Randolph School
Encyclopedia
Randolph School is an American
independent private kindergarten-through-12th-grade college preparatory
school chartered in 1959 in Huntsville
, Madison County
, Alabama
. It started in an antebellum home on Randolph Street with just a few elementary classes. A few years later it moved to a much larger 17 acres (68,796.6 m²) campus on Drake Avenue, where it is now located, gradually adding grade levels until having a graduating high school class in the early 1970s.
In 1998, the school purchased 50 acres (202,343 m²) of land on Garth Road, less than one mile (1.6 km) from the present location of the main campus. After only expanding the athletic facilities there, in 2006, the Board of Trustees finally gave approval for the construction of a new campus for the high school, something which had been discussed since 1997. According to the plans, the second campus will more than double the square footage of available facilities, and allow continued increase in enrollment. The new high school opened for the 2009-2010 school year. It includes a new theater for the fine arts department and a new gymnasium and additional training and locker room facilities for the athletic department.
For the academic year 2008-2009, tuition and fees average about $13,500, though the school offers need-based financial aid to some students.
Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education
, the highest award an American school can receive.
Between a fifth and a third of each graduating class is identified as a Commended Scholar, Semi-Finalist, or Finalist in the National Merit Scholarship competition. Virtually all graduates go on to attend four-year college.
, a local software company. The lab had a PDP-11/44
with 14 terminals, a console and printer. Wiring ran through the ceiling - a sharp departure from other computer labs of the day.
Randolph instituted a Bulletin Board System
, enhanced by the donation of a 1200 baud modem in 1984 by local television station WAAY-TV
. The bulletin board was entirely custom software running on the PDP-11. Some years later, Randolph hosted the Igmeister Zone BBS, a WWIV
node at speeds up to 9600 bit/s.
National press coverage in 1998 covered the school's implementation of a wireless network which integrated the use of laptops. Randolph School currently requires all 9th-12th graders to purchase selected Lenovo IBM
laptops.
Under southern skies
Boldly stands our alma mater
Holding standards high
Strength and courage on her banner
Never fear nor fail
Hail to thee our alma mater
Randolph School, ALL HAIL!
---Lyrics and Music by Delbert Bailey
after World War II
. Other notable alumni include:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
independent private kindergarten-through-12th-grade college preparatory
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
school chartered in 1959 in Huntsville
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....
, Madison County
Madison County, Alabama
Madison County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is a major part of the Huntsville Metropolitan Area.It is also included in the merged Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The county is named in honor of James Madison, fourth President of the United States of America, and the...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. It started in an antebellum home on Randolph Street with just a few elementary classes. A few years later it moved to a much larger 17 acres (68,796.6 m²) campus on Drake Avenue, where it is now located, gradually adding grade levels until having a graduating high school class in the early 1970s.
In 1998, the school purchased 50 acres (202,343 m²) of land on Garth Road, less than one mile (1.6 km) from the present location of the main campus. After only expanding the athletic facilities there, in 2006, the Board of Trustees finally gave approval for the construction of a new campus for the high school, something which had been discussed since 1997. According to the plans, the second campus will more than double the square footage of available facilities, and allow continued increase in enrollment. The new high school opened for the 2009-2010 school year. It includes a new theater for the fine arts department and a new gymnasium and additional training and locker room facilities for the athletic department.
For the academic year 2008-2009, tuition and fees average about $13,500, though the school offers need-based financial aid to some students.
Academic awards and other recognition
During the 2001-02 school year, and again in 2003-04, Randolph School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon SchoolBlue Ribbon Schools Program
The Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States government program created in 1981 to honor schools which have achieved high levels of performance or significant improvements with emphasis on schools serving disadvantaged students. The program centers around a self-assessment conducted by the...
Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
, the highest award an American school can receive.
Between a fifth and a third of each graduating class is identified as a Commended Scholar, Semi-Finalist, or Finalist in the National Merit Scholarship competition. Virtually all graduates go on to attend four-year college.
Athletics
All varsity teams currently compete in the AHSAA 3A division, but will be moving up to 4A division for the 2011-2012 school year. The Randolph boys have won the State Championships in 1982, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, setting a new state record for most consecutive state championship wins. The girls Cross Country team won in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1996, and 1998. The boys Soccer team won State Champs in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, and 2007. Also, the Randolph Raiders Varsity Soccer Boys were ranked 3rd nationally in 2006 and first in the Southeast. The Randolph Soccer team has either been state runner up or state champs since the year 2000, except 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2010. The girls Soccer team won their first state championship in 2009. The boys tennis team won the state championship in 1984 and 2008, and has finished runner-up in 2002, 2007 and 2009. The boys tennis team also won the state sportsmanship award in 2008 and 2009. The Raiders launched a varsity football team in 2010, first time in 30 years.Technology
Randolph was one of the first high schools to provide its students with a computer lab in 1981, which was donated by IntergraphIntergraph
Intergraph Corporation is an American software development and services company. It provides enterprise engineering and geospatially powered software to businesses, governments, and organizations around the world. Intergraph operates through two divisions: Process, Power & Marine and Security,...
, a local software company. The lab had a PDP-11/44
PDP-11/44
The PDP-11/44, introduced in 1980, was the last of the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11 series of minicomputers implemented in discrete logic. The 11/44 processor consists of five boards, options were floating point and commercial instruction set . The cache is marked as optional, but...
with 14 terminals, a console and printer. Wiring ran through the ceiling - a sharp departure from other computer labs of the day.
Randolph instituted a Bulletin Board System
Bulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
, enhanced by the donation of a 1200 baud modem in 1984 by local television station WAAY-TV
WAAY-TV
WAAY-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Tennessee Valley area of North Alabama that is licensed to Huntsville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter at its Monte Sano Boulevard studios on top of Monte Sano Mountain. Calkins Media owns...
. The bulletin board was entirely custom software running on the PDP-11. Some years later, Randolph hosted the Igmeister Zone BBS, a WWIV
WWIV
WWIV was a popular brand of bulletin board system software from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s. The modifiable source code allowed a sysop to customize the main BBS program for their particular needs and aesthetics...
node at speeds up to 9600 bit/s.
National press coverage in 1998 covered the school's implementation of a wireless network which integrated the use of laptops. Randolph School currently requires all 9th-12th graders to purchase selected Lenovo IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
laptops.
Alma mater
Nestled 'neath the wooded mountainsUnder southern skies
Boldly stands our alma mater
Holding standards high
Strength and courage on her banner
Never fear nor fail
Hail to thee our alma mater
Randolph School, ALL HAIL!
---Lyrics and Music by Delbert Bailey
Notable alumni
Its alumni include many of the children of the German rocket scientists that moved to Huntsville with Wernher von BraunWernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Other notable alumni include:
- Macon PhillipsMacon PhillipsMacon Phillips is the White House Director of New Media with oversight responsibility for Whitehouse.gov. Phillips' efforts at Whitehouse.gov will be closely coordinated with internet operations at the Democratic National Committee, which has responsibility for administration of the...
– White HouseWhite HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
Director of New MediaNew mediaNew media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
in the Obama AdministrationPresidency of Barack ObamaThe Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009 when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election... - Susanna PhillipsSusanna PhillipsSusanna Phillips is a soprano opera singer. She has appeared at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera, among others. Though born in Birmingham, Alabama she and her family moved two weeks after she was born, to Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama; where she grew up and attended...
(graduated 1999) – sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
operaOperaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City - Bryan SheltonBryan SheltonBryan Shelton is a former tennis player from the United States who played collegiately for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets from 1985 to 1988 and professionally from 1989 to 1997. He subsequently returned to his alma mater to coach women's tennis. Shelton was inducted into the Georgia Tech Hall of...
– Georgia TechGeorgia Institute of TechnologyThe Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
Yellow JacketsGeorgia Tech Yellow JacketsThe Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that play for the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Ramblin' Wreck, Engineers, Blacksmiths, and Golden Tornado. There are 8 men's and 7 women's teams that...
women's tennis head coach and six-time WimbledonThe Championships, WimbledonThe Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
participant - Jimmy WalesJimmy WalesJimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....
– co-founder of WikipediaWikipediaWikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...