Riverside Brookfield High School Explained

Riverside Brookfield High School
Established:	1909^[1]
Schooltype:	Co-ed
Principal:	Héctor Freytas
Head Name:	Second Master
Head Name2:	Assistant Headmaster
Ratio:	15.98
Teaching Staff:	104.60 (FTE)
Enrollment:	1,672 (2022–23)^[2]
Grades:	9–12
Streetaddress:	160 Ridgewood Rd
State:	Illinois 60546
District:	208
Yearbook:	Rouser
Newspaper:	Clarion
Website:	RBHS

Riverside Brookfield High School (RBHS) is a secondary school located directly between Riverside, Illinois, and Brookfield, Illinois, which educates grades 9-12. It serves the towns of Riverside, North Riverside, a small part of Broadview, and parts of LaGrange Park and Brookfield. 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.^[3]

Academics

Riverside Brookfield's class of 2012 had an average composite ACT score of 23.1, 2.3 points above the state average. 95% of the senior class has graduated over the past eight years. Riverside Brookfield ranks in the Top 8% of Illinois high schools in PSAE rankings, and the Top 7% of Illinois high schools in ACT ranking. The school was ranked by the Chicago Sun-Times in 2010 as the 40th best high school in Illinois, and 9th in Illinois (194th nationally) by Newsweek in 2011.

The school offers 22 honors-level courses and 24 Advanced Placement courses, including Music Theory, Art History, Computer Science, Language and Composition, Biology, Calculus AB and BC, Microeconomics, and US Government and Politics. Riverside Brookfield ranked 5th in Illinois (239th nationally) in the 2011 Washington Post Challenge Index.

Notable alumni

• Lee Phillip Bell was an American soap opera writer, American television talk show host, and Soap opera producer co-creating The Bold and the Beautiful, and The Young and the Restless with her husband^[4]
• Tom Baugh was an NFL center (1986—89), playing most of his career with the Kansas City Chiefs.^[5]
• Michael Colgrass (1949) is a composer who won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for Music and an Emmy Award in 1982 for a PBS documentary Soundings: The Music of Michael Colgrass.^[6]
• Bob Daily (1978) is an author, producer, and award-winning television writer. He received two awards from the Writers Guild of America for his work on the television series Frasier, and later he became a producer for the series Desperate Housewives.^{[7] [8]}
• Jack Dykinga (1961) is an author and photojournalist who won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography.^{[7] [9]}
• 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.^[10]
• Tom Kondla was a professional basketball center playing the 1968—69 season, mostly with the ABA Houston Mavericks.^{[7] [11]}
• Dana Rettke (2017) is former Wisconsin Badgers Volleyball player and National Champion and currently playing professionally in Italy for Monza.
• Owen Murphy (2022) is a baseball pitcher for the Atlanta Braves.

Notes and References

1. Book: Durkin Keating, Ann. Chicagoland: City and Suburbs in the Railroad Age. 151. University of Chicago Press. 2005. 9780226428826.
2. Web site: Riverside Brookfield Twp HS. National Center for Education Statistics. April 7, 2024.
3. Web site: January 12, 2023 . School Profile - About RBHS - Riverside Brookfield High School . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221126193034/https://www.rbhs208.net/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=248913&type=d&pREC_ID=572632 . November 26, 2022 . RBHS.
4. News: Feder: Lee Phillip Bell, 'First Lady of Chicago TV,' recalled as 'gracious and kind'. Robert. Feder. Daily Herald. Paddock Publications (Daily Herald Media Group). Arlington Heights, Illinois. February 27, 2020. February 29, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200229214149/https://www.dailyherald.com/article/20200227/entlife/200229158. February 29, 2020.
5. http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=BAUGHTOM01 Tom Baugh stats & bio; databasefootball.com; accessed 21 July 2009
6. Web site: 2000 Alumni Award Recipients . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120225165304/http://www.rbhs208.org/2000AAArecipients.htm . 25 February 2012 . 21 July 2009 . rbhs208.org.
7. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/preps/highschool/562316,CST-SPT-spot19.article Akouris, Tina; Riverside-Brookfield: A history of unforgettable games; 19 September 2007; Chicago Sun-Times; accessed 21 July 2009
8. Web site: 2004 Alumni Award Recipients . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120225165313/http://www.rbhs208.org/2004AAArecipients.htm . 25 February 2012 . 21 July 2009 . rbhs208.org.
9. Web site: 2001 Alumni Award Recipients . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120225165317/http://www.rbhs208.org/2001AAArecipients.htm . 25 February 2012 . 21 July 2009 . rbhs208.org.
10. Web site: Herky the Hawk .
11. https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kondlto01.html Tom Kondla stats & bio; basketball-reference.com; accessed 21 July 2009