Rock Bridge High School is a public high school located in southern Columbia, Missouri

Columbia, Missouri

Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...

. The school serves grades 10 through 12, and is a part of the Columbia Public Schools

Columbia Public Schools

The Columbia Public School District is centered in Columbia, Missouri and serves much of Boone County, Missouri. The district is Accredited with Distinction by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It serves 18,070 students as of 2011 making it the tenth-largest district...

. Students in Grade 9 are allowed to take certain advanced courses that are not available at the local junior high 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 (169,968.1 m²) of land in Southern Columbia and started the construction of the new high school. In September 1973, Rock Bridge first opened and had a class of 583 students. The name Rock Bridge was chosen because of the schools proximity to the natural rock bridge of Rock Bridge State Park. The original design of the school won a national award in school design. The school is centrally air conditioned.

Structure

Rock Bridge runs on a block scheduling

Block scheduling

Block scheduling is a type of academic scheduling in which each student has fewer classes per day but each class is scheduled for a longer period of time . A student might be taking 7 different classes, but only 4 per day, and the specific daily classes would rotate through a changing daily cycle...

 format. This format is structured so that students have four 95 minute classes each day. However, these classes alternate each day, so most students end up taking 8 classes per year. Most students have one Alternating Unassigned Time, referred to as AUT, during which students are allowed to go the library and computer labs, seek help from teachers, or, with parental permission, leave campus.

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

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

 League, Dumbledore's Army, the Zombie Defense League, National Honors Society, Chess Club, MSU-Muslim Students Union, 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 they conduct star shows for all ages as well as students at RBHS and other schools as well.

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, and 2003 as well as the Boys State Title in 2008. At the club level, Rock Bridge fields a Boys Varsity Lacrosse team in the spring.

Notable alumni

• Rob Benedict
  Rob Benedict
  Robert Patrick Benedict is an American stage and screen actor. He is perhaps best known for his work on the television science-fiction series Threshold and the college drama Felicity.-Biography:...
  
  , actor
• Carl Edwards
  Carl Edwards
  Carl Michael Edwards, II is a NASCAR driver. He currently drives the #99 Fastenal/Aflac Ford Fusion in the Sprint Cup Series and the #60 Ford in the Nationwide Series for Roush Fenway Racing...
  
  , NASCAR driver
• Chase Patton, football player
• Brian Wesbury
  Brian Wesbury
  Brian S. Wesbury is an American economist and economic forecaster. He is noted as an accomplished macro economist. He is a monthly contributor for The American Spectator magazine, and serves as the magazine's economics editor. He quoted ofte in national and international news sources, and is on...
  
  , Economist on CNBC

Notable faculty

• A.J. Ofodile
  A.J. Ofodile
  Anselm Aniagboso Ofodile, Jr. is a former American football tight end in the National Football League for the Baltimore Ravens, originally drafted by the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at University of Missouri. He is the head coach of Rock Bridge High School in Columbia,...
  
  , professional football player currently head football coach
• Kate Capshaw
  Kate Capshaw
  Kate Capshaw is an American actress. She is known for her role as Willie Scott in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. She is married to Steven Spielberg.-Early life:...
  
  , actress