We Are Randolph. This Is Our Story.
The official podcast of Randolph Field Independent School District.
We Are Randolph. This Is Our Story.
1.1 The Intro.
Welcome to the inaugural episode of "We Are Randolph. This Is Our Story."—a podcast dedicated to shining a spotlight on the unique history, vibrant community, and exceptional achievements of Randolph Field Independent School District. In this first episode, Amanda Bauer, the newly appointed Director of Community Engagement and Public Relations, takes us on a journey through her nineteen-year career within RFISD. From teaching English to becoming Vice Principal and now taking on this new role, Amanda's passion for the district and its community is palpable.
This episode is rich with anecdotes and historical tidbits that paint a vivid picture of Randolph Field ISD's evolution, as well as the unique history and structure of the district. One of the standout features of Randolph Field ISD is its location on Randolph Air Force Base in Universal City, Texas. Established in 1932, the school district has a rich history that Amanda delves into, highlighting the establishment of the elementary school and the later addition of the secondary campus in 1962.
Throughout the episode, Amanda emphasizes the importance of community input and encourages listeners to share their ideas, questions, and suggestions for future episodes. She is committed to making the podcast a collaborative effort that reflects the diverse voices and experiences within Randolph Field ISD.
Each episode will feature special guests, Randolph trivia, and opportunities for listeners to win exclusive swag. This interactive element aims to foster a sense of belonging and engagement among students, staff, parents, alumni, and community members.
Tune in the third Wednesday of every month to hear riveting conversations, fascinating Randolph trivia, and stories that celebrate the heart of Randolph Field ISD. There's something for everyone in this podcast, so please join Amanda Bauer on this exciting journey as she shares the stories and achievements that make Randolph Field Independent School District truly extraordinary.
Welcome to the official podcast of Randolph Field Independent School District. We are Randolph. This is our story. Tune in on the third Wednesday of each month and join our host, Amanda Bauer, Director of Community Engagement and Public Relations, as she visits with special guests from the Randolph community, and don't miss the Randolph trivia portion of each episode. We've got cool swag and it could be yours. Subscribe, download, share and definitely listen as we tell our story. Okay, well, this is technically, I guess, our first episode. It's just me today. Our actual first episode will debut once school has officially started, but I decided to go ahead and make an episode to kind of really just try it out and see how to do it. I have never done a podcast before, but I am super excited about the opportunity to do this for Randolph Field ISD. My name is Amanda Bauer and my new title is Director of Community Engagement and Public Relations for the district.
Amanda Bauer:I have spent well, my whole career has been at Randolph. This will be my 19th year in education and my 19th year at Randolph. I started my journey here at Randolph as a high school English teacher and loved that. I did that for eight years. My first four years of it I taught English 2, and my second four years of it, I taught English 3, English 4, and English 4 AP, along with a lot of other electives in the mix. During those years I also sponsored student council, National Honor Society all kinds of activities. I loved being involved in so many different student organizations when I was a teacher. It was really a great way to have an impact on the campus. After my eight years in the classroom, I moved into a position as an administrator at the secondary campus, so most recently some of you may know me as the vice principal from the secondary school. As a vice principal, I enjoyed getting to still connect with students and parents and other community members, but when this opportunity came for this new role, as this community engagement public relations piece of the puzzle that I think Randolph hasn't had previously, I was just thrilled to have the opportunity. I am very much pro-Randolph and I'm excited to get to share our stories. As you know, the title of the podcast is We Are Randolph. This Is Our Story, and my goal is to have a variety of guests on the show throughout our season and hopefully get to let them share their stories and what they love about Randolph, but also to let our listeners get to know some of the important members of our Randolph community. So that's what I'm looking forward to.
Amanda Bauer:For those of you who are not super familiar with Randolph, we are Randolph Field Independent School District, so we are located on Randolph Air Force Base in Universal City, Texas. We are a public school district. A lot of people think we are part of the Department of Defense DOD school, but we are not. We are an independent school district on Randolph Air Force Base, so it's a little different than a regular school district in that sense. But we are not Department of Defense. Our school district is highly sought after. We think we're pretty great and hopefully this podcast helps those who aren't here learn a little bit more about us.
Amanda Bauer:The school district was actually established in 1932. Originally it just included Randolph Elementary School, but eventually there was a need for a secondary campus, and so I'm actually looking. As I talk right now I have the first edition of the Randolph High School yearbook called the Talon. It's the issue from the very first year that the secondary campus was open, which was 1962-1963. And the first little article on one of these early pages says on September 5th 1962, the doors of Randolph High School were opened to its first students. This was made possible by the generosity of the Air Force in leasing one of their unused buildings and granting help in renovating it into an adequate school. After 18 months of planning, construction of the new Randolph High School began on February 1st 1962, and it was completed in the spring of 1963. So the first graduating class of Randolph High School in the spring of 1963. So the first graduating class of Randolph High School was the class of 1963. So that's when it was established, and we've been going strong ever since.
Amanda Bauer:Things have changed a little bit over the years. We used to have a lot more housing on base, and so our on-base students automatically go to our schools. We're their neighborhood schools, just like any other neighborhood that has schools within their boundaries. We are the neighborhood school of anybody who lives on Randolph Air Force Base. As I mentioned, there used to be more base housing, so we used to have higher numbers of on-base students. Now, though, our on-base housing has decreased. There is still some on-base housing, so those students automatically go to our schools, but many of our students are what we call transfer students now, and so transfer students are students who have some type of military affiliation but do not live on base. So they might be the children of active-duty military members who live off-base, be the children of active duty military members who live off base, or they may be the children of civilian parents who work on base and live off base. But regardless of their connection, if they don't live on base they have to apply as a transfer student. So that applies to our elementary school, our middle school and our high school.
Amanda Bauer:Now, these days we are still three separate campuses. However, Randolph Secondary Schools is kind of the umbrella over Randolph Middle School and Randolph High School. The middle school and high school have one set of administration, so technically it's one campus, but we do still keep them called Randolph Middle School and Randolph High School. We also, of course, have our wonderful elementary school, home of the Thunderbirds. The secondary campus, middle school and high school is home of the Ro-Hawks, and I would be remiss if I didn't at least give a little moment to the Ro-Hawk.
Amanda Bauer:What is a Ro-Hawk? We get that question a lot when people are new to Randolph and they see our t-shirts or they see our mascot at an athletic event or some type of activity and they find out that we are the Ro-Hawks. Many, many times I've been asked what in the world is a Ro-Hawk? So no introductory podcast episode would be complete without a little bit of information about that. So what is a Ro-Hawk? A Ro-Hawk is a hawk riding a rocket and very key point the hawk is also carrying a lightning bolt in his talon. So a Ro-Hawk is a hawk riding a rocket holding a lightning bolt. Ro-Hawk is short for rocket hawk. So we are the Randolph Ro-Hawks at the middle school and the high school, and then, of course, the Thunderbirds at the elementary school is a tie in to the famous United States Air Force Thunderbirds, as I recall I've heard this story a few times over the years, as I recall the way that they picked the Ro-Hawks.
Amanda Bauer:The time that the school was built in the 60s, space exploration was very big and so originally Randolph wanted to be the Randolph Rockets. However, judson ISD, just down the road, had claimed that mascot not too long before, and so of course Randolph couldn't also be the Rockets, so they became the Rocket Hawks, Ro-Hawks, which I think is a cute story. I always have enjoyed that and explaining what it is to our new Randolph community members over the years. So that's a little bit of background information about our district. It's a very special place and I think my goal in this podcast is to share some of the stories that our community members might not get an opportunity to hear otherwise, and I'm looking forward to sharing and connecting with various community members. I have a whole list of special guests already scheduled for our inaugural season and I'm hoping that it goes as well as I'm anticipating that it will. I think anytime you start something new, it's a learning process and a work in progress, naturally, but I'm excited.
Amanda Bauer:I would love input from the community. If you have ideas, things that you want me to talk about on the podcast, questions that you've always wondered about, Randolph ideas for special guests, anything really, I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me at my school email address, which you can find on our webpage, and I really would love to hear from you. I'm also going to have a special segment on each episode not this first one, of course, because this is just kind of our practice episode with just me and some background information to share, but I'm going to have a Randolph trivia portion of each podcast episode and I do have some very cool podcast swag on the way and it could be yours. If you know the answers, I'll give instructions on how to send in your answers and how I'll be selecting the winners. But I'd give instructions on how to send in your answers and how I'll be selecting the winners. But I'd love for you guys to participate in that.
Amanda Bauer:This is for anyone students, parents, alumni, community members, anybody related to Randolph. We want you guys to get involved and we'd love to hear your story. So I will be sharing some opportunities as we continue on, for ways to share your story and help me share your story. So please stay tuned for that. And again, if you ever have ideas, questions, thoughts, really anything related to Randolph, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Amanda Bauer:I look forward to seeing you guys out and about at our various activities on our three campuses. Please tell your friends, tell former students, tell current students, tell all the parents, tell all the people. We want a good listenership and a good participation, so we'll look forward to it. We are Randolph. This is our story. Thank you for tuning in today. If you have an idea, question or trivia suggestion for a future episode, please reach out to Amanda Bauer via email. Come back to listen again anytime. New episodes release on the third Wednesday of each month and, as always, thank you to our guests, past, present and future, our listeners and the entire Randolph community. Remember we are Randolph, this is our story.
