Ridgewood High School

Positive Results

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : Guidance 2 Arts & Activities 3 Athletics 4 Upcoming Events 5

Ridgewood High School

Q 1 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 9 P R I N C I P A L ’ S Q U A R T E R L Y N E W S L E T T E R S P E C I A L P O I N T S O F I N T E R E S T : Athletics:  27 sports  68 teams  76 coaches  over 56% of the RHS student body participates in one or more sport Clubs: Approximately 100 clubs/activities for students to choose from

We have accomplished much over the past several years. Although there have been many changes to the schedule, curricula, lessons, and building, we have seen positive results as noted in the increase in standardized test scores and college acceptance rates, athletic achievements and victories, and production value and competition accomplish-ments in the arts. These positive results are a direct result of the combined effort of the students, parents, and faculty.

+6% SAT

and

+8%ACT

composite score

+18%

# of AP tests taken

+10%

of AP 3+ scores Disciplinary infractions have decreased

56%

RHS won 2019 Group IV ShopRite Cup for best athletic program in NJ (based most

points earned during state athletic championship competitions)

RHS earned the 2019-20 NJSIAA Sportsmanship Award

Production value of New Players performances has increased by way of quality and

performance opportunities for students

Band and music programs incr eased number of students accepted in NJ All-State and the number of competition wins

DECA increased number of students competing in state and national competi-tions and victories

RHS increased number of international trips (average 5 per year)

Since 2012, the following student results have been identified:

+7%

student acceptance rate (Barron’s 230 most competitive through very competitive+ ranked colleges)

+25%

(+.6) # of top 230 colleges students accepted into

2

83%

(+4)

feel academic challenge is appropriate

designed to assist students with the college process In addition to early decision and early action applications, the seniors have been very busy working with their school coun-selors on regular decision and rolling admissions college ap-plications. As in the first quar-ter, regular decision and rolling admissions applications for stu-dents are ongoing.

Through Naviance eDocs, the guidance department has elec-The Guidance Department

offered several programs for students this fall such as:

 Information session for

9th grade parents

 College application

pro-cess meetings with 12th

grade students and parents.

 Freshmen F.O.C.U.S.

meetings for the

counse-lors to meet the 9th graders

 Evening meeting for

sen-ior parents on the financial aid process

 “Senior Focus,” meetings

tronically delivered school forms, recommendations, and more than 2,990 transcripts to participating colleges.

Seniors will be apprised of 67 local scholarship opportunities through the Local Scholarship Booklets shortly.

A discussion regarding the 2020-2021 scheduling process between the counselor and each student will begin the end of January and continue through February.

Guidance

Since 2012, parent survey results:

Identified from this year:

86%

of parents and

96%

of students

think we should maintain the Open Campus policy

RHS

and

Aramark

(custodial company)

received

100%

grade for cleanliness by a 3rd party company

88%

(+3) satisfied with overall quality of

The New Players Company pro-duced a successful fall

perfor-mance of She Kills Monsters,

di-rected by Morgan Knight. The students and faculty did an excel-lent job with this production and

many families enjoyed the

show. The next show is 26

Peb-bles, directed by Rosie McCooe,

opens on December 12.

The RHS Recording Studio is of-ficially up and running for this school year. The Recording Studio is a fully equipped recording stu-dio offering a FREE recording environment for student bands and groups looking to record a demo, mixtape, single or an album.

The RHS Marching Band had a successful 2019 competition sea-son with their competition show, "The Glory Lives On." The band won numerous caption awards throughout the year including Best Music, Best Visual, Best Effect, Best Color Guard and Best Per-cussion. The band was also award-ed the “Cadets Awards Excel-lence” at USBands National

Championships in recognition of the bands achievement in creativi-ty, performance and overall effect. The band ended their competition season with a 3rd place finish at USBands National Championships with a score of 93.965.

Four choir students were accepted into the NJ All-State Mixed Cho-rus. The students performed with the NJ All-State Choir in Atlantic City. Four additional RHS stu-dents will be performing with the NJ All-State Treble Chorus in February.

4

tory (a Bergen County record) the boys won the league and took home the Bergen County Group A title. In November, both boys and girls hope to again dominate when they com-pete in the Bergen County Meet of Champions and Sectionals.

Girls tennis, with a 12-0 rec-ord, were Freedom Division Champs, runners-up at the Ber-gen County tournament and made it to the state sectional fi-nals losing a heartbreaker to Livingston.

Girls volleyball earned their 700th win in team history this season.

Winter sports practices and try-outs begin in November. Please refer to the athletics website: www.ridgewoodathletics.com for the latest sports schedules, directions to games and other important athletic information.

Athletics

All of the fall athletic teams had successful seasons and most of the varsity teams qualified for state playoffs.

Football is currently in the state playoffs.

Both boys and girls soccer

made it to the county fi-nals. For boys soccer, this was their first trip to the fi-nals since 2002. Both teams will play their quarterfinal state sectional games this week.

The girls cross country

team, once again, swept the dual meet season with a 6-0 record and won the Big North Freedom Division, Shore Varsity A Champion-ship and County Group

Meet. The boys cross

coun-try team also went unde-feated within the Big North Freedom Division, capturing the league title for the 3rd consecutive year. For the sixteenth time in school

To have students reach their fullest potential requires a combined effort from the faculty, school, and com-munity. Communication is key to this success. Please reach out to your child’s teacher, grade advisor, or guidance counselor if you have anything you wish to discuss.

Upcoming Events

RHS Orchestra Concert Nov 20 7:30 P.M. Campus Center

A Capella Concert Nov 25 7:00 P.M. Campus Center

Sharing the Arts Nov 26 7:00 P.M. Little Theater

RHS Band Winter Concert Dec 11 7:30 P.M. Campus Center

New Players Play Dec 12 7:00 P.M. Little Theater

New Players Play Dec 13-14 8:00 P.M. Little Theater

RHS Choir Concert Dec 18 7:30 P.M. Campus Center

8th Grade Parent Meeting Jan 9 7:30 P.M. Campus Center

New Players in Concert Jan 16-19 Varies Little Theater

Maroon & White Exhibit Jan 16 3:15 P.M. Learning Commons/Carroll Art Gallery

11th Grade Parent Meeting Jan 23 7:30 P.M. Campus Center

Winter Dance Concert Jan 23 7:30 P.M. Little Theater

Jazz Ensemble Dance Concert Jan 29 7:30 P.M. Little Theater