highest achievement on statewide assessments and is given to the top 8 percent of public schools in the state based on student achievement.

History

School exterior.

The 24th high school built in Jefferson County Public Schools, Ralston Valley's opening relieved Arvada West High School, which was serving so many students in 1999 it was on a split schedule. Groundbreaking occurred in March 1999 and the school opened in the fall of 2000 to students.[4]

The mascot of Ralston Valley is the Mustang. It was selected based on votes from local elementary and middle school students in Jefferson County who would be attending RVHS. There were 3 other options on the final ballot, with the mustang ultimately being selected. The mascot is significant to the location of the school, which is located on land that was formerly a ranch that raised and bred horses. Part of this ranch still exists across the street from the southern edge of campus.

College Prep High School

Due to the high percentage of RVHS students who plan to go to college, college preparation is the focus in all RVHS classes. High academic standards are in place for all courses. In addition, RVHS offers an Honors strand of courses for freshmen and sophomores and numerous Advanced Placement courses. Students may opt to pursue an Honors Diploma as well. Upon graduation, 88.5% of RHVS students plan to attend college (District average = 74%).

RVHS's average composite ACT score is 22.4 (District = 20.4; State = 19.4).

Campus

The school building, situated on a 54-acre (220,000 m2) site in northwest Arvada, was designed by LKA Partners and won a Merit Award in 2002 from the Colorado chapter of the American Institute of Architects.[5]

In March 2007, the school finished additional construction for expansion. This consisted of the addition of 47,700 sq ft (4,430 m2) of classroom and science labs to the east side of the building as well as 45,700 sq ft (4,250 m2) of classroom and more science labs to the south side.[6] This renovation closed off the lower level in a full square to connect the science, math and (new) foreign language halls. Previously, the science and math halls were only connected in a horseshoe. The Ralston Valley High School addition and remodel includes 170,000 square feet of new construction and 42,000 square feet of remodeling. The project entailed demolition of the existing academic and administration areas and the redevelopment of the site. The new facility has 44 general classrooms, 12 science classrooms, a library, media area, auxiliary gym, administration area, kitchen and commons. The remodeling included locker rooms and art department. The 28.5 acre site offers soccer, softball and multi-use fields.

Further renovations included the addition of 10,443-square-foot (970.2 m2) resulting in an auxiliary gym with a bleacher mezzanine, weight room and expanded athletic locker rooms. RVHS is one of only a few high schools to have the Millikan oil-drop experiment equipment along with the equipment for finding the mass of an electron.

Additional improvements:
Darkroom
Orchestra Pit in the auditorium
Computer Lab
Expanded Student Commons
New athletic practice field
Publications Lab
SmartBoards in nearly every classroom
Expanded student, staff and visitor parking
Expanded Bus Drop-off and Pick-up points

Construction began: December 2005

Construction Completed: September 2007

The cost of the expansion was $29.5 million.

Students and faculty

Ralston Valley has a veteran teaching staff that averages over 12 years of experience in education. In addition, 69% of the faculty have a Master's Degree in education and/or a particular subject area.

The student-teacher ratio is 22.6 to 1 [1][2]

Administration

Former Principals:

Extracurricular Activities and Classes

School Publications

The Review's Logo

Athletics

Ralston Valley has won 9 state championship titles in softball, boys' basketball, baseball, swimming & diving, coed cheerleading, and poms. In addition, the Mustangs have won 74 Jeffco league championships in 13 different sports. Our stellar performance across the board has led RV's receipt of the Steinmark Award 8 out of the 10 years RV has been competing in the Jeffco league. The Steinmark is awarded to the school with the top overall athletic performance in the league. Additionally, numerous Ralston Valley seniors have received athletic scholarships at Division I and II NCAA schools, along with Nearly every US Service Academy.

Ralston Valley vs. area rival, Arvada West.
RV's hockey team hoists up the state championship trophy in 2013.

Ralston Valley fields teams in baseball, basketball, cheerleading, cross county, football. golf, ice hockey, girls lacrosse, poms, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, and wrestling in interscholastic competition. Although Ralston Valley initially competed in Class 4A athletics, the school has since moved to Class 5A (the highest level in Colorado) as of fall 2009.

State championships won by the school include:[9]

The basketball court is named in honor of Lisa Nelson (Coach and teacher) and the Gym is named in gratitude after Jim Hynes (Former athletic director and assistant principal).

The basketball court named after Lisa Nelson who passed away after fighting cancer in 2013.

Drama & The Arts

The Theater Arts Program at Ralston Valley High School combines challenging classroom instruction with a multitude of opportunities for all levels and abilities. Theater performance opportunities include a full length play and musical, an evening of improv comedy, an evening of one-acts, a children's theater program that performs for local elementary schools, a drama club, an active Thespian troupe, and a stage craft construction class. The Visual Arts Program at Ralston Valley provides students with many opportunities to express themselves and develop an artistic voice. Ralston Valley artists have been well represented in numerous shows in the Denver area & frequently take home the top honors. Many of our young artists have gone on to study art-related fields in college, several earning scholarships.

Music

The Ralston Valley Music Department is one of the most well-rounded music programs in Jefferson County, under the direction of two veteran directors with more than 50 years of experience. Each year, many RV students are selected to All-County and All-State Ensembles, including Choir, Orchestra, Band, and Jazz Ensemble. Many performing ensembles have traveled out of state to perform in numerous festivals at locations including Orlando, Florida, Las Vegas, Nevada, and London to perform in the New Year's Day Parade and Music Festival.

The Mustangs have been a semi-finalist at the State Marching Band Competition for the past 9 years. The band has also been selected to perform in the Parade of Lights 8 times in the last 10 years.

Ralston Valley also hosts the Mile High Jazz Festival, one of Colorado's largest public school jazz festivals. The String Orchestra program is one of the largest in the county and the Chamber Orchestra has been selected to perform at the prestigious Colorado Music Educator's State Convention. Ralston Valley's top choir, Shades of Blue, was the only Colorado choir selected to perform in New York City in May 2005 to honor the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII.

The Ralston Valley Marching Band placed first in the 2013 and 2014 Arvada Harvest Festival.

Ralston Valley High School offers all students a chance to perform in other extra-curricular performing groups such as Pep Band & Pit Orchestra.

Student Government

Ralston Valley Student Government does a lot more for our school and community than you may know. Events such as school dances are the more obvious Student Government projects, however that is only a small part of what Student Government does. Members of student government are assigned to different committees throughout the year; these committees pertain to a range of categories that help the school or community. In addition each class is responsible for putting on a community service project such as the Lisa Nelson Memorial 5K run/walk. Here is a list of the committees for this past school year (2013-2014).

· Homecoming Assembly (plan events of assembly)

· Movie on the Field

· Homecoming Spirit/ Advertising (spirit days and social media aid)

· Homecoming Dance

· Bonfire (bonfire in parking lot)

· Homecoming Royalty (Ballots and gifts for voted royalty)

· Powder Puff/Man Poms (girls flag football/ boys dance)

· Thanksgiving Baskets (food drive and collection for families in need)

· Sadie’s Dance (winter dance 1st semester)

· Soldier Baskets (collection of materials to send overseas to our troops)

· Volleyball Tournament (after A-west basketball game)

· Special Olympics (Apex center for special needs students in Arvada schools)

· Winter Wonderland (Little kid pictures with Santa)

· Colorado Strong (Appreciation for local law enforcement)

· Make-A-Wish (Sponsorship and fundraising to help make a child’s wish)

· Singing Telegrams (Fun song and dance telegrams sold around Valentine’s)

· Color Fusion dance (First dance of the 2nd semester)

· Election/Selection (Create the application questions and election ballots)

· Mighty Mustang (Appreciation for most-improved students)

· Day Without Hate (Assembly and rally: with passing on the DWOH message)

· Senior Goodbye (Map of future for seniors and their accomplishments)

· STUGO Retreat (Leadership and bonding within STUGO)

· Teacher Appreciation

In addition, Student Government members have the opportunity to improve their own individual skills at a state or nation-wide leadership camps including CHSAA State Leadership Camp, CHSAA Fall Conference, and Economics for Leaders. We also have the opportunity to share our leadership skills with each other through student-led class activities and a weekend leadership retreat.

Student Organizations

Ralston Valley holds an interesting collection of clubs and organizations. This high end 5A school creates a great environment where students can express their creative ideals though these organizations.

• Anime Club

• Art Club

• Book Club

• Bowling Club

• Broadcast Club

• Cheerleading

• Computer Science Club

• Drama Club

• Family, Career and Community Leaders of America

• French Club

• Gay Straight Alliance

• Ice Skating

• Instrumental Music

• Mountain Bike Team

• Multi-Cultural Alliance

• Rachel’s Challenge/Chain Links

• Rugby Appreciation

• Science Bowl Club

• Spanish Club

• Teens for Oceans

• Technical Student Association

• WHOA (Warm Hearts of Africa)

Honor Societies and Organizations

Quill & Scroll logo

Notable alumni


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "School Accountability Report" (PDF). 2008-10-20. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ralston Valley High School - Demographics. Jeffco Public Schools.
  3. ↑ http://www.jeffcopublicschools.org/schools/profiles/?school_id=124
  4. ↑ Bingham, Janet (1999-02-26). "District makes start on Legacy". Denver Post : pp. B-02.
  5. ↑ AIA Colorado South - Awards.
  6. ↑ Ralston Valley High School Construction Overview.
  7. ↑ The Review Twitter page https://twitter.com/TheReviewRVHS
  8. ↑ http://rvhsreview.org/
  9. ↑ State Team Champions. Colorado High School Activities Association.
  10. ↑ Colorado Swim Title 9News KUSA.
  11. ↑ Meaghan Murphy
  12. ↑ Tanyan Farley
  13. ↑ Pierce Hornung
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Key Communiqué. Jefferson County Public Schools. February 13, 2007.
  15. ↑ Tomasson, Chris (2007-03-16). "Tomasson: Nelson wouldn't mind being wrong". Rocky Mountain News.
  16. ↑ Miss Colorado

External links