Rock Hill High School faculty and staff is facilitating the process for all students to develop the World Class Skills for Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by setting high expectations through rigorous coursework in all content areas. Rock Hill High has provided students the opportunity to be creative in academics, the arts, athletics, extra-curricular activities, character development, and community involvement this past year. We had 58 students graduate with highest honors, 26 with honors, and 116 received a gold seal diploma. One hundred and ten students were CATE completers, and 11 seniors attempted to earn an IB diploma. We had 14 seniors recognized as Advanced Placement Scholars, and four seniors recognized as Advanced Placement Scholar Candidates by College Board. Out of 342 graduating seniors, 246 earned LIFE and 25 earned Palmetto Fellows scholarships. The grand total of all scholarships offered to graduates was over $13.9 million dollars. The Rock Hill High School Band of Distinction was not able to compete this fall due to Covid-19. The band did perform their marching show “Z” at the Olde English Exhibition of Bands and at all home football games. The bad had six students earn chairs in the SC Region Three Honor Bands and one student earn a chair in the SC Senior All-State Band. The Rock Hill High School Winter Guard earned the Silver Medal at the Carolina Winter Ensemble Association Championships in the Scholastic Regional A class. Rock Hill High’s Choral Program had two members named to the South Carolina All State Chorus. Five members were named to the SC American Choral Directors' Association Honor Choir. The Orchestra had one student selected by audition for the SC Music Educators Associations’ Region 1 Honors Orchestras and participated in the first regional virtual concert performance assessment. The Aurelian Ensemble comprised of advanced members of the Orchestras, and had their first performance this year. The Rock Hill High School Theatre Department competed virtually in February at the Palmetto Dramatic Association/South Carolina Thespian festival with the production of “This is a Test”. The play received a Superior rating and eight students received superior acting awards as well. In May, the theatre students competed virtually at the South Carolina Speech and Theatre Association Festival and placed 2nd in Storytelling, 2nd and 3rd place in Duet Acting, 2nd and 3rd place in Audition Monologues, and 2nd place in Original Monologues. Visual Arts students participated in the Teacher’s Choice Art Show. The Visual Arts department had students finish 1st in 3D, 3rd in Drawing, and 3rd in Painting. It has been different and difficult in athletics this year with the Covid pandemic. With so many unknowns and lots of schedule changes, our athletes persevered and we ended up getting all three sports seasons completed. Recognizing the accomplishments of these athletes is only a small token of appreciation for their effort and leadership throughout the school year. The overall GPA of all athletes this year is 3.85. Rock Hill High had 19 athletes sign scholarships, 54 senior scholar athletes, and 107 multi-sport athletes this year. Nineteen students were all-state athletes. Twenty-three individual athletes made state tournaments as individuals in Swim, Wrestling and Track and Field. Eight of those student athletes went on to medal with three girls finishing as state runner-ups and another relay team and individual getting bronze medals for finishing third in the state. Our girls basketball team reached the upper state championship, girls track finished 7th in the state and boys track finished 21st. Our Girls Basketball and Boys Soccer teams won the region championship. Volleyball, Cheer, Boys Tennis and Wrestling finished 2nd in the region. Rock Hill High finished with eight teams making the playoffs this year. All faculty and staff continued to focus on improving students’ achievements on End of Course, ACT, and SAT testing. Graduation rate has improved, and we will continue to focus our efforts on improving in all areas. We will continue to work with students to provide the world class knowledge and skills needed to compete in a global society. The Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports program continued this year to improve school climate and character education at Rock Hill High School. Students were recognized with over 1,500 Bearcat Bucks for showing Bearcat PRIDE (Participation, Respect, Integrity, Dedication, & Excellence). We hope to have continued success with our positive intervention program.
Timothy Sawyer, SIC Chair
Arthur W. Ahl, II, Principal
