Riverside Brookfield High School (RBHS) is a secondary school located directly between Riverside, Illinois, and Brookfield, Illinois,[3] which educates grades 9-12. It serves the towns of Riverside, North Riverside, most of Brookfield, a small part of Broadview, and parts of LaGrange Park. Its campus is adjacent to Brookfield Zoo. The mascot of Riverside Brookfield (RB) is Rouser the Bulldog. Riverside Brookfield Township High School District 208 passed a $58 million referendum, resulting in renovations to the school building, including a new swimming pool, athletics stadium, and classrooms. This was completed in Spring 2010. In 2015, the Board of Education used $14 million to address health/safety concerns and to build a new athletic complex.[4]
History
Riverside Brookfield High School can trace its roots back to the late 1880s with Brookfield School District 95, and Riverside School District 96. In 1909, voters districts 95 and 96 approved the creation of a new school district for high school students.[5] Thus, District 208 a.k.a. Riverside Brookfield High School was born. In 1917, a new high school building was completed to help centralize students and ease overcrowding.[5] Despite the numerous extensions and renovations throughout the years, this building is still in use to this day. The 1917-18 school year also saw the introduction of the RBHS yearbook Rouser. In 1926, an expansion of the high school was completed giving the school more classrooms, an auditorium, a cafeteria, and a gymnasium.[5] 1930 saw the introduction the school's newspaper Clarion. The same year saw the adoption of the bulldog as the school's mascot. In 1938, another expansion took place to offset the growing student body.[5] More additions to offset growth were added in 1952 and 1961.[6] A massive expansion and modernization effort took place in 1969 and continued through the 1970s.[6] In 2009, a massive renovation effort was completed to help alleviate the building's age with repair and modernization. This project also saw the expansion of several departments.[7]
RBHS is home to multiple academic departments and hosts classes in applied & fine arts, English, math, science, social science, health & wellness, international languages, and special education services.[8] RBHS also offers various AP and honors level courses.[9]
Apart from athletics, there are plenty of clubs and activities for students at RBHS.[12] Students are able to join in on any clubs either to compete or just hang out.
Media
RBHS is home to two media operations. First, there is The Clarion. The Clarion is the official newspaper of RBHS. It serves as the loose successor to the shortly-lived Sentinel which operated from 1924 to 1926.[5] The Clarion began publication sometime around the school's inception and became official in 1930.[13][5] The Clarion is student-run and seeks to teach members about the performance and ethics of journalism.[13]
The second media operation at RBHS is RBTV. RBTV can trace its roots back to 1980 with students managed a makeshift television studio with second-hand equipment to produce projects and a student-run news program. RBTV became official in 1984.[1] In 1985, The Metrovision Cable Company donated cable broadcasting equipment to RBTV. This allowed RBTV to be broadcast on cable television throughout the Riverside-Brookfield area. It was considered pioneering at the time as one of the first high school tv stations. RBTV is still run on cable to this day via Comcast. RBTV is also available through U-Verse, Roku, and streamed online.[2]
Carrie Norwood (MacDonald) (1998) was the first female mascot performer for the University of Iowa, former radio DJ for 94.7 The Zone in Chicago, and a former professional mascot performer for the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago White Sox.[20][circular reference]
