National High School Production Award Nominees

RBTV students received 10 nominations for the 2024 National High School Production Awards, the highest number in RB history! The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) presents this competition that recognizes talented students nationwide. The winners will be announced at the Midwest Media Educators Association (MMEA) Production Festival on April 26.

The RBTV nominees are:

Makayla Angshed

Finalist in the Best Non-Fiction Category: “Time to Wake Up”

Finalist in the Best Music Video Category: “Butterflies”

Finalist in the Best Cinematography Category: “Angshed’s Reel”

Finalist in the Best Writer Category: “Time to Wake Up”

Matthew Morgan

Finalist in the Best Live Sports Category: “RBTV Sports Collection”

Mason Myslinski

Finalist in the Best Entertainment Category: “Masons Man Maintenance”

Jenny Thomas

Finalist in the Best Writer Category: “The Sixth Rule”

Finalist in the Best Editor Category: “Sports Reel”

Finalist in the Best Sports Segment Category: “Gridiron Girl”

Finalist in the Best Cinematography Category: “Sports Reel”

Math Team State Send Off!

Congratulations to the Math Team as they make RB history with the largest group of students headed down to the state competition at ISU! The following 6 teams qualified for the state competition:

Algebra 1 Team: Joe Duffy, Sophia May, Addriza Risha, Mitch Scheuermann, and Dylan Strobel

Geometry Team: Quinn Hendricks, Wyatt Hoffmann, Isaac Lee, Tabitha Relyea, Zack Rosenfeld, and Jane Tselepis

Algebra 2 Individual: Lukas Stripikas



Pre-Calculus Team: Daniel Almeida, Luke Berndt, Ella Herr, Mak Scheuermann, Val Spevacek, and David Vacca

Freshman/Sophomore 8-Person Team: Joe Duffy, Addriza Risha, Mitch Scheuermann, Dylan Strobel, Quinn Hendricks, Wyatt Hoffmann, Isaac Lee, and Jane Tselepis

Junior/Senior 8-Person Team: Avi Ponnappan, Lukas Stripikas, Emma Strong, Will Wilkins, Luke Berndt, Ella Herr, Will Sessler, and Max Swicionis

Oral Team: Sophia May and Mak Scheuermann

Alternates - Reyes Almeida, Danielle DiMonte, Liam Kaiser, and Nate Kissel

Food Truck Presentations

Mrs. Sarkady's Marketing and Web Design class students presented their food truck ideas to culinary students. Students created a menu, explained their social media plan and how they would use different platforms to attract customers, and envisioned their business growing over the next five years. Culinary students then discussed which food truck brand they would like to make the food for and voted individually. Each food truck group had its own t-shirts made by the t-shirt company InkYourWear, which hires graphic design students from RB each year to work for the company.

IBCA District 8 Co-Coach of the Year!

Congratulations to Boys Basketball Coach Mike Reingruber on being named the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association District 8 Co-Coach of the Year! This is his 4th time being named the IBCA District Coach of the Year. The 2023-24 boys basketball record is 26-5, and 26 wins is tied for the second most single season wins in school history. Coach Reingruber's 7-season career record is 155-46 (77.5%). Coach Reingruber has created an exceptional RB basketball program and continuously supports students on and off the court.

SIGCSE Presentation

Ms. Sandy Czajka presented at SIGCSE (Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education) 2024 on Thursday, March 21, in Portland, OR. SIGCSE is a conference for secondary teachers and higher education professors to explore research, innovative methods, and best practices for teaching computer science. This year, Ms. Czajka presented a Special Session with Dr. Jill Westerlund from the University of Alabama and Dr. Andrew Kuemmel from the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Innovative Strategies for genAI in CS Courses. In order to present at SIGCSE, proposals must be submitted, and approximately less than 10% of proposals are accepted. The session was well received by the nearly 100 high school and college faculty at the conference.

Book Interviews

On Wednesday, Deirdre Sullivan’s Honors English 9 classes celebrated the end of their SSR unit with short interviews. Sullivan brought her classes to the library and students took turns being interviewed by Amy Phillips (librarian) or Kathy Wyszynski (reading specialist/literacy coach) about the book they read during class. Students did an excellent job having insightful conversations with Mrs. Phillips and Ms. Wyszynski. One student reported, “I really enjoyed the interview for my book more than anything else. I like the conversation I had with the librarian about my book.” Another noted, “It was a much more interactive way of getting graded.”

BOE Student Advisors Application Now Open

The District 208 Board of Education is now accepting applications for the Student Advisors to the Board of Education position for the 2024-25 school year. Student Advisors will attend all District 208 Board of Education meetings, meet with the Superintendent/Principal before each Board meeting, and prepare/present meeting agenda items and topics on behalf of the student body. The application deadline is April 11, 2024.

Application Form

2024 Summer Athletic Camp Registration Now Open

Registration for 2024 Summer Athletic Camps are now open at https://rbhs208.revtrak.net/

View the camp offerings and additional information here. 

Community Service Day: April 13

RB is hosting its annual Community Service Day on Saturday, April 13 from 9am-12pm! We will meet at Guthrie Park (near the Riverside Public Library). Last year, over 100 students and community members volunteered to mulch, weed, and cut down invasive buckthorn at three nearby parks. If you plan on attending, please bring your own pair of work/gardening gloves and a water bottle. We hope to see you there!

Paraprofessional Appreciation Day

April 3 was Paraprofessional Appreciation Day! We are so grateful to our school paraprofessionals for all the ways they support students and assist teachers in the classroom. Thank you for all that you do!

Come audition for the RB's Got Talent Show on Wednesday, April 10 at 3:15 PM! Sign up in the music area and email baumj@rbhs208.net with any questions. RB's Got Talent will be on April 24.