Rock Bridge High School

Rock Bridge High School is a public high school located in southern Columbia, Missouri. The school serves grades 9 through 12, and is a part of the Columbia Public Schools.

History

Due to the increasing population of Columbia in the 70's, and the crowding of David H. Hickman High School towards the end of the 1960s, the Columbia Board of Education decided to form a new high school. The board bought 42 acres (170,000 m²) of land in Southern Columbia and started the construction of the new high school. The name Rock Bridge was chosen because of the schools proximity to the natural rock bridge of Rock Bridge State Park. In September 1973, Rock Bridge first opened and had a class of 583 students. The original portion of RBHS had 20 classrooms in the present-day east wing, the main gymnasium, the present-day cafeteria (built a library), the planetarium, and main offices, which was soon expanded in 1978 with the addition of the west wing for a then-total of about 40 classrooms. The design of the school at this point won a national award in school design. Many of the original classrooms were connected with motorized folding walls. The school is centrally air conditioned. Three new science classrooms, as well as a performing arts center, were added in 1992. Eight years later, in 2000, a large addition opened between the east and west wings, featuring seven science classrooms, eight English and Social Studies classrooms, seven foreign language classrooms, a new Media Center, and three new computer labs, (two of which were converted to science classrooms in 2013). The new facilities allowed the school to repurpose several areas, including the cafeteria and library. As of 2010-2011, the school had Wi-Fi throughout the media center, commons, and main hallways, with the entire building wired in the summer of 2012. In 2011, the school's library received a set of 30 laptops for teachers to reserve for their class. When the students need the laptops, the teacher sends the students to the library, where each student will check out a laptop under their name as an hourly checkout. By 2013, the library had received nine more carts (plus a set of 30 iPads). Each science classroom also has 15 laptops. In January 2013 Rock Bridge opened a new auxiliary gym due to the expected ninth graders to begin attending high school following the secondary redistricting in August. The area under the auxiliary gym featured a new wrestling room, making room for three new math classrooms in the former location. A new weight room was also added. The library received yet another cart of 30 laptops for the 2014-15 school year, plus a set of 30 iPads in every math classroom.

Structure

Rock Bridge runs on a block scheduling format during the hours of 8:55 AM to 4:05 PM. This format is structured so that students have four 95-minute-long classes each day (86 minutes on Wednesday and Thursday). However, most of these classes meet every other day for a total of eight classes for the year. Block scheduling was established in the 1994-95 school year.^[2]

AUT

AUT, short for Alternating Unassigned Time, is an unassigned time that is offered to all sophomores, juniors, and seniors. It is like a study hall in the fact that students have no class that block and can use it for academic purpose. However, unlike a study hall, students do not have to report to nor work in a specific location. Rather, students on AUT are allowed to roam the building to access tutoring, use the computers in the Media Center, visit with friends, or anything else they wish to do. Furthermore, Juniors and Seniors are allowed to leave campus so long as they return to their next class on time and have parental permission to leave in the first place. Freshmen are given AUT privileges as a part of the Freshman Advisory Class, provided they check in with their Advisory Teacher every 30 minutes and maintain a 70% or better in all classes.

Academics

The school offers 18 Advanced Placement courses and a multitude of honors classes available to students. However, RBHS does not weight grade point averages.

Clubs and organizations

Rock Bridge houses around fifty-five clubs and organizations, including, but not limited to, Intramural Table Tennis League, Chess Club, Global Issues Club, Dumbledore's Army, the Zombie Defense League, Guitar Club, Bible Club, National Honors Society, Student Environmental Coalition, MSU-Muslim Students Union, Future Doctors of America, Future Lawyers of America, Astronomy Club, National Art Honors Society, Weight Lifting Club, and the language Honors Societies. Rock Bridge High School has a planetarium (Room 303) where the school conducts star shows for all ages as well as students at RBHS and other schools as well. The school also has a Student Volunteer Corps, which offers students the opportunity to be teachers' assistants for a teacher of the student's choosing. Positions for Media Center or Copy Center assistants are also available. While the SVC is technically open only to Juniors and Seniors, Freshmen and Sophomores have rarely been known to join early.

Athletics

Rock Bridge High offers a variety of sports. Fall sports include Cross Country, Football, Girls Golf, Boys Soccer, Softball, Boys Swimming/Diving, Girls Tennis, and Volleyball. Winter sports include Basketball and Wrestling. Spring sports include Baseball, Boys Golf, Boys Tennis, Girls Swimming/Diving, Girls Soccer, and Track & Field. Year round sports include Cheerleading and Poms. Rock Bridge is a perennial powerhouse in both boys and girls tennis, having won the Girls State Title in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2011 and 2014, as well as the Boys State Title in 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012. At the club level, Rock Bridge fields a Boys Varsity Lacrosse team in the spring.^[3]

Notable former students

• Rob Benedict, actor
• Carl Edwards, NASCAR driver
• Tom Hart (sports announcer), SEC Network announcer
• Trey Millard, San Francisco 49ers fullback
• Brian Wesbury, economist
• Timothy M. Wolfe, President of the University of Missouri System; quarterbacked 1975 Rock Bridge 3A state championship football team
• Elizabeth Paige Laurie, Walmart heir
• Michael S. "Mike" Yoakum, Retired Director of Basketball Operations

Notable faculty

• A.J. Ofodile, professional football player currently head football coach and P. E. divison chair

References

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External links

• Official website
• Bruin Athletics

Notes