Little Richies' Portfolio

http://richardson79.edublogs.org/tragedy-and-the-human-spirit/

After reading all of the replies posted I have came to realize one thing, most of the people talking about rancho have no idea what they are talking about. I’m a senior at Rancho Cotate and couldn’t be happier anywhere else. It’s a great school sure it has some problems but nothing like people are saying on here. Yes they are kids that think they are part of a ‘gang’ but they don’t do anything except stand next to their friend and act cool. Yes they are students who smoke but what high school doesn’t have stoners. Rancho also takes care of drug problems when they catch someone where as I know of a few football playing students at Newmen who were caught of Thizz pills at homecoming but the principle felt it wasn’t a school issue and he didn’t do anything at all or even making them leave. There isn’t a weapon problem, and as for the lock down it was later revealed that it was a fake call trying to get all the cops focused on campus so that a robbery elsewhere could be pulled off, which didn’t end up happing.

My favorite part about Rancho is the teachers because almost everyone here is here because they like it. The teacher student relationship is amazing, before school, break, lunch, afterschool, You can always walk into a teachers class and just talk. The teachers here are always very supportive of students, inside and outside the classroom. I often would ask teachers if they went to football game some did and some didn’t but I always asked a few of my teachers that didn’t normally attend games if they would come out and watch, and everyone I asked did.

The worst rumor about our school would be the one about poor academics which people base of the STAR test scores. The reason for Rancho having low STAR testing scores is the fact the no one want to put in the time and effort since they get nothing out of it. A lot of us do the same thing get the answer sheet and see what pictures we can draw with the bubbles.

The parents on here talking about grades and how the students are having trouble I think your placing blame in the wrong places. I never was a 4.0 student and most the time not even a 3.0 student. Freshmen and sophomore year I had a C average because I didn’t try to hard. By Jr. year I realized I was only cheating myself and decided to try and have fun with it. I quickly brought my gpa up and now am almost a straight A student. My point being is don’t blame the school for you not pushing your kids. Every teacher is willing to spend extra time to help a struggling student.

All I’m trying to say is Rancho is a good school as long as you do put effort in to it. It just your average high school with your normal problems it might not be the top school but it is by far far from the bottom of that list. If you send your kids here you will be glad you did.

Last Wednesday the Santa Rosa High school football coach, Tony Keefer retired after only a year. Last season he stepped in to a struggling program and pulled out a 2-8 season. Keefer said he chose to resign because he felt he couldn’t spend the time that is necessary to be a successful coach.

“It was very tough to step away from the program,” Keefer said. “But I don’t feel like I have the hours you need to put in as a high school coach. At least not to do what it takes and make it work the way I want to.”

He went on to say,

“The administration was nothing but supportive, they went above and beyond to help me in whatever way possible.”

Santa Rosa High has struggle with the eight coaching changes it had made since 1994. Santa Rosa athletic director Gary Dellepere said he hopes to hire a new coach by early March.

One of the people interested in applying for this job happens to be a Les Richardson, my dad. He has a long time football coach with a coach career that began in 1980 his first year out of high school. He coached at Tomalas for a few years before going to Santa Rosa High in the late 80’s. After a couple year at SR he took some time off coaching before starting again at Rancho Cotate in 2000. He has been coaching at Rancho as the line coach and Defensive Coordinator since and now he looks to go back to Santa Rosa for the head coaching position. If Les, my dad gets the job at SR my hopes of becoming a football coach would be filled since I would be one of his assistant coaches and be the only father/son coaching duo in the empire.

The stresses of high school

Your average high school undergoes a lot of stress that many people don’t realize. This shows the many different stress that can be over came by having a friend (or a football team) to lean on. The photo is of the football team working together and helping each other out to keep going even when some are stressed out. The football picture is used since sports can be very stressful even more so when you mix school in there which is represented by the Rancho Cotate sign. The carton parents are showing how some people get stressed out by the pressure that is put on them. A dollar bill is stressful due to the students who struggle to earn money and have money to spend. The graduation picture shows the stress of doing good in school to get in to somewhere bigger and better. Peer pressure is a big part of what you end up doing in high school the pot leaf and the friends are used to represent being pushed it doing something you might not choose or want to do such as smoking or ditching school. The last part of this picture is of me and a friend just trying to fit in the picture. This shows how times its hard just to fit in and be like everyone. These are just some of the stresses but they are the main ones that most students strugle with at some point.