Roswell High School

History

Roswell High School first opened in 1838 as The Academy and then The Roswell School, and is the oldest high school in Fulton County north of the Chattahoochee River. Like the city of Roswell, the school bears the name of Roswell King. King founded the cotton mill that would eventually be the city's economic backbone for much of its early history. The immediate predecessor to Roswell High School was the Roswell Public School on Mimosa Boulevard, which housed grades 1–10 and opened in the 1892 after the Georgia General Assembly passed Act No. 51 on December 20, 1892, allowing the city to elect a school board and levy taxes for support of the school. Students from outside the city limits were required to pay tuition. In 1896, the city council and mayor were authorized by the state to issue $5,000 in bonds to build a new school building.

In 1914, the existing school was torn down and two new structures were built. Since schools were segregated at that time, a two-story brick building was constructed on Mimosa Boulevard to house the white students in grades 1 through 10, and a one-room wooden building was built on Pleasant Hill Avenue for black students in grades 1 through 7. The Pleasant Hill facility also served as a meeting place for a local lodge and the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church until the church built its own facility across the street in 1922. Grade 11 was added in the 1920s to the Mimosa Boulevard school. Black students who progressed past grade 7 could then attend Washington High School in Atlanta.

During the Great Depression, the city of Roswell was annexed into Fulton County from Cobb County as part of its 1932 combination with Milton County and Campbell County. Roswell students in grades ten and eleven were then sent to Milton High School in Alpharetta or North Fulton High School in Atlanta to finish their secondary education (which ended upon completion of grade 11).

In 1949, the Mimosa Boulevard building was demolished, and a new school was built on the existing site to allow the 10th and 11th grades to return to Roswell and students were divided within the school between elementary and high school grades. G.W. Adams was the first principal after the division and oversaw the addition of more

rooms to the school over the next few years. During this growth, the Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist churches also located on Mimosa Boulevard were used to house auxiliary classrooms. Also in 1949–1950, the high school began participating in athletics with a varsity basketball team and other senior high school extracurricular activities. In 1950, Roswell High School added grade 12 as part of the statewide standard for high schools, and played its first varsity football season. The first graduating 12th grade class was in the spring of 1951. Prior to that year, students graduated in 10th and 11th grades.

Current campus

The current campus is the third that Roswell High School has occupied. It opened in the fall of 1990 on King Road, just off of Highway 92, with an enrollment of nearly 2,000 students. It is the oldest high school building in North Fulton. The new campus was expanded with a football stadium and softball field added in 1994 and an auditorium in 1995, paid for by the RHS Foundation. The campus includes science, computer, video, and cosmetology labs; baseball and softball fields, a stadium for football and soccer, a lacrosse field, an additional practice field, a dome style gymnasium, a cross country trail, and lighted tennis courts for athletics.

In 2008 the Roswell gymnasium was named one of the top high school gyms in the nation. Cited were the domed rotunda, the hanging four sided scoreboard, and locker room facilities.

On February 2, 2007, Roswell High had a groundbreaking ceremony for an expansion project. The 23,851-square-foot (2,215.8 m2) expansion added ten new classrooms, including science labs and a new band room. This increased the school to a 1,900 student official capacity with the state. The addition also reduced some of the need for portable classrooms, but portable units were still used after the expansion to handle Roswell's enrollment (2400 students as of 2007). Construction officially began on February 5, 2007. The addition was paid for by a one-cent special-purpose local-option sales tax (SPLOST). Additional improvements to RHS for additional safety and security features, technology and curriculum equipment enhancements, and athletic facilities upgrades were to be implemented as part of the third SPLOST, approved by Fulton County voters on March 20, 2007.

Academics

RHS is a part of the Fulton County School System and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Georgia Department of Education.

Roswell was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 1997–1998 by the United States Department of Education. It was also designated a Georgia School of Excellence in 1996.

26 Advanced Placement (AP) classes are offered, and SAT as well as ACT scores regularly exceed the national and state average. For the 2005–2006 school year, Roswell's average SAT score was 1663 with the new SAT scoring system, which ranked Roswell third in the Fulton County School System and sixth in Metro Atlanta. The Georgia state average was 1477, while the national average was 1518. 477 students took AP exams in 2005, with 84% receiving the necessary score (3 or higher) to earn college credit. Nationally, only 60% score high enough to earn college credits. Three RHS students were named National Merit Scholars in 2005.

Roswell's academic success has brought national recognition. In 2006, the school was ranked the No. 472 school in Newsweek magazine's top 1,200 schools, ranking in the top 3% nationally. Roswell was third on the list among Fulton County's 12 high schools.

Roswell offers a unique curriculum with many electives not offered anywhere else in the county. The school's unique course offerings include the Career Tech diploma track, robotics, psychology, archaeology, and foreign languages. The Foreign Language department offers French, Spanish, Latin, and Japanese, and was honored in the January 2007 issue of Atlanta Magazine for offering the most foreign language courses in the Atlanta area. RHS students participated in the 2007 Annual Japanese Challenge Academic Bowl and won the most awards of any school at the competition.

In 2007, RHS Senior Maia Bageant was named as one of 141 Presidential Scholars by the United States Department of Education. In 2008, Roswell High was one of 23 Georgia schools recognized by state school superintendent Kathy Cox as an AP Merit School (20% of students taking AP exams, 50% or more of those receiving a score of three or higher). Also in 2008, Roswell High School student Ishna Sharma was named as one of only 139 Presidential Scholars. RHS student Anand Srinivasan received the Kroger Pinnacle Award in 2014, the top award given at the statewide annual Georgia Science and Engineering Fair. Likewise, student Saif Ali tied for first place in the state science fair in 2016.

Career Tech

The Career Tech department at Roswell High is made up of Broadcast and Video Production, Cosmetology, Family and Consumer Sciences, Diversified Technology, Pre-Engineering, Business Education, and JROTC. Through this department, students may take three consecutive years of one of the branches to obtain a Career Technology High School Diploma in place of a College Prep Diploma. Courses cover diverse topics such as culinary arts, business, computers, interior design, and introduction to education and early childhood care.

The Broadcast and Video Production department is designed to teach students about the television industry. Using a hands-on method, students learn about all aspects of television from pre-production to production to post-production. The facility is made up of a working television studio, a large control room, six edit rooms (each equipped with both linear and non-linear editing systems), a radio station, and a normal classroom. Students in the program learn to produce everything from commercials and PSAs to dramas, news shows, and sporting events. The advanced classes produce a weekly news show, the Morning Buzz, which airs at the beginning of the day. The Broadcast and Video department supports the student-run radio station WRHS the Hive, the film club, and the yearly School House Rock concert.

Rifle team

The Rifle Team is jointly run by the Roswell High School JROTC program and the Athletics Department, and represents the school in the Olympic sport of riflery. The team won the Region 6 championship six straight years between 1996 and 2001. The team finished second in the state in 2000 finishing with a score of 1142. State champion East Coweta High School finished with a score of 1150.

Fine arts

Roswell High School offers fine arts opportunities in art, band, chorus, drama, and orchestra. The groups meet throughout the year as elective classes and extracurricular activities, and hold many events. These include performances at football games, murals painted in the school's halls, concerts, plays, and a spring musical jointly put on by the drama and choral departments.

The drama department annually hosts Short Attention Span Theatre, featuring plays, shorts, and monologues which are written, cast, directed, and produced by RHS students.

Roswell Choruses have performed on numerous occasions for the Georgia Music Educator's Association and sang at the 2003 Southern Division of the Music Educator's National Conference in Savannah, Georgia. The Singing Hornets have performed concerts at Notre Dame, St. Peter's Basilica, Carnegie Hall, and Disney World. They have performed with professional orchestras, including the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and Orchestra Atlanta. Each year, the Roswell Choral Music Program receives invitations for students to participate in the Georgia All-State Chorus and the Governor's Honors Program. Ensembles include the Chamber Singers, Vocal Jazz, Advanced Women's, and Advanced Men's Choirs.

The Roswell High School band department contains the marching band, wind ensemble, symphonic band, pep band, jazz band, and percussion ensemble. The marching band performs for all varsity football games and has competitions throughout the fall, as well as parade appearances. The marching band competes in Class AAA and in 2008 placed third overall in the Georgia Invitational Band Championship. In 2009 the wind ensemble, which was one of only three selected, took part in the Honor Bands of Georgia program hosted at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. The program is an educational opportunity for the bands participating and is meant to further music education in the state.

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

The Roswell High mascot is the Hornet, and the school colors are green, black, and white. The Hornets compete in 16 sports at the varsity level, with additional teams competing at the junior varsity and 9th grade level. 11 sports are available to boys, 10 are for girls, and 2 are co-ed. Overall, 23 teams compete at varsity level, with 43 total.

The Hornets have won multiple state titles in athletics, including three each in football and baseball, and two in boys' basketball. Roswell's most successful girls' team is gymnastics, which has won seven state championships (1997, 2000–2003, 2005, 2007). In 1970–71 Roswell completed a three-peat in the GHSA, winning a state title (including a back-to-back campaign in baseball) in baseball, basketball, and football within 12 months of each other. In total the Roswell Hornets have won 19 team state championship titles in the school's 23 sports.

Since its inception, Roswell's traditional rival has been Milton, the oldest high school in northern Fulton County. The Roswell/Milton series is the most-played high school football rivalry in metro Atlanta, with the 2014 game marking the sixtieth meeting between the schools. The two have competed since 1950 in every sport the two schools offer. In 1963 a fight broke out between the fans of the schools at a football game and the series was banned for several years. The football series then went uninterrupted from 1970 to 1997 but was temporarily ended when the GHSA moved Milton to a different Region, which made scheduling difficult. The series was reinstated in 2000 when Milton and Roswell were again in Region 6-AAAAA. Since 1950, Roswell has held a 34–21–1 advantage over their archrival in football, including winning seven straight from 2001 to 2007. The 2008 meeting was won by Milton, 20–19. Roswell won a series record 14 straight games from 1983 to 1995. Roswell's very first football game was against Milton, a 14–0 win on September 22, 1950. The largest margin of victory in the series also belongs to Roswell, a 45–0 victory on October 26, 2007.

In lacrosse, the series records are the opposite; Roswell has a losing record to its archrival in lacrosse. The closest sport in the rivalry is gymnastics, in which the two teams have combined for eleven state titles (seven Roswell, four Milton) and for seven years from 1997 to 2003 one of the two teams won every state championship. In other sports with records available, Roswell's boys' soccer team has gone 5–0–1 against Milton since 2004 while the girls' soccer team has gone 2–4 against the Eagles. 2008 saw the Hornet soccer teams record a sweep over the Milton Eagles for the second straight year.

Clubs

As of the 2012–2013 academic year, RHS offers 72 clubs, 11 academic teams, and service clubs.

Clubs include academic honor societies, political interests, service clubs, social/general interest clubs, and non-varsity sport clubs. Service clubs include Key Club, Anchor Club, Animal Rescue Club, and the Habitat For Humanity Club, which raises funds and builds houses in conjunction with the local Habitat chapter. Academic clubs include Art Club, Art National Honor Society, Beta Club, and National Honor Society. Political interest clubs are the Peace Activists Club, Young Democrats, Young Republicans, and Shanti, which attempts to eliminate teenage apathy. Competitive clubs include the two-time state champion Fencing Team, Roswell Ice Hockey Club, Ultimate Frisbee Club, Policy Debate Team, Breakdance Team, Unique Dance team, and the Robotics Team. The robotics team hosts the oldest active FRC team in Georgia (Team 832).

Publications and media outlets

Established in 1983, The Sting is the school's official student newspaper and is a member of the Georgia Scholastic Press Association. The monthly publication has been recognized on multiple occasions by the GSPA and the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. The newspaper features news, editorials, opinions, features, entertainment, and sports. The staff also maintains the paper's related website.

The student literary magazine the Helicon is produced by the school's literary magazine staff. The magazine is published once each semester and features student-created poetry, short stories, essays, photos, and artwork. The Helicon has also received multiple awards from the GSPA.

The student-published yearbook is the Mimosan, and the student-run radio station is WRHS The Hive.

Notable people

Coach Bill Yoast, featured in the movie Remember the Titans, was a Roswell High football coach from 1954 to 1960 before leaving for Virginia. Game footage from Roswell is used in several scenes in the movie.

Notable alumni

Kyle Buckley, Record Producer

Jimmy Barthmaier, MLB baseball player

Justin Bolli, professional golfer

Jeff Bower, college football player and coach

Jay Clark, college gymnastics coach

Delilah Dawson, author

Ty'Ron Hopper, NFL football player

Alec Kessler, former NBA basketball player

Anthonie Knapp, college football player

Bryan Konietzko, animator

Tre Lamar, NFL football player

Richie Leone, CFL football player

Ty Long, NFL football player

Xavier McKinney, NFL football player

Jermaine Phillips, NFL football player

Tony Phillips, MLB baseball player

Jim Powell, sportscaster

Steve Prouty, special effects and make-up artist

Mike Ramsey, MLB baseball player

Ken Ray, MLB baseball player

Chris Reis, NFL football player

Alain Sergile, Olympic swimmer