Rio Mesa High School

Rio Mesa High School is located in Oxnard, California and is within the Oxnard Union High School District. It serves the Oxnard communities of River Park, Nyeland Acres, El Rio, as well as the western portion of the city of Camarillo. Its name comes from the two original feeder middle schools, Rio De Valle and Mesa Union, though it now takes students from a number of different middle schools. The school is surrounded by Oxnard Plain strawberry fields, and is noted for its picturesque setting. Its school mascot is the Spartan and the school colors are red and black.

Rio Mesa Dance Company

The Dance Company puts on two performances each year: one winter show and one spring show. The winter show is generally a children's theater type of show whereas the spring show is a collaboration of several different styles of dance including jazz, hip-hop, ballet, and tap. Some past winter shows include the Dance Company's own renditions of Beauty and the Beast, Annie, The Wizard of Oz, Newsies, the Lion King, and this year's current theme Under the Sea: A Fish Tale. Some of the spring shows have been entitled "Express Yourself", "Full Out", "Lights, Camera, Action: Movie Madness", "Remember When: a Decade of Dance", "Heat Up the Dance Floor", and this springs theme "Wild".

Geography Challenge, aka the Geo Bowl

This competition is held each December at Oxnard College. Questions focus on the relationship between geography and current events. In 2004, Rio Mesa won the team competition for the first time and earned a helicopter ride from Aspen Helicopters. New team member Bryce Newman won the individual championship. In 2005, Newman defended his individual championship and the team placed third. In 2006, the Rio Mesa team missed some key tie-breaking questions and finished sixth. Bryce Newman finished second in the individual competition, one point behind a student from Buena HS. Kim Ma is the team advisor.

Rio Mesa Knowledge Bowl

Rio Mesa participates in the Knowledge Bowl event that occurs every spring. Sponsored by the local AAUW chapter and spearheaded by Betty Rutherford, Knowledge Bowl began about 1970. [By comparison, the U.S. Academic Decathlon was founded in 1981.] Knowledge Bowl is a competition similar to Jeopardy where four players on two teams ring buzzers to answer questions for their team. There are two types of questions. Toss-up questions are worth ten points and there are 40 toss up questions in a game. If a team rings in before a toss-up question has been fully read, and answers incorrectly, there is a five point penalty. If the toss-up question is answered correctly, then a bonus question is given to that team. A bonus question can be worth anywhere from 20-30 points. The team with more points wins the game. The team adviser was Scott Lee for several years, but recently, the task of adviser has passed to Chris Moody. Nathan Giusti was the captain of the team from 2003-2005. In 2003, the team placed 3rd. In 2004, the team placed 2nd behind Buena High School. Although Rio Mesa beat Buena High School in the original round, Rio Mesa lost to Buena in a tie-breaking round by 10 points (one toss-up question). In 2005, Rio Mesa placed 2nd. In 2006, a lot of transitions were made. Moody became the new adviser for the Knowledge Bowl team and most of the people from the previous year had graduated. Meghan Moore took over the job as captain of the Knowledge Bowl team. The team placed 4th that year.

World Quest

The local World Quest competition, held each February, is sponsored by the World Affairs Council, California Central Coast. There are ten rounds with ten questions each. The rounds vary annually, comprising a variety of subjects, but generally the competition tests students' knowledge of what is happening in the world. The first local competition was held in 2005. Rio Mesa finished second by one question to Buena HS, losing an appeal of a disputed answer. In 2006, Rio Mesa finished first by four questions, defeating second-place Buena and winning the trip to Washington, D.C. to the national competition. The advisor was Chris Moody. Team members were Eli Jacobson, Bryce Newman and Max Schuberth. Daniel Samimi was the fourth member at the local competition, but was not able to attend the national competition; he was replaced by William Moyer. In 2007, Rio Mesa successfully defended its local championship against 13 other teams. This time Rio Mesa and Buena tied with 75 correct. Rio Mesa then correctly answered four of five tie-breaking questions about Africa, defeating Buena by one point. The team will compete in Washington, D.C. March 24, 2007. The team comprises Pat Browne, Eli Jacobson, Bryce Newman and Daniel Samimi, [team members, and Chris Moody, advisor.]

Notable alumni

• Michael Lee: Producer and keyboardist for Meredith Brooks and Melissa Etheridge
• Dmitri Young: Major League Baseball All-Star.
• Kevin Thomas: Defensive Back for The USC Trojans.
• Mike and Bob Bryan: 5-Time Grand Slam Winners in Tennis, including a Career Slam.
• Corey Farrell: Professional Triathlete
• Scott Fujita : NFL Linebacker for the New Orleans Saints.
• Bobby Ayala : Major League Baseball pitcher.
• Marion Jones: Winner of 3 Gold and 2 Bronze medals at the 2000 Summer [Olympics] (Disqualified).

External links

• RMHS Music Department: [1]
• Oxnard Union High School School District: [2]