Rio Linda High School

Rio Linda High School, the home of the Knights, was constructed in 1962. Our school has grown over the years through modernization and technology upgrades. And even though much has changed since our days there, much still remains the same.

Most of our old classrooms haven’t changed. The boys and girls gyms are still there but now they are called the “Big” and “Small” gyms. The cafeteria is the same but a covered patio area with more outside seating and a concrete wall has been added. The outside basketball courts have been replaced by portable classrooms.

The swimming pool has been replaced by a two story building that consists of 13 classrooms, a conference room and a multi-purpose room. But you former aqua buffs do not fret, there is an aquatic complex on the west side of the school next to the tennis courts. This aquatic complex is shared by the high school and the community and includes a competition pool with water polo goals and a recreation pool. The complex also includes restrooms and locker rooms.

The varsity and jv baseball fields are basically the same but have been spruced up by adding dugouts, scoreboards and fences. The ball field next to the “small” gym is now the LadyKnights softball field. The softball field on the northwest corner has been moved closer to the school. The janitor’s house next to that softball field was torn down a long time ago.

There is a very tall tower near the varsity baseball field. It’s a radio tower built in conjunction with an industry standard media production studio and classroom.

The east parking lot is still there with a couple of changes. The grassy area between the student and teacher sections has been removed so there is no longer a barrier between the two. The “in” is now the “out” and vice versa. More parking has been added on the west and north sides of the school.

The marquee is now electronic and is on the northeast corner of the school. Backpacks have replaced the hallway lockers, too much vandalism.

The most noticeable change to the school grounds is the stadium. It is located on the north side of the school across the street. As you can remember back in our day, we didn’t have a stadium and played our football games at Highlands Stadium. But now our high school has a state of the art stadium. It has a synthetic football field and track, snack bar, ticket kiosks, team rooms and plenty of bleacher seating.

Although there have been many changes to the school grounds, the changes to the curriculum are more amazing. You still have your academic courses that meet high school graduation and college entrance requirements, but the school now offers so much more. There is an Advanced Placement Program that offers college level courses. There is an Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program that helps students who are often economically disadvantaged and underachieving to increase their opportunities to enroll in college. The school also has an Army Junior ROTC program.

There is a Media and Technology Career Academy. Within this academy, students can take classes in Agriculture Education, Arts and Communication, Computer Science and Information Systems, Business Management, Marketing, Industrial Technology, Manufacturing and Merchandising, Drafting and Culinary Arts. The school also has a television and radio station which broadcast student produced shows.

Rio Linda High also participates in the Regional Occupational Program (ROP). This program provides advanced training and employment opportunities with local businesses.

There are a few commercial operations on campus where students learn how to run a business.

• The Knight’s Armor is a student store where you can find snack, lunch and breakfast items for sale.

• Customization is an embroidery business and Hot Shot Pixs is a garment printing business. They will embroider or screen print almost any type of apparel with customized writings and drawings.

• The Knights Catering Crew is a group of advanced students in the Culinary Arts program that offer catering for special events.

• The Knight Manor is a student run branch of SAFE credit union where the students gain financial experience and knowledge. The branch even has an on-site ATM.

For our 40 year reunion we took pictures of our high school. The video above is our high school as it was in 2009. If you would like more information about our high school, check out the school’s web site at http://rlhs.twinriversusd.org/#. For more detailed information about the school, you can view the school's School Accountability Report Card (SARC).