RCSA Winter/Spring Bulletin
December - May
The 2019 - 2020 school year was a memorable one to say the least. Although it did not end as we expected, we were able to make some amazing memories both before and after we were hit with the pandemic.

We are so thankful for the way that our students, teachers, and parents all adjusted to a sudden new way of learning. Seeing the RCSA Community come together and continue the strong school spirit and compassion that we see every day in our halls while staying at home was inspiring.

All of our students, teachers, parents, caregivers, and more who make up the RCSA family are incredible. Together we were able to accomplish great things this year and we cannot wait to see what the future holds for everyone!
RCSA Goes Virtual
Teachers and administrators ran with the challenge of going virtual and produced some amazing things! We loved seeing many of the fun virtual events, shout-outs, and videos that were made during this time.
RCSA Goes Virtual YouTube Video
RCSA Elementary Virtual 5th Grade Graduation
RCSA Innovation 5th Grade Graduation Parade


Don't miss our Senior Class of 2020 Virtual Graduation airing on Channel 4, News4Jax, this Saturday, June 13th at 1:00 pm!
Celebrating STEM
The 8th Annual Florida STEM & Health Expo was held on February 8th, 2020 and it was a huge success! More than 5,000 guests visited to learn and engage in all things STEM and Health. We saw some awesome experiments, over 50 vendors, and over 50 student STEM projects.
Students from RCSA Innovation, RCSA Mandarin, and RCSA Elementary set up their exciting STEM projects inside the State Capitol Building in Tallahassee for STEM Day at the Capitol. They got to show their projects to many of our local elected officials, as well as visit other groups and organizations working to bring more STEM opportunities to Florida.
Out on the Town
Learning is just as important outside the classroom as in! RCSA students got to expand their knowledge by attending many field trips. We visited the Jacksonville Humane Society, Channel 4 News Station, University of North Florida, Skate Plex, World of Nations, Water Ventures Mobile Lab, went on camping trips, saw Elf the Musical, and many more!
Ringing in the New Year
Teachers and staff from all four campuses convened at Urban Air Adventure Park for the Staff Holiday Party! It was a night full of great fun, yummy food, and exciting fellowship for all.
RCSA Innovation and RCSA Elementary held their annual holiday shops, a chance for students to browse and purchase gifts for their friends and family.
The holidays wouldn't be complete without RCSA students showing out for the annual toy drive. All schools worked together to collect enough toys to fill an entire U-haul truck and more! Toys were distributed to the Children's Home Society and Ken Knight Drive.
River City Recognition
RCSA Mandarin student William P. placed 3rd place in Chemistry and student Gordon O. placed 4th place for junior engineering at the Regional Science & Engineering Fair!
All schools held quarter 2 award assemblies to recognize students hard work! It was great fun celebrating all of our students.
RCSA Innovation’s Teacher of the Year, Ashley Rogan took home the Florida Blue Spotlight Award at the Eddy Awards! Other RCSA Teachers of the Year, Karem Baez, April Mears, and Kimberly Boone were also recognized.
RCSA Mandarin earned the recognition of being Niche's 2020 Best Elementary and Best Middle Charter School In Jacksonville.
Read Across America
Each year, National Read Across America Day is celebrated on March 2nd, the birthday of Dr. Seuss. The annual event is part of Read Across America, an initiative on reading creative by the National Education Association. During this week, we invited many community leaders to read to our elementary students. This year we welcomed over 30 visitors throughout the whole week! Visit our blog post to view more photos.
School Spirit
Dean of Students, Mrs. Jackson, gets pied in the face during Middle-High's Homecoming Pep Rally. All funds raised were used to purchase toys for the annual toy drive.
RCSA Elementary students wear their favorite ugly sweaters during Spirit Week in December!
RCSA Gives Back
Kindergartner's at RCSA Innovation decided to celebrate 100 Days of Learning by setting a goal to collect 100 items to donate to the Clara White Mission in Jacksonville. They ended up collecting and donating around 450 items for those in need!
RCSA Elementary students participated in the Kids Heart Challenge, a chance for students to learn about their heart while helping others by raising money for the American Heart Association.
Other donations were made to the Jacksonville Humane Society, Wolfson's Childrens Hospital Healing Hearts Project, Australia Fire Relief, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Pennies for Patients, and more!
We did the math and over the last 5 years, RCSA schools have donated over $68,000 to our local and global community.
Fun in Clubs
The Gardening Club at RCSA Elementary had an exciting time when picking their fresh turnips!
RCSA Mandarin Drama Club presented "Storyville" to their classmates.
Robotics Club at RCSA Elementary coded their robots for a synchronized dance to "The Greatest Show"!
Shootin' Hoops
RCSA Innovation's Middle School Basketball team had a great season!
RCSA Middle-High's Middle School, JV, Varsity, and Girls teams had a great season! We want to give a special shout-out to the graduating seniors of RCSA Middle-High's Varsity Basketball Team!
Rockets off to the Races
Science Olympiad teams had great fun and success this year! Our Middle-High School hosted their very own invitational and welcomed hundreds of students to compete. It was a great success! RCSA Mandarin competed and received 4 gold, 2 silver, and 5 bronze medals.

In Orlando, our Middle-High team took home 1st place and RCSA Mandarin took home 4th overall! At the regional competition, RCSA Middle-High's middle school team placed 2nd place and qualified for the state tournament. The high school team placed 4th over all and also qualified for state.
All of our schools have had great success competing in FIRST Robotics Leagues this year!
RCSA Innovation girls team earned first place for the Mechanical Design Award and earned a spot at the state competition.

RCSA Elementary students competed at their competition and won the 2nd place innovation project and a chance to compete at regionals.

Our Middle-High High School team also competed well and won an invitation to the state championship.

RCSA Mandarin's team took home the Creative Explorers, Building & Discovery, Creative Programming, and Innovative Model Awards at the Regional Finals.
RCSA Mandarin's Model UN team had a great year and traveled to New York to attend the conference at the United Nations World Headquarters!
It was an exciting year for our Math Leagues! RCSA Middle-High earned the 1st place spot among 41 schools at their competition this year! RCSA Mandarin also competed and had a great year, earning 1 first place, 3 second place, 1 third place, 1 fourth place, and 4 fifth place awards!
RCSA Elementary held a school-wide spelling bee and it was a great success! Congratulations to 5th grade winner, Joshua.
Black History Month
All of our schools had assemblies and events to celebrate Black History Month during the month of February. It was a time of learning and inspiration for all! Each campus welcomed a guest speaker to share information and inspiration related to Black History. RCSA Middle-High and RCSA Innovation held assemblies where students were able to perform and share some of their own messages as well. Take a look at the video below to see parts of the assembly at RCSA Middle-High.
...and many more events!
National School Choice Week was celebrated in January!
Students dressed up in celebration of the 100th Day of School.
RCSA Innovation participated in the Global School Day of Play. This initiative is to bring awareness to the importance of play and social learning.
RCSA Innovation held a Middle School Dance and a Daddy Daughter Dance!
The Scholastic Book Fair is always a great hit.
All Pro Dads at RCSA Elementary competed during All Pro Dads Day!
RCSA Elementary students dressed up for their annual wax museum to learn more about historical figures.
RCSA Mandarin and RCSA Middle-High held High School Transition Night's to help prepare 8th grade parents for the upcoming transition.
Students in Mrs. Spanbauer's class at RCSA Elementary enjoyed a readathon, complete with pajamas, pizza, snacks, AR quizzes, and fun reading.
RCSA Innovation students had lots of fun at their Talent Show!
#WeLoveRCSA


River City Science Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, age, disability, marital status or genetic information in its educational programs, services or activities.