Ridge View High School (commonly abbreviated as RVHS) is a comprehensive public

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in Columbia,

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. It currently holds approximately 1700 students. It is one of five high schools in

Richland County School District Two Richland County School District Two (commonly referred to as Richland Two) is a nationally recognized school district located in suburban Columbia, South Carolina, United States, in the northeast section of Richland County. It is one of the fas ...

along Spring Valley High School,

Blythewood High School Blythewood is a town in Richland and Fairfield counties, South Carolina, United States; and a suburb of Columbia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of the town was 4,772. History Blythewood was originally named "Doko", ...

, Westwood High School, and

Richland Northeast High School Richland Northeast High School is a public high school in Columbia, South Carolina. Richland Northeast, often abbreviated as RNE, RNH, or RNHS, was founded in 1978 to handle the excessive population of students at Spring Valley High School. ...

. The principal for the 2022-2023 school year is Brenda Mack-Foxworth. As of 2013, the size of the facility is 238,755 square feet, and the school is built on a 60-acre campus.

Demographics

Ridge View High School has an 85% minority enrollment percentage. The school's ethnicity/racial category percentages are: African-American 79%, Caucasian 10%, Hispanic 6%, Asian 2%, Two or More Races 4%, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0.3%, and American Indian/Alaskan Native 0%.

Academics

Ridge View has an average

GPA Grading in education is the application of standardized measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentages, or as num ...

of 3.2. Beginning in 2022, Ridge View became one of approximately 60 schools in the United States, and the only school in South Carolina, to pilot the

AP African American Studies Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies (also known as APAAS, APAFAM, AP African, or AP Afro) is a college-level course and examination offered to high school students in the United States through the College Board's Advanced Placement ...

course.

Marching band

The Ridge View

Marching Band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who play while marching. Historically they were used in armed forces and many marching bands remain military bands. Others are still associated with military units or emulate a military sty ...

was featured in the 2013

6abc Dunkin' Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade The 6abc Dunkin' Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual Thanksgiving Day parade held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is currently sponsored and broadcast by ABC owned-and-operated television station WPVI-TV, through a co-sponsorship agreement w ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The band has also placed 2nd at the 4A State Championships in 2014 and 2016.

Athletics

The Blazer Boys Soccer Team won consecutive Lower State Championships in 2000 and 2001. The 2001 Boys Soccer Team climbed to number 1 in the nation during the season and finished the 2001 season ranked in the top 10 Nationally. The Blazer Boys

Track and Field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

Team won three consecutive state championships in 2004, 2005, and 2006. During those victories, they set state records in the 4x800 relay and the record for most points ever scored in the state meet. The Blazer Boys

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team won the 2017–2018 4A State Championship. The Blazer Boys Basketball team repeated as State Champions in 2018–2019, 2019-2020 and won a fourth state championship in 2021-2022, and in 2023-2024 they won a fifth state championship. The Ridge View Girls Track team claimed the 2018 AAAA State Championship. The Blazers

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team is a consistent playoff contender. The 1998 team reached the 4A Div 2 State Championship, losing to Marlboro County. The 2007 team advanced to the semifinal round of the state playoffs, losing to the eventual state champion Clover. The Blazer Football team has advanced to the third round of the playoffs two out of the last three seasons. In 2022, the football team was forced to forfeit all games on charges of recruiting. The Blazer Boys

Cross Country Running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

team finished 2nd in the state in 2001, 2004, 2009, and 2010. The team won the Region Championship in 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. The Blazer Girls Cross Country Running team won the Region Championship in 2011 and 2012. Ridge View established their boys

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

team in the fall of 2003 and in their first season as a varsity team posted a record of 17–2 in the regular season before falling in the state semifinals to Greenville in an 8–7 overtime defeat.

In popular culture

In February 2023, Ridge View High was featured on the television show America in Black. The segment focuses on the implementation of the new

course launched by

College Board The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an asso ...

in 2022. The spotlight includes interviews from the course teacher, Daniel Soderstrom, and a junior student, in addition to excerpts from the class lesson on

The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the ti ...

. The episode gained 1.5 million views on its first airing and 2.7 million more in online streaming views.

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

also interviewed Soderstrom and students at the school. Ridge View was the first high school in South Carolina to offer the new AP African American Studies course. Several students advocated for the course with the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

and the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

when the South Carolina Department of Education stated that the course could only be taught at the honors level rather than the advanced-placement level.

Notable alumni

* Jarrell Brantley, basketball player, formerly played for

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

* Brian Quick, former professional football player for

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

Dennis Daley Dennis Daley (born August 7, 1996) is an American professional football offensive tackle for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks and was selected in the si ...

, professional football player

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

* Chazwick Bundick, musician, Toro y Moi (born in 1986, graduated from USC) *

G. G. Jackson Gregory "GG" Jackson II (born December 17, 2004) is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Early life and ...

, professional basketball player * Darell Scott, former professional football player *

Jonny Weston Jonny Weston (born June 16, 1988) is an American actor. He starred as real-life surfer Jay Moriarity in the 2012 film ''Chasing Mavericks'' and as brainy high school student David Raskin in the 2015 time-travel adventure ''Project Almanac''. He ...

, actor * Jasmine Sanders, model

References

{{authority control Public high schools in South Carolina Educational institutions established in 1995 Schools in Columbia, South Carolina Magnet schools in South Carolina 1995 establishments in South Carolina