Students who have remained at Rocklin High School since last school year remember the assembly specified to get us students hyped up for standardized testing. The administration went all out to emphasize the importance of doing well on the test, and it seemed to have an affect.

“[The assembly] seems like it helped because it motivated everyone,” senior Sam Kim said.

“Last year we had a rally to ask the students to meet this goal,” Principal Mike Garrison noted,” and they really stepped up to the challenge.”

The assembly included a speech by our Principal, and banners hanging from the gym rafters to signify past excellence on the tests by individual students.

The goal for 2005-2006 was set at 800, a number never before reached at Rocklin High. Principal Garrison realizes that the students rose to meet that bar. As it were, the students exceeded it by earning an 830, which makes Rocklin the number one school in the district, and also the fourth rated in the Sacramento area.

Not only the students have stepped up. Garrison points out that the teachers must have done something to gain the honor of number one.

Garrison says that “the score shows that we are meeting the needs of the students. Our standards match our assessments, our assessments match our standards. We are teaching what needs to be taught. The teachers are proud. The teachers are excited. The teachers are walking around on cloud number nine.

The teachers are obviously thrilled about the success.

“I’m excited!” history and web teacher Mr. Ryan O’Donnell. “It’s great, I think it validates what we’re doing. I commend the teachers for preparing the kids and kids for taking it seriously.”

“It’s absolutely brilliant [that we got an 830]!” Mrs. Julianne Benzel exclaimed. “From the school’s inception this school has been phenomenal. We are just now being rewarded for the hard work that has take place over the last 13 years. Go Thunder!”

“I woke up this morning,” music teacher Mr. David Dick explained, “feeling lucky to be a part of the district.”

Not every teacher is only animated about high test scores. In some ways, this also is important because Rocklin bested Granite Bay High School for the first time ever.

“I can get very excited [about] beating Granite Bay,” exclaimed yearbook teacher Mr. Casey Nichols. “I want to beat Granite Bay to everything but a pulp. I like their kids and their teachers and all, I just want to beat ‘em.”

Students seem to agree about the teachers helping.

“It was more of the teachers telling us that it [might] affect the students,” as senior Melvin Caballero tells it.

Garrison is so energized, he is not nearly short on words. “This is huge for the school. It’s quite an accomplishment for our school, our student body, our teachers. We as an administration are going to find a way to do something for the students.”

And thus, hard work yields great rewards.