Rio Americano High School, colloquially known as Rio, is a

public high school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

Arden-Arcade, California Arden-Arcade is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento County, California, United States. The population was 94,659 at the 2020 census, making it the second most populous census-designated place in California. It is east of the city of Sac ...

, just outside

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

, serving students in grades 9 through 12 as part of the

San Juan Unified School District San Juan Unified School District is a school district in northern Sacramento County, California. The district includes numerous elementary schools, eight K-8 schools, eight middle schools, and nine high schools. There are also a number of altern ...

. Rio Americano students come from the surrounding areas of Arden Park, Arden Oaks, Sierra Oaks, Fair Oaks, Carmichael, Gold River, and to a much lesser extent, the La Sierra community. In recent years, more students have been transferring from other districts and areas, partly due to the shift of

Sacramento High School Sacramento Charter High School ("Sac High") is an independent public charter high school in the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento, California. Originally founded in 1856, Sacramento High is the second oldest public high school in California. ...

to a

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

. Rio's two rival schools are Jesuit High School and

El Camino Fundamental High School El Camino Fundamental High School is a public high school in Arden-Arcade, California, near Sacramento. It is part of the San Juan Unified School District. Built in 1951 as El Camino High School, "Fundamental" was added to the name in the late ...

because of the schools' close proximity. As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,884 students. Cliff Kelly is the principal. Christopher Hauger, Jennifer Dalton and Gina Jackson are the vice principals.

Awards and recognition

During the 1994–96 and 2006–07 school years, Rio Americano High School was recognized with the

Blue Ribbon School The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

Award of Excellence by the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a cabinet-level department of the United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and ...

, the highest award an American school can receive. In 2008 ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' ranked Rio as number 595 on their list of the top 1,300 public schools in the United States. In 2013, Rio Americano held an

Academic Performance Index The Academic Performance Index (API) was a measurement of academic performance and progress of individual schools in California, United States. The API was one of the main components of the Public Schools Accountability Act passed by the California ...

(API) of 823. Rio Americano produces a handful of

National Merit The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships. The program is managed by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded not-for-profit ...

commended students and a few National Merit semifinalists each year. Rio students also perform well on

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere ...

(AP) exams, with over 400 AP exam scores of 3 or better and over 100 AP exam scores of 5 (the highest score possible) in 2009.

Demographics

Extracurricular activities

Science Bowl

Science Bowl The National Science Bowl (NSB) is a high school and middle school science knowledge competition, using a quiz bowl format, held in the United States. A buzzer system similar to those seen on popular television game shows is used to signal an an ...

is an academic competition sponsored by the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

that tests students in various categories of Science including

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Space Science Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

Earth Science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

Energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

, and

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

. Rio won the Sacramento Regional Competition in 1992 and competed in the national tournament in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

Notable alumni

* Barbi Benton (1968) - Former

Playboy Playmate A Playmate is a female Model (person), model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biograph ...

and girlfriend of

Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles. Hefner extended the ''Playboy ...

* John Bowker (2001) -

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

John Daversa John Daversa is an American jazz trumpeter, electronic valve instrument (EVI) player, vocalist, composer, arranger, conductor, bandleader, producer and educator who has won multiple Grammy awards. Early life Daversa is the son of Jay Daversa, ...

- jazz trumpet player and three-time

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

Award Winner in 2019. * Channing Dungey (1986) - American television executive and producer, First African-American to serve as president of ABC Entertainment Group. *

Merrin Dungey Merrin Melissa Dungey (born August 6, 1971) is an American film and television actress, known for her roles on the television series ''The King of Queens'', '' Alias'', ''Malcolm in the Middle'', '' Summerland'', ''Conviction'', '' The Resident'' ...

(1989) - actress *

Patty Fendick Patty Fendick (born March 31, 1965) is a former professional tennis player and the former women's tennis program head coach at University of Texas. Born in Sacramento, California, she played at the collegiate level at Stanford University, where ...

(1983) - professional tennis player * Mike Flanagan (1991) - former

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

and the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

Selected to the Pro Bowl. * John Ferris (1967) - Winner of two bronze medals in swimming for the U. S. team at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

."Obituary, Ferris, John", ''The Sacramento Bee'', Sacramento, California, 27 September 2020, pg. C9 *

Ted Gaines Edward Moore Gaines (born April 25, 1958) is an American politician and businessman serving as a member of the California Board of Equalization for the 1st district. He previously served as a California State Senator, representing the 1st Senate ...

- California State Senator, former state assemblyman *

Taylor Graham Taylor Graham (born June 3, 1980) is a former American soccer player. Career Youth and college Graham attended Rio Americano High School and played five years of college soccer at Stanford University, registering as a walk-on his freshman year ...

(1998) - professional soccer player. * Alex Heartman (2008) - Actor most notably as the Red Ranger in

Power Rangers Samurai ''Power Rangers Samurai'' is the eighteenth season of the children's television series ''Power Rangers'', which is based on the Japanese ''Super Sentai Series''. The season was the first to be produced by Saban Capital Group, SCG Power Rangers, a ...

* Jason Kamras (1991) - National Teacher of the Year, 2005 * Jonathan Karsh (1990) - independent film and television producer *

Goodwin Liu Goodwin Hon Liu (; born October 19, 1970) is an American jurist who has served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California since 2011. Before his appointment by Governor Jerry Brown, he was a professor of law and associate dean at t ...

(1987) -

Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the judiciary of California, courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly ...

Associate Justice and former

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

Law Professor *

Linsey Marr Linsey Chen Marr is an American scientist who is the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. Her research considers the interaction of nanomaterials and viruses with the atmosphere. During the COVID ...

(1992) - Environmental Engineering professor at Virginia Tech whose expertise on aerosols and virus transmission made her a frequently cited authority who appeared in major media news programs and columns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recipient of the

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 117 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.6 billion and ...

Fellows Program "Genius" Grant in 2023. * Trevor Matich (1979) - 12-year

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

lineman. *

Debbie Meyer Deborah Elizabeth Meyer (born August 14, 1952), also known by her married name Deborah Meyer Weber, is an American former competition swimmer, a 1968 three-time Olympic champion, and a former world record-holder in five freestyle events, 200,400 ...

(1970) - three-time

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

ist swimmer at the

. * Amobi Okugo (2009) - Major League Soccer player * Christine O'Moore (1997) - artist, musician, former Orthodox priest and

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

best known for her humanitarian work and

social activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

. She was formerly known as Christoforos Schuff. *

Doug Ose Douglas Arlo Ose ( ; born June 27, 1955) is an American businessman and politician who served as the U.S. representative for California's 3rd congressional district from 1999 to 2005. He is a member of the Republican Party. On March 16, 2021, Os ...

(1973) - Former Congressman who represented from 1998 to 2004. * Chad Overhauser (1993) - Played offensive line for the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans. * Susan Pedersen (1971) - four-time

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be in ...

ist at the

* Johnny Rabb (1990) - Professional Touring Drummer. Also plays in a duo named BioDiesel. Has been the drummer for Collective Soul since 2012. *

Charles M. Rice Charles Moen Rice (born August 25 , 1952) is an American virologist and Nobel Prize laureate whose main area of research is the hepatitis C virus. He is a professor of virology at the Rockefeller University and an adjunct professor at Cornell Un ...

(1970) - virologist, winner of

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

Christopher Rufo Christopher Ferguson Rufo (born August 26, 1984) is an American conservative activist, New College of Florida board member, and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. He is an opponent of critical race theory. He is a for ...

(2002) - Conservative activist and opponent of

critical race theory Critical race theory (CRT) is an academic field focused on the relationships between Social constructionism, social conceptions of Race and ethnicity in the United States census, race and ethnicity, Law in the United States, social and political ...

Jane Sibbett Jane Moore Sibbett (born November 28, 1962) is an American actress, producer, writer, and director. Her most notable roles include Heddy Newman on the Fox television series '' Herman's Head'' and Carol Willick on the television series ''Friends'' ...

(1980) - actress best known for playing

Carol Willick Various characters appeared in the sitcom ''Friends'' and its spin-off series ''Joey'', which respectively aired for ten seasons and two seasons on NBC from 1994 to 2006. ''Friends'' featured six main cast members: Rachel Green (Jennifer Anist ...

on ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

'' *

David Sirlin David Sirlin is an American game designer and fighting game player. He featured in and narrated much of ''Bang the Machine'', a 2002 documentary by Tamara Katepoo about a Street Fighter "exhibition tournament in Japan showing the difference betw ...

- video game designer,

fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...

s player, and writer * Mark Suster - Venture Capitalist... *

Adrian Tomine Adrian Tomine (; born May 31, 1974) is an American cartoonist. He is best known for his ongoing comic book series ''Optic Nerve'' and his illustrations in ''The New Yorker''. Early life Adrian Tomine was born May 31, 1974, in Sacramento, Califo ...

(1992)- Cartoonist * Drake U'u (2008)- Professional basketball player * W. Craig Vanderwagen, MD (1967) Former Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, US Department of Health and Human Services *

Sasha Victorine Sasha Caleb Victorine (born February 3, 1978) is an American former soccer player. He spent his entire professional career in Major League Soccer in the United States, making over 100 appearances for both Los Angeles Galaxy and Kansas City Wizar ...

(1996) -

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conf ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

Major League Soccer
* James Leighman Williams (2003) - Olympic Silver Medalist - Fencing

References

External links

Official website

Rio Americano Band Website

The Mirada
(Rio Americano's newspaper) {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1963 High schools in Sacramento, California Public high schools in California 1963 establishments in California High schools in Sacramento County, California