Randolph High School (Texas)

Randolph High School, part of the Randolph Field Independent School District, is located on Randolph Air Force Base in Universal City, Texas a suburb of San Antonio. It serves approximately 350 high school students and employs approximately 40 high school teachers and other support staff. Randolph High School was established in 1962, and was the first high school located entirely within an existing Air Force Base.

Overview

In 2005 Randolph High School was ranked the 15th-best high school in Texas by the Texas Education Excellence Project. it is a multiple-time Texas Education Agency Exemplary School, most recently in 2010 and 2009.

Technology

Beginning in 2003 students were issued 1:1 laptop computers for classroom and personal use during the school year, but had to return their computers before the end of the year. In 2011, the school purchased Promethean Boards for every classroom and in 2013 the school received a DODEA grant to provide all students and teachers with Apple iPad Air tablets.

Construction

From 2007 to 2008, the school underwent construction to renovate the gymnasium and add a one-million-dollar fine arts center. The fine arts center was named the Richard L. Wilson Fine Arts Center in 2009 for the schools most successful band director from 1995 to 2008. Wilson's bands never placed lower than first place in more than 35 marching band competitions and he led the marching bands to seven consecutive appearances in the bi-annual State Marching Contest.

In 2015, the school district received a grant to construct a new high school, located directly behind the current high school. The new high school is scheduled for a July 2016 opening.

Classes

In addition to the core classes, courses include Sociology, Spanish language, Business Computers, Video Tech, Music Theory, Sports Medicine, and several advanced placement (AP) courses.

Athletics

The school competes in Class AAA athletics (previously AA, but in February 2014 as part of a comprehensive restructuring, AA was renamed as AAA).

The Ro-Hawks currently fields teams in football, cross country, volleyball, basketball, powerlifting, swimming, tennis, golf, baseball, softball, & track & field.

The girls track and field team placed 7th in 2005 and then won the 2A State Championship three consecutive times in 2006,2007,and 2008, making it the first high school in the San Antonio area to repeat since 1989. In 2009,the team took their first 2nd place title. In 2012, the team won their 4th state championship in girls track and field.

In 2015 the Boys' Basketball team made their 3rd trip (1992, 1994) to the UIL State Basketball Tournament at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The #21 ranked Ro-Hawks eliminated #20 Childress HS in the Semi-Finals 31-29 setting up the first State Finals appearance in school history against #1 Brock HS. The Ro-Hawks would fall to the Eagles 37-32 marking the end of a historic season, finishing 31-4 overall.

The school prides itself that its mascot, the "Ro-Hawk", is the only mascot of its kind in Texas and the United States. Ro-Hawk is a combination of the words rocket & hawks. The image is a hawk riding a rocket with a lightning bolt clenched in its talon. Rumor has it that upon opening the school the school board could not decide on a mascot. Half of its members wanted Rockets, which was already in use by nearby Judson High School, and half wanted Hawks, to keep with the Air Force Academy's use of bird mascots (Falcons). So, as a compromise, Ro-Hawks was selected.

Band

Among other notable activities is the award-winning Mighty Randolph Ro-Hawk Marching Band. The band had won every marching competition they had entered from 1997 to 2009, an 11-year streak. The band has received superior ratings (the highest available) at the Regional level for 20 consecutive years. The Ro-Hawk band has been distinguished as one of the Top 10 Marching Bands in its classification of over 260 bands in the state of Texas. The Ro-Hawks have advanced to the bi-annual Area Marching Contest every year since 1995. The band has also advanced to the bi-annual Texas State Marching Contest every year since 1997, and have placed in the Top 10 each time. Most recently at the state level, the band made its 6th consecutive trip to the contest and placed 8th, missing the finals by merely 2 points. In 2009 the band marked their 8th consecutive appearance in the bi-annual Area Marching Contest by receiving first place in the preliminary round of 20 bands, as well as first place in the finals round of 10 bands. This earned the Ro-Hawks a 7th straight appearance in the Texas State Marching Band Contest.

Notable alumni

• Carl J. Meade, NASA astronaut
• Shawn Michaels, former professional wrestler
• Michael B. Wagner, Emmy Award winning television writer*
• Reggie Rivers, Former NFL football player
• Moton Hopkins, Canadian football player
• Andrew Goodwin, Emmy Award winning photographer/editor^[1]

References