Ralston Valley High School (RVHS or RV) is a comprehensive, four-year public high school in

Arvada Arvada () is a home rule municipality located in Jefferson and Adams counties, Colorado, United States. The city population was 124,402 at the 2020 United States Census, with 121,510 residing in Jefferson County and 2,892 residing in Adams Cou ...

, a northwest suburb of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Colorado. Opened for the 2000 school year, its enrollment is around 1800 students. Ralston Valley High School is an eight-time recipient of an "Excellent" rating by the Colorado Department of Education.

History

The 24th public high school built in Jefferson County, Ralston Valley's opening relieved

Arvada West High School Arvada West High School, nicknamed A-West, is a public secondary school in Arvada, Colorado, United States. Opened in 1963, it is one of four high schools in Arvada. It is part of the Jefferson County School District. History Arvada West High ...

, which was serving so many students in 1999 it was on a split schedule. Groundbreaking occurred in March 1999, and the school opened in the fall of 2000. With the exception of a few years when the award program was discontinued, RVHS has received the Colorado Department of Education's John Irwin School of Excellence Award yearly since 2005. The mascot of Ralston Valley is the mustang. It was selected based on votes from local elementary and middle school students in Jefferson County, as well as Arvada West HS students who would be attending RVHS. The mascot is significant to the location of the school, which is located on land that was formerly a ranch that raised and bred horses. Part of this ranch still exists across the street from the southern edge of campus.

Curriculum

College preparation is the focus in all RVHS classes. RVHS offers an honors strand of courses for freshmen and sophomores and Advanced Placement courses. Students may opt to pursue an Honors Diploma.

Campus

The school building, situated on a site in northwest Arvada, was designed by LKA Partners and won a Merit Award in 2002 from the Colorado chapter of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

. In March 2007, the school finished additional construction for expansion. This consisted of the addition of of classroom and science labs to the east side of the building as well as of classroom and more science labs to the south side. This renovation closed off the lower level in a full square to connect the science, math and (new) foreign language halls. Previously, the science and math halls were only connected in a horseshoe shape. The Ralston Valley High School addition and remodel includes 170,000 square feet of new construction and 42,000 square feet of remodeling. The project entailed demolition of the existing academic and administration areas and the redevelopment of the site. The new facility has 44 general classrooms, 12 science classrooms, library, media area, auxiliary gym, administration area, kitchen and commons. The remodeling included locker rooms and art department. The 28.5-acre site offers soccer, softball and multi-use fields. Further renovations included the addition of resulting in an auxiliary gym with a bleacher mezzanine, weight room and expanded athletic locker rooms. RVHS has the Millikan oil-drop experiment equipment along with the equipment for finding the mass of an electron. Additional improvements: * Darkroom * Orchestra pit in the auditorium * Computer lab * Expanded student commons * New athletic practice field * Publications lab * Expanded parking Construction began in December 2005, was completed in September 2007, and cost $29.5 million. Beginning in 2022, renovations are being made to expand the school in the front and back. A new library will be built in the front of the school, which will allow for extra classrooms to be built where the current library is. Additionally, 4 new classrooms will be added in the C hall at the back of the school upstairs. Construction is expected to be finished for the 2023–24 school year.

Principals

*Jon Donaldson (2000–2004) *Jim Ellis (2004–2014) *Gavan Goodrich (2014–2018) *Mica Buenning (2018–)

Extracurricular activities and classes

School publications

* ''The Review'' magazine (2013–): ''The Review'' is the student publication of Ralston Valley High School. It is published quarterly and features sports photography and school news. *''The Stampede'' yearbook (2000–): yearly published student produced yearbook *Former student newspaper: ''The Ralston Valley press'' (2000–2013)

Athletics

Ralston Valley has won nine state championship titles in softball, boys' basketball, baseball, swimming & diving, coed cheerleading, and poms. The Mustangs have won 74 Jeffco league championships in 13 different sports. The school has received the Steinmark Award competing in the Jeffco league. The Steinmark is awarded to the school with the top overall athletic performance in the league. Ralston Valley seniors have received athletic scholarships at Division I and II NCAA schools, along with nearly every US service academy. Ralston Valley fields teams in baseball, basketball, cheerleading, cross county, football. golf, ice hockey, girls' lacrosse, poms, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, and wrestling in interscholastic competition. Ralston Valley initially competed in Class 4A Athletics in every sport except football. Football initially competed in 3A in its first two seasons, before moving up a classification to 4A. The school has since moved to Class 5A (the highest level in Colorado) as of fall 2009 in all athletics. State championships won by the school include: *Boys' basketball: 2003 (4A) *Coed cheerleading: 2003 (4A), 2006 (4A/5A) *Poms: 2004 (4A) *Baseball: 2008 (4A) *Softball: 2002, 2008 (4A) *Girls' swimming: 2007, 2008, 2009 (5A) *Boys' golf: 2008 (5A) *Hockey: 2013, 2014 (5A); 2014: undefeated season, 23-0 The basketball court is named in honor of Lisa Nelson (coach and teacher) and the gym is named in gratitude after Jim Hynes (former athletic director and assistant principal).

Notable alumni

Mariah Bell Mariah Cheyenne Bell (born April 18, 1996) is an American former figure skater. She is the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 2022 U.S. national champion, 2020 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 2020 U.S. national silver medalist, and two-ti ...

(2014) - figure skater, national champion at 2022 U.S. Championships *

Nick Fazekas Nicholas Ryan Fazekas (born June 17, 1985) is an American-born Japanese professional basketball player for the Kawasaki Brave Thunders of the B.League in Japan. Early career Fazekas attended Ralston Valley High School in Arvada, Colorado where he ...

(2003) -

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

basketball player; drafted 34th by

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

* Jordan Holloway (2014) -

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

Dan Skipper Dan Skipper (born September 20, 1994) is an American football offensive tackle for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Arkansas. High school career Skipper was born in Arvada, Colorado, a s ...

(2013) -

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

and the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) * Dave Welsh (2003) - electric guitar player for pop band The Fray * Andrew Wingard (2015) -

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

for the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

and the Jacksonville Jaguars of the

(NFL) * Ben Wysocki (2003) - drummer for pop band The FrayKey Communiqué
Jefferson County Public Schools. February 13, 2007.

References

External links

* {{authority control Educational institutions established in 2000 Public high schools in Colorado Jefferson County Public Schools (Colorado) Buildings and structures in Arvada, Colorado Schools in Jefferson County, Colorado 2000 establishments in Colorado