Rockdale County High School

Rockdale County High School is located in the heart of Conyers, Georgia, USA, in the old-town district. RCHS is one of four high schools located in Rockdale County, along with Heritage High School, Salem High School, and the Rockdale Career Academy. RCHS also hosts the Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology which is sponsored by Georgia Tech.

The school's mascot is the Bulldog. Approximately 1,600 students are enrolled.

Athletics

Rockdale County High School is a part of the GHSA in Region 8-AAAA. In the 2008-2009 school year, Rockdale won the Conyers Cup for football, wrestling, and swimming, beating rival schools Salem and Heritage. In that same school year, RCHS won Fox 5's High 5 Sports Team of The Week award twice, the first school ever to do so. The hand-shaped trophies were awarded to the football and wrestling teams.

Fine arts

The school is a Grammy School of Excellence. The literary team won the regional title in 2003, and the boys' quartet won the state title.

In the 2007-2008 school year, the Advanced Musical Theater Class took Ragtime to One Act Competition, and won first place. After winning 1st place at regional, they later went on to take 3rd place at state, beating performing arts schools.

In the 2008-2009 school year, the Rockdale County High School Marching Band won the Grand Champion trophy in competition at the Southern Star Invitational competition.

Rockdale County High School Winter Guard won first place and the gold medal at the 2011 SAPA Championships in the Scholastic AA class. The winter guard also consistently came first place at competitions throughout the 2010-2011 season.

Magnet School

The Rockdale Magnet School (formally, the Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology) is a magnet school located in Rockdale County in the city of Conyers, Georgia, USA. It is a selective school whose students take on rigorous college-level courses in mathematics, the natural sciences, technology/engineering, and research.

The magnet school occupies the building that was previously C.J. Hicks Elementary School (also located in Conyers); CJHE moved into a newly constructed elementary school building in 2009.

The Rockdale Magnet School accepts approximately 90 students annually. 87 freshmen were accepted in 2012.

Magnet school achievements include: students accepted to the nation's top universities, including Harvard and MIT; a state-champion Math Team; several perfect SAT and ACT subscores and one perfect ACT composite score; and several winners of science and research fairs such as the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair and the Siemens Competition.

It was opened in 2000 to provide a rigorous high school curriculum for the youth in Rockdale County. The school focuses on the fields of mathematics, sciences, and technology. Magnet students are enrolled in selective classes in those fields composed only of magnet students (approximately 10-15 students per class period, as opposed to Rockdale County High School's average class size of 30), and the rest of their classes are taken with the standard student population of Rockdale County High School.

Courses are set on a college-level curriculum. The college scholarship amount exceeds 3 million annually.

Since 2002, the school has sent 8-12 students to Metz, France each year to aid high school students with their own science fair projects. This is through a partnership with Georgia Tech, specifically their Georgia Tech Lorraine campus. Students also visit Paris each year and live with a French student. The French students visit Rockdale in the spring of each year to present their scientific or cultural projects and to attend a France Dance in their honor.

Notable Alumnus and Alumnae

• Jasmiyah Kaneesha Whitehead (born November 27, 1993) and Tasmiyah Kaneesha Whitehead (born November 27, 1993) are identical twin sisters who were students of Rockdale County High School when they committed matricide on January 13, 2010. The victim was Jarmecca Yvonne Whitehead also known by the nickname "Nikki" (April 18, 1975 - January 13, 2010). The twins beat and stabbed their mother to death in there Bridle Ridge Walk subdivision on Appaloosa Way. After the murder occurred the twins attempted to clean up the house and changed their clothes before walking to Rockdale County High School. After they got off of their school bus, they walked into the house to see that nobody had discovered the crime scene. When the twins saw a police officer driving by, Tasmiyah ran out to car and flagged down the police officer. Tasmiyah and Jasmiyah when questioned by the authorities claimed they were innocent and were allowed to go live with their elderly great grandmother while the police collected evidence. While living with their great grandmother they attended Tucker High School. On May 21, 2010 Tasmiyah was arrested at Tucker High School and Jasmiyah was arrested at a relatives residence. In 2014 both Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah admitted their guilt and are now serving a 30 year prison sentence each. Jasmiyah is serving her prison sentence in Arrendale State Prison and Tasmiyah is serving her sentence in Pulaski State Prison. Jarmecca is interred at Westview Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia.^[2]

References

External links

• Rockdale County High School
• Rockdale County Public Schools
• Rockdale Magnet School
• Rockdale Magnet Math Team