November Newsletter

🦃November🍁🍂 Reminders

November 11th: Veteran’s Day Program, RCHS
November 17th: Holiday Stroll Tree Lighting, Chorus @ Dayton Courthouse
November 19th-21st: All East Choir, ETSU

November 23rd-27th: Thanksgiving Break

December 5th: Dayton Christmas Parade Band & Chorus

December 7th: Band Concert and Art Show
December 10th: Winter Chorus Concert @ 6 PM

The following are national testing dates for the ACT. These are the tests you can register for and take on your own at a location of your choosing. These dates are NOT the tests that seniors and juniors will be taking at RCHS.

Adult Winner-Joy Samsel

Congratulations to the Intramural Dodgeball Champions. The tournament was held during Eagle Time, and the team "Appropriate" came out on top. Members of the winning team were Billy Sheddan, Ella Mullins, Bella Reel, Zane Shaffer, JD Little, and Sawyer Prudhomme. The team also had a couple of fill-in players: James Soyster and Jordyn Morse.

Eagle's Perk is officially open every day from 9:00-2:00. Call Ext. 7016 to place an order!

RCHS Yearbook revealed the cover for the 2027 Aerie. Yearbooks are currently on sale for $85. You may order online or speak with Mrs. Hamby for more information.

Vets & Kids showed support to the Lady Eagles Basketball team with a monetary donation. Thank you for always supporting Rhea County High School.

The Counseling Office Staff put together a popcorn bar in appreciation for all teachers and their hard work. The popcorn bar came stocked with fixings and Mrs. Ginger's Ghoulish Punch. Thank you to the counseling office for their thoughtfulness!

A special event was held in the Outdoor Facility before the last home football game sponsored by the Lady Eagles Basketball team. Clubs and sports came together to provide a fun time of "treating" the kids of the community as they came through before the game.

For the month of October, 222 students had perfect attendance and zero tardies! Thank you to Burger King for providing free menu item gift cards to our students.

Homecoming 2026 was a blast! Here are a few highlights from the week.

Meme Day

Bikers vs Surfers

Dress for the Wrong Occasion

Color Wars

Freshmen-Orange, Sophomores-Blue, Juniors-Purple, Seniors-Pink, Staff-Black

Green & Gold Day

Senior Representatives

Congratulations to Early Hoose for being elected this year's RCHS Homecoming Queen. She was escorted by Phillip Tucker.

RCHS Football are the title Region 3-5A Champions! Golden Eagle Football is now entering into round one of the playoffs Friday, November 6th.

Rhea County Football recognized 15 seniors. Congratulations on all you have accomplished! Keep moving forward!

RCHS Cheerleading recognized 7 senior cheerleaders. This group of young ladies works hard each week to cheer on the Eagles as they continue to prepare for competition season.

RCHS Competition Cheer participated in their first competition of the season at Blackman High School in Murfreesburo, TN.

RCHS Girls Soccer secured their third Region Championship. They won against Cleveland in overtime and PKs. Way to go, Eagles!

Way to go, Cross Country team, on your recent accomplishments.

Personal Bests:

Noah Noble-19:50

Gabriel Turner-23:49

Destany Cunningham-28:29

Season Bests:

Paxon Harris-24:02

Emma Reed-21:40

Liberty Raymer-22:23

Lily Praino-24:41

Zaccorey Smith ran his 3rd fastest time of 20:36.

Congratulation to the Girls Track Team for the opportunity to go to the State Meet. This has not been the case since 2017. These ladies were recognized at the last home football game for their hard work and accomplishments. Great job and go Eagles!

Baseball sold pork butts to raise money for their upcoming season.

Sometimes the block seems long, so students need a brain break. Students in Mrs. Dennison's room were challenged with this team building exercise: the human knot.

Mrs. Dennison's Spanish I classes also showed off their creative abilities by creating haunted houses complete with everything labeled in Spanish.

Mrs. Scruggs understands that learning chemistry entails building concepts upon previously learned material. To assist with this, she has continually developed charts to hang in her chemistry classroom as reminders for her students.

Students in Mrs. Scruggs' Math RTI class completed a puzzle dealing with the slope formula. The challenge was to match the descriptions to the proper formula.

Students learned the basics of stoichiometry in a creative lab using the pieces needed to make S'mores. Groups discussed the process and completed a lab report using specified terminology: excess reactant, limiting reactant, theoretical yield, and actual yield.

At the end of October, RCHS Golden Eagle Band and Color Guard held their annual band competition: Rhea County High School Band Invitational. There were eight bands from around the region that came to compete. In addition, there were plenty of vendors to provide various services and products for the participants and viewers. Of course, the Golden Eagle Band and Color Guard finished off the night with an exhibition performing their 2026 show, Intergalactic.

Chorus students preparing to audition for All East Tennessee Chorus participated in a clinic in August at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. This clinic was led by professors at UTC to help the students prepare two pieces of music for their audition. Pictured are the students who attended. Back Row (Left to Right): D’arcy Cannon, Sunnie Taunton, Leigha Davis, and Caitlyn Raithel. Front Row (Left to Right): Christian (CJ) Hager and Alexis Bunch. Not Pictured: Dierdre Hoffner and Annalise Simard.

The Chorus Fall Concert on October 1st was a huge success! They prepared a lot of music and learned so much during this short period of time. To honor Dolly Parton, the chorus sang an arrangement of her “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” with sophomore soloist, Novalee Scott.

Four members of our choir have been accepted into All East Chorus. This event will take place November 19-21 at East Tennessee State University. The students who have been accepted are D’arcy Cannon, Angel Eldridge, Annaliesa Evans, and Annalise Simard.

Upcoming Choir Events:
November 11 - Veteran’s Day Program, RCHS
November 17 - Holiday Stroll Tree Lighting, Dayton Courthouse
November 19-21 - All East Choir Participants @ ETSU
December 5 - Dayton Christmas Parade
December 10 - Winter Concert @ 6 PM

Special Programs wants to extend a special thanks to Vets & Kids for purchasing a much needed new wheelchair for a student who had outgrown his previous model.

Criminal Justice classes recently took a field trip to Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, a former maximum-security prison. They toured cell blocks, looked at historical pieces, and visited isolation units while learning all about former inmates. They ended their trip with lunch at the on-site restaurant, the Warden's Table.

Small Animal Science classes have been training and practicing dog washing and grooming. Bernice and Stone were two beautiful dogs who recently visited the Small Animal Science Lab.

Students in HOSA studied the skeletal system and decided to display their learning with spooky diagrams.

HOSA Advisory team met to discuss ideas for the development of the club and new learning opportunities for students. This team consists of county-wide nurses who bring years of experience to the table.

HOSA would like to thank Mr. Bimbo McCawley for his generous donation of scrubs to the program!

Mr. Pelfrey's Structural Systems class recently built a "teacher's hut" to accompany the new playground area at Frazier Elementary School.

Student Council met at the beginning of October to discuss upcoming service opportunities. President John Bamber detailed each event and explained to members how to get involved.

Former RCHS FFA member Levi Henderson earned his American FFA Degree and was awarded his degree at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis. To be eligible to earn the American FFA Degree, members must meet qualifications such as the following: receive a Greenhand FFA Degree, achieve a Chapter FFA Degree and State FFA Degree, hold active membership for the past three years, complete secondary instruction in an agricultural education program, and operate an outstanding supervised agricultural experience program. Community service, leadership abilities and outstanding scholastic achievement are also required. Congratulation, Levi Henderson, on your major accomplishment!

Rhea County FFA enjoyed serving the community at Farm City Day. Students interacted and taught 3rd grade students all about aspects of the farm and its importance to society.

For this month's chapter meeting, FFA discussed the qualities needed in a leader. Students created life-sized "Frankenleaders" in groups as they considered various aspects needed to be an effective leader.

Jetta Sharpe spoke to FCA about identity. She discussed the importance of finding one's identity in Jesus rather than in worldly things.

Best Buddies took their annual trip to Top Golf in Knoxville. Everyone enjoyed a day of fun, food, and fellowship while promoting inclusion.

Best Buddies Night at the RCHS Football game was a huge success! Members of the club enjoyed tailgating before the game and sitting together to cheer on the Eagles. Keep spreading inclusion!

A small group from Best Buddies visited the Spring City Care and Rehabilitation Center. They spent time talking and crafting with the residents.