circa 2007
Many aspects of the campus, such as communication, activities, and sports, have changed throughout the years since Rocklin High School (RHS) was established in 1993. Many teachers who have been here for a long time have experienced how things have changed over the past 30 years at RHS.
The level of communication has increased since the 90s, when smartphones and social media weren’t around. RHS activities director John Thompson said, “For instance, when I need to communicate with you guys, I can hit you with a reminder text almost immediately.” Back then, there was only an intercom to talk through, and signing up for activities was mostly in person. However, social media’s impact has also drawn people away from what’s happening in the real world. “It affects you when you get blasted on social media for a three-second video that isn’t really who you are. It affects your willingness to come out of your shell and engage. Whereas in the 90s we had to beat people away,” said Mr. Thompson.
“It affects you when you get blasted on social media for a three second video that isn’t really who you are”
At first, the campus lacked features. There were no trees and no football stadium. There was an all-time low of 325 students who were all freshmen. There was no parking lot since none of them could drive. Mr. Thompson said, “The evolution of how the campus evolved as a physical plant was fun to see.” This campus was built from the ground up, and so many improvements have been made regarding the trees, infrastructure, and more. Building a culture for the school was much more of a challenge.
circa 2006
However, adding rallies into the school culture brought RHS together. Many students from other schools would show up to the rallies to emulate what we already have. However, back then only 50 kids would decide to opt out of the rallies but now, it’s around 300. According to Mr. Thompson, social media has engraved fear into students’ minds about participating in school activities. In the past, it was the opposite — students were competitive and people had to be beaten away because everybody wanted to be a part of the activities and games.
Sports have always been a hot topic for high schools. Many high schools try to build the best sports teams they can by creating a hard-working and experienced program. Most of the time, high schools try to surround their focus on one or two sports, whereas Rocklin has become successful in having a variety of success in all its sports. RHS hires coaches who are very passionate about what they do and will excel in it. Coaches like Stephen Taylor — the varsity boys basketball coach — have been here since the beginning. He has been a part of all of the success when it comes to basketball. Varsity boys golf coach Tim Hurrianko said, “We’ve always been good at sports. That’s one thing about Rocklin that is impressive.” Having a good sports program is good for a student’s discipline and time management. Student-athletes learn to balance their academic and athletic life. This fosters good habits that can lead to success in many areas of well-being.
Education at RHS has changed since it was first established. Hurrianko said. “They had something called the clearing house, which was a place students could go to clear all four years of classes,” he said. So if a student failed their freshman class, they could go into this clearing house in their senior year, take a test, and clear the whole class. This is similar to Victory High School, which is right down the road from RHS. High-quality education programs incorporate career-oriented elements, helping students develop the skills and knowledge needed for various professions. RHS has been very successful in that aspect of our campus.
