Ruston High School

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{more citations needed|date=March 2021}}

{{Infobox school

| name = Ruston High School

| image = Front view of Ruston, LA, High School IMG 3837.JPG

| image_size = 225px

| caption = Front entrance to Ruston High School in 2010.

| established = 1921 building built 1939

| school_board = Lincoln Parish School Board

| type = 4-year, Public high school

| director = Athletic Director, Jerrod Baugh

| principal = Daniel Gressett

| staff = 99.97 (FTE)

| years_taught = 9-12

| ratio = 12.77

| enrollment = 1,310 (2024–2025){{cite web|url=https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&Miles=10&Zip=71270&ID=220099000752|title=Ruston High School|publisher=National Center for Education Statistics|access-date=December 17, 2024}}

| classes_offered = Traditional, Project Based Learning

| hours_in_day = 8

| classrooms = 350-450

| campus = Ruston High School

| campus_size = Small

| fight_song = On, On You Bearcats!

| athletics = Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Powerlifting, Soccer, Softball, Swimming, Tennis, Track & Field, Volleyball

| conference = LHSAA District 2-5A

| rivals = Neville High School
West Monroe High School
Ouachita Parish High School

| publication = Chatterbox Newspaper,Bearcat Nation Network, Radio

| yearbook = The Resume

| mascot = Bearcats

| nickname = Bearcats

| colors = Red, white and grey {{color box|Red}} {{color box|White}} {{color box|Grey}}

| motto = Firmly Founded

| address = 900 Bearcat Drive

| city = Ruston, Louisiana 71270

| state = Louisiana

| country = United States

| other_name = RHS

| website = [http://rustonhigh.lincolnschools.org RustonHigh.LincolnSchools.org]

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Ruston High School

| embed = yes

| nrhp_type =

| image =

| caption =

| location = 900 Bearcat Drive, Ruston, Louisiana

| coordinates = {{coord|32.5348|-92.65022|format=dms|display=inline,title,source:ProprioMeOW}}

| locmapin = Louisiana#USA

| built = 1939

| architect = J.W. Smith & Associates

| builder = Caldwell Brothers & Hart

| architecture = Art Deco

| added = October 8, 1992

| area = {{convert|7|acre|ha}}

| refnum = 92001335{{NRISref|version = 2013a}}

}}

}}

File:Ruston High School main steps 1969.jpg

File:Ruston High School Main steps 1962.jpg

File:Ruston High School Postcard c.1962.jpg]]

Ruston High School is a four-year public high school located in the Lincoln Parish School District of Ruston, Louisiana, United States. Founded in 1921 and the current High School built in 1939 located near Louisiana Tech Campus.

Founded in 1921, Ruston High has been a cornerstone for the community in many ways having notable alumni graduate from its towering walls. The current building the School is in was built in 1939 and funded by the PWA after the old high school was deemed too small for the growing number of students.

Background

The {{convert|7|acre|ha}} campus of Ruston High School consists of two buildings, which were added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 8, 1992.{{cite web|url=https://www.crt.state.la.us/dataprojects/hp/nhl/attachments/Parish31/Scans/31013001.pdf|title=Ruston High School|publisher=State of Louisiana's Division of Historic Preservation |access-date=August 9, 2018}} with [https://www.crt.state.la.us/dataprojects/hp/nhl/view.asp?ID=422 four photos and two maps]{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=92001335}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Ruston High School|publisher=National Park Service|author=National Register Staff|date=June 1992|access-date=August 9, 2018}} With {{NRHP url|id=92001335|photos=y|title=14 photos from 1992}}.

The mascot is the Bearcat, with the school colors being red, white, and gray.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} Black students were first admitted in 1970.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} Ruston High School also serves as a memorial to the survivors of the Gulf War.{{Cite web |url=http://www.rustonhighalumni.org/schoolhistory.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130092347/http://rustonhighalumni.org/schoolhistory.html|archive-date=30 January 2023 |title=Ruston High School Alumni Association }}"[http://www.rustonhighalumni.org/schoolhistory.html History of Ruston High School]." Ruston High School Alumni.

Ideals

At Ruston High School the main goal is to equip, prepare, and determine students to flourish and be and individual. The mission statement is: Rigor, Relevance, Relationships. In conjunction with Louisiana Tech University, Ruston High offers many dual enrollment college credit classes and courses. By doing so we ensure that students are aware of the modern world and how to problem solve in their own right, communicate, and make viable career decisions.

Academics

Ruston High School offers a wide variety of intricate and important classes and courses. Ruston High has an Ag department, Radio Station, Media classes, Math department, Yearbook Staff, Photography, Talented Art Program, Health Department, Science Department, Social Studies and Civics Department, Foreign Languages Department, English Department, and many more electives and courses. File:Ruston High School 1963.jpg

Alma Mater

Firmly Founded, Alma Mater

Mother True is she,

Here beneath her towering columns, pledge we loyalty

Ruston High, Oh, Ruston High,

We will e'er be true

Sing her praises,

Speed them Onward, to the World Proclaim

We will always love and cherish

Ruston High Schools Name!

-RHS student body 1952-

Athletics

Ruston High athletics competes in the LHSAA. The Bearcats compete in the highest classification in Louisiana (5A) and participates in District 2-5A.

The RHS Bearcats play in the [https://stadiumconnection.com/stadium.php?id=3075 Hoss Garrett Stadium], across Bearcat Drive from Ruston High School.

=Championships=

Football championships

  • (1) National Championship: 1990{{Cite news |last=Boatright |first=T. Scott |date=2021-09-16 |title=Undefeated 1990 Bearcats to be honored during RHS Homecoming festivities |url=https://lincolnparishjournal.com/2021/09/16/undefeated-1990-bearcats-to-be-honored-during-rhs-homecoming-festivities/ |access-date=2025-01-16 |work=Lincoln Parish Journal |language=en-US}}
  • (9) State Championships: 1925, 1941, 1947, 1951, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990, 2023{{Cite news |last1=Dietrich |first1=Aaron |last2=Murray |first2=Megan |last3=Fairbairn |first3=Brendon |date=2023-12-10 |title=Ruston wins first state championship since 1990 |url=https://www.knoe.com/2023/12/10/ruston-wins-first-state-championship-since-1990/ |access-date=2025-01-16 |work=KNOE |language=en}}
  • (5) State Runner-Up: 1944, 1984, 1998, 2022, 2024

Coaches

  • Jimmy Childress - LHSAA Hall of Fame Head Coach, Jimmy Childress (1932-2015), was head coach at Ruston High School for eleven seasons (1979 to 1990).{{cite web|url=https://www.nola.com/sports/high_schools/article_6fa3d2c2-73da-55dd-8967-7b7493c75b73.html|title=Former Ruston High football coach Jimmy 'Chick' Childress dies|newspaper=nola.com|date=August 4, 2015|accessdate=October 3, 2022}} He led his alma mater to a 131–27 (.829) record and four state championships in 1982, 1986, 1988, and 1990. His 1990 team also won a national championship. As a player, he was on the 1947 state championship football team. He was an assistant football coach at Neville High School in Monroe from 1958 to 1972 helping the school to win four state championships and was later head coach at Carroll High School in Monroe in 1973 and at the private Cedar Creek School in Ruston from 1976 to 1978. He also coached at the college level at Northeastern Louisiana University from 1974 to 1976. In 2001, he was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

:Childress played football and received his undergraduate degree at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, then known as Northeast Louisiana State College, and obtained his graduate degree at Louisiana Tech University.{{cite news|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thenewsstar/obituary.aspx?n=jimmy-childress-chick&pid=175279886&fhid=6320#sthash.YDSYU16a.dpuf|title=Jimmy "chick" Childress|newspaper=The Monroe News-Star|accessdate=July 14, 2015}}

Radio

  • Ruston High School is one of only two high schools in the state of Louisiana that offers a radio program that allows students to go live on air and broadcast to the Ruston area. It teaches students to be self sufficient and think for themselves to faithfully execute their job everyday in the studio.

Notable alumni

{{alumni|date=December 2020}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}