Rifle High School builds freshman success from day one

New $97,000 Ninth Grade Success Grant helps students learn how to “do high school” while building connections that can keep them on track

When Rifle High School teacher Adam King thinks about helping freshmen feel like they belong, he remembers a mountain.

Just five days after arriving at his high school, King said, staff loaded the new students onto a bus and told them they were going to climb one.

Years later, he still talks with high school friends about the relationships built while students who might not otherwise have become friends struggled up the same trail together.

“You look at it now, and the bonds built through those experiences are what you remember and keep you connected,” King said.

Now King is helping create that same sense of connection for Rifle High School students through a new $97,000, two-year Ninth Grade Success Grant from the Colorado Department of Education.

Rifle High School Principal Steve Johnston brought the idea for stronger freshman supports with him from Texas, where he helped launch a similar program.

“I believe the first year of high school is the most important,” Johnston said. “It is crucial for students to start their high school career on the right path, and they do that by passing their classes, getting involved in some type of program on campus, and by establishing positive relationships with peers and adults.”

RHS data reinforced that need. In both 2023-24 and 2024-25, 15% of ninth graders finished the year without earning at least six credits, leaving about one in six off track for graduation.

The grant has allowed RHS to expand freshman orientation, create a Freshman Academy class for every ninth grader, establish a Ninth Grade Success Team and build Flex Time into the school day so students can receive additional help without missing instruction.

Freshman Academy teaches students how to “high school.” They learn what credits and GPA mean, how graduation requirements work and where to go when they need help.

Freshman Vivienne Smith said the class is already helping.

“This class is about how high school works and how to get through it smoothly,” Smith said. “I think it is beneficial because it teaches you tips and tricks as well as basic high school challenges and how to get past them.”

Staff also regularly review grades, attendance and other indicators so they can identify students who need support before they fall too far behind.

For Johnston, the goal is connection as much as intervention.

“We were wanting to find a way for our students to get connected to our campus quickly and easily, find a trusted adult to build a relationship with, and have a variety of supports in place to help ensure they start on track to success, and stay on track to success,” he said.

A ripple of kindness

King is also bringing upperclassmen in to tutor freshmen and developing a “champion teacher” program so students have more familiar people they can turn to.

He hopes those connections make a large high school feel smaller and create what he calls a “ripple of kindness.”

“The more friendly familiar faces they have, the better,” King said. “If we can get to the point where we’re comfortable enough and we know we’re safe to be vulnerable then that’s when real fun happens on the learning side.”

Freshman Samantha Harris described Freshman Academy as “a positive and upbeat class” and said King’s “positive attitude and wise advice have been a huge help.”

She also said the class helps freshmen “get to know other people from our grade better, building bonds through the fact that we are ALL learning and getting used to our new normal as a Rifle High School Bear.”

It sounds a lot like the lesson King learned climbing a mountain years ago - climbing a mountain to build connections.