Rockmart High School (RHS) also known as the Fighting Yellow Jackets is the only

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 Rockmart,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, United States. It is fed by Rockmart Middle School and by the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

community. As of the 2019–20 school year, the school had an enrollment of 961 students and a faculty of 44.80 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 21.45.

History

In 1912, the

Georgia Legislature The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...

created the state's public school system. That year, the city of Rockmart began the Rockmart School System in the building vacated by the Piedmont Institution (established in 1889 by the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

North Georgia Annual Conference). It had closed after a 23-year existence in 1912 after it was purchased by the Rockmart School Board of trustees. Rockmart High School was in the building for three years, until the building burned down in 1915. The building was later rebuilt, but the building burned down again in 1940. The current lot is now the Rockmart Governmental Complex. Prior to the Polk County School System of Georgia, RHS had its own city school system and

Cedartown High School Cedartown High School (also known as the Cedartown Bulldogs or CHS) is the only high school in Cedartown, Georgia, Cedartown, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. As of the 2011-2012 school year, it had an enrollment of 1,081 students and ...

also had its own city school system in Cedartown.

Racial integration

Before the

racial integration Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of Race (classification of human beings), race, and t ...

of the Polk County School System, two high schools existed in Rockmart - RHS and Elm Street High School, which served the

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

community of Rockmart. The integration of the school system began in 1966, when some African American students began attending Rockmart High School. Total integration was achieved in 1967, with the closing of Elm Street High School.

Demographics

According to a NCES 2021-22 school year

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, the racial makeup of the school was 690

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 168

, 3 Asian, 58 of two or more races, and 33

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino. Of those students 492 were

male Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...

and 464

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

Extracurricular activities

Clubs

Rockmart High School has 18

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

Athletics

Rockmart High School competes in Region 6 of the AAA Class. It sponsors 38 athletic teams on campus, with both boys and girls participating in varsity, junior varsity, and 9th grade competitions. RHS athletics are sponsored by many local businesses. Rockmart's first football team was established in 1923. The team of 1950 beat

Valdosta High School Valdosta High School is a public high school located in Valdosta, Georgia, United States. It is a part of the Valdosta City School District. The boundary of the school district (for which this is the sole comprehensive high school) is that of t ...

for the state title and went on to beat

Holyoke High School Holyoke High School is a public high school in Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States. Overview Holyoke High School is located in Holyoke just off of Interstate 391. Currently, there are approximately 1,300 students enrolled in the school in bot ...

in the Peanut Bowl, giving them bragging rights as

National Champions National champions are corporations which are technically private businesses but due to governmental policy are ceded a dominant position in a national economy. In this system, these large organizations are expected not only to seek profit but als ...

Drama

Every spring the advanced acting class performs at a GHSA

one-act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

competition. When the new Rockmart High School was constructed, performance space was not included. Instead, the Rockmart Thespians use the Rockmart Art Center Theatre for their productions. The department has produced many theatrical feats such as ''

Seussical ''Seussical'', sometimes ''Seussical the Musical'', is a musical comedy with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty, and written by Ahrens and Flaherty. The musical is inspired by many of the children's stories of Dr. Seuss, with most ...

'', '' Grease'' ''

Hairspray Hairspray may refer to: * Hair spray, a personal grooming product that keeps hair protected from humidity and wind * Hairspray (1988 film), ''Hairspray'' (1988 film), a film by John Waters ** Hairspray (1988 soundtrack), ''Hairspray'' (1988 soundt ...

''. In October 2008, the Rockmart High School Thespians placed first at the Region AA One Act Competition with their performance of ''

Godspell ''Godspell'' is a musical in two acts with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set t ...

''. The RHS Thespians then took the show to the State AA One Act Competition and placed third out of four schools. In 2013, Rockmart Thespians placed first in the State AAA One Act Competition with a production of the thriller '' When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?''.

Notable alumni

* Nathan Dean, Georgia State Senator from the 31st District * Ty Floyd, baseball player in the

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

organization *

Danny Ware Danny Franklin "DJ" Ware, Jr. (born February 18, 1985) is an American former professional football running back. He was signed by the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football at Georgia. Ware earned two Sup ...

, former

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

References

External links

*
The Georgia Department of Education's Website for Rockmart High SchoolRockmart High School Alumni
Public high schools in Georgia (U.S. state) Schools in Polk County, Georgia Educational institutions established in 1912 1912 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) {{GeorgiaUS-school-stub