River Dell Regional High School

Awards, recognition and rankings

During the 1997–98 school year, River Dell High School was recognized with the National Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive.

The school was the 31st-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 104th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 27th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 37th in 2008 out of 316 schools. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 113th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 16 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (87.5%) and language arts literacy (94.40%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 63rd in New Jersey and 1,866th nationwide.

In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 819th in the nation among participating public high schools and 60th among schools in New Jersey.

Curriculum

River Dell High School offers students a wide variety of college preparation, honors, and Advanced Placement courses. River Dell offers a Junior MBA program in which students are eligible to earn a scholarship after taking five business-related courses and completing a project if they intend to major in business in college.

River Dell requires every student to take three years of mathematics, two years of foreign language (French, Spanish, Italian, or Mandarin Chinese), four years of English, three years of science and three years of history. Concurrently, as requirement by the state of New Jersey, students must fulfill 5 credits in business, technology, and life skills related classes. The school offers 13 Advanced Placement courses, ranging from Chemistry, to Art Portfolio, a senior internship and mentor ship where students are allowed to get a hands on feel for various professions, and various Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) offering a student a chance to earn college credits.

River Dell is based on a day with six 56-minute periods on a four-day rotating bell schedule. Each student is given their own laptop to use for classwork both for school and home use. The school has a large number of electives and courses.

Facilities and programs

Construction was completed as the result of a 2003 referendum that allowed a $28.9 million school renovation project. Many of the facilities in the school were inaccessible during the construction. Following the completion of the construction in the spring of 2007, the school had a new wing, which included six science and eight general classrooms, two music rooms, and two gymnasiums. Enhancements to the library, art rooms, technology and computer labs, and athletic fields were also included.

Starting with the class of 2009, each freshman has received a hybrid tablet PC–notebook computer for use during their four years of high school. In June before the 2008–09 school year, the Board of Education voted to buy 1,100 HP laptops so that every student in all four classes could use a new laptop. These replaced the former Tablet PCs that were given out with a traditional laptop computer.

Athletics

The River Dell Regional High School Golden Hawks compete in the Big North Conference, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 786 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015–16 school year as North I, Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 786 to 1,074 students in that grade range. The school had previously competed in the Bergen County Scholastic League (BCSL) American Conference, made up of schools located in Bergen County and Hudson County. The school colors are black and gold.

The school is the host school / lead agency for joint ice hockey and boys' / girls' swimming programs with Westwood Regional High School, under an agreement that expires at the end of the 2016-17 school year.

The school won the NJSIAA's 2015-16 Group III ShopRite Cup, having won first place finishes in girls volleyball, both boys and girls winter track, and boys spring track and field, a second place finish in football, third place in boys cross country, fourth in girls cross country, and having no disqualifications in the fall or spring seasons.

The football team won the North I Group II state sectional championships in 1985, 1987 and 2007. River Dell's 2007 football team went undefeated, compiling a final record of 12-0, with a defense that allowed 28 points all season long. On December 1, 2007, the team won the North I, Group II state sectional championship with a 12-7 win over Pascack Valley High School, in a game played at Giants Stadium. The win was the team's first section title since 1987. The River Dell football team went undefeated in the BCSL American Division losing in the state sectional semi-finals to Jefferson Township High School. River Dell's 2009 football team played Ramsey High School for the North I, Group II state sectional championships at Giants Stadium, losing by a score of 36-10. After three consecutive losses in section finals, the football team won the North I, Group III state sectional title in 2016 with a 26-20 overtime win in the tournament final against Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan.

The wrestling team won the North I Group III state sectional championship in 1985 and the North I Group II title in 2008.

The field hockey team won the North I Group III state sectional title in 1995.

The girls' soccer team finished the season with a record of 21-2-1, winning the BCSL championship, the 2006 North I, Group II state sectional title and defeated Haddonfield High School by a score of 1-0 to win the Group II state championship in the team's first ever finals.

The girls' basketball team won the 2007 North I, Group II state sectional championship, edging Pascack Hills High School 38-36 in the tournament final.

The varsity wrestling team won the 2009 BCSL American Division championship. River Dell's boys soccer team won the BCSL American and state sectional championships.

The school has had a distinguished cross country program, led for many years by coach Bill Keith. The girls team has won two Bergen County Group Championships (1983-Group III, 1985-Group II) and two league titles (1984-NBIL, 2000-BCSL American). The boys team won the Bergen 2 title in 1987 and captured the Bergen Group III Championship in 1999, 2000, and 2002, with the school's lone state sectional title coming in 1999. The team also dominated the BCSL American Division in the 2000s, with titles in '00, '02, '03, and '05. The boys team had 17 consecutive dual meet wins in the 1999 and 2000 seasons, and in 2000 recorded the lowest score in the league championship meet (30) in 35 years.

The school instituted a random drug testing program for all students participating in any and all extra curricular activities and/or sports. River Dell was one of three schools in New Jersey that received a grant of $43,100 in 2008 from the Office of National Drug Control Policy towards the cost of operating the program, which detected two students with drugs in their system and another student who had been using alcohol among the 77 students test in the 2007–08 school year.

Clubs

River Dell offers 47 extracurricular clubs ranging from Dance to Marching Band to Media Club to Debate. Its Chemistry Olympics A and B teams placed 11th and 9th in 2009.

River Dell is noted for its yearly play and musical. River Dell has put on its own rendition of the Greek Mythology Olympiaganza and the musical Willy Wonka. In previous years, River Dell has put on performances of Grease, The Wiz, Beauty and the Beast, High School Musical, Into the Woods and Guys and Dolls. Students are placed based on auditions.

River Dell select choir, under the direction of Lisa Smith, has been frequently adjudicated and has won numerous awards, including gold awards at the New York Choral Festival in 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2010. Three of those festivals were located in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and the other was in Carnegie Hall. Every year, the choir features members who participate in Bergen County, all-region, all state, and all-Eastern chorus.

River Dell's marching band show was Fusion: The Music of Cirque du Soleil. In past years, the band has performed the music of Steely Dan, Sound's of Santana, James Brown, the Who, and the Nightmare Before Christmas. The band has earned two first-place finishes, while capturing several caption awards including three best percussion awards. The band plays in various parades and festivals throughout the country.

On January 31, 2009, River Dell's Academic Decathlon team took 3rd in New Jersey's region II, advancing to New Jersey's State Academic Decathlon, a feat which has not been achieved since the 2001–02 school year. They repeated this feat again in 2010.

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are:

Notable alumni