Rochelle Township High School

Rochelle Township High School, commonly referred to as RTHS, is a secondary school located in Rochelle, Illinois. Originally built in 1918, with nearly a dozen additions built on over the next 80 years, the entire edifice was razed in 2006 upon the completion of a new building, located about a mile north of the old one.

RTHS is the only school operated by Rochelle Township High School District 212 (this leads to a somewhat unusual situation whereby the school has both a principal and district superintendent with general authority over one school). The district includes portions of Ogle, Lee, and DeKalb counties. Approximately one-half of the students come from Rochelle Community Consolidated District 231, which includes the middle school and elementary schools from Rochelle proper. The remaining student population comes from a variety of other elementary school districts in the area.

Oddly, despite its name, the school is located in "Flagg" Township; there is no township named "Rochelle" within Ogle County.

Sports

Football

Rochelle has historically been a football powerhouse. For over forty years, Rochelle's teams (known as the Rochelle Hubs) competed in the North Central Illinois Conference. Over the course of the 1977 season, Rochelle became the first team in conference history to shut out "the entire conference".

In 2006, after winning nine consecutive conference championships, Rochelle left the NCIC and became one of the founding schools of the Western Sun Conference. The hope was that the Hubs would receive more recognition playing in a more competitive conference. The first year in the WSC indeed yielded a more competitive season; the Hubs finished only one game over .500 and in fourth place in the conference, losing by three to 5a semifinalists Kaneland and by seven to 6a state runner ups Batavia.

Other sports

Other sports at RTHS have not been as strong traditionally as football. However, the school has experienced some recent success in boys basketball and track. Recently, golf, bowling and women's tennis have had athletes rise to the state level in competition.

Alumni

Probably the most famous graduate of RTHS is Joan Allen, Academy Award-nominated actress and member of the class of 1974. Wheelchair racer Scot Hollonbeck also graduated from the school.

Administration

The current principal is Mr. Travis McGuire; the district superintendent is Mr. Richard Craven.

External links

* [http://www.rths.rochelle.net/index.shtml Official school website]