RPS Alumni
Connecting generations of Richmond Public Schools.
The RPS alumni community holds a wealth of experience, relationships, and knowledge that can strengthen the journey of students coming behind them.
By reconnecting RPS alumni across generations, we can expand the people, pathways, and possibilities within reach of today’s students.
Bring your experience back to RPS
Tell us where life has taken you since RPS.
We’re looking to reconnect with alumni across industries, professions, trades, entrepreneurship, public service, and more whose experiences can help current students better understand the opportunities and possibilities ahead of them.
Sharing your story is one place to start. From there, we hope to create meaningful connections between alumni and students across generations of RPS.
Through our RPS Alumni Stories series, current students interview graduates across generations about the paths, choices, people, and opportunities that shaped where they are today. The series creates connections between students and alumni while showing the many ways a life and career can unfold after RPS.
Reginald “Reggie” Gordon, Esq.
Thomas Jefferson High School, Class of 1978
Reginald “Reggie” Gordon, Esq. sat down with Thomas Jefferson rising junior Drake Randolph and Huguenot graduate Makayla Elliott to reflect on the RPS education, mentors, and experiences that shaped his path from Richmond to Duke University, Howard University School of Law, the American Red Cross, and a career rooted in service. His story is about justice, purpose, resilience, and the power of connections that help open doors for the students coming next.
Cedric Rucker
John Marshall High School, Class of 1977
In conversation with John Marshall senior Davonika Carryl, Cedric Rucker reflects on the Richmond teachers, mentors, and experiences that helped shape his path from RPS to a long career in student affairs and university leadership. His story is about service, belonging, and the responsibility to open doors for the students coming next.
Faithe Norrell
Norrell Elementary · J.E.B. Stuart Elementary · Chandler Junior High
Faithe Norrell’s story carries 133 years of Richmond education history, from Albert V. Norrell, born enslaved in 1857 and later a teacher for 66 years, to Faithe’s own 42-year career as an educator. Interviewed by students from MLK Middle School, this story moves through Navy Hill, family memory, classroom legacy, and the Richmond stories history books once left out.
Jane Cooper Johnson
George Washington Carver Elementary · Westhampton Junior High · Thomas Jefferson High School, Class of 1966
As a 12-year-old, Daisy Jane Cooper walked into Westhampton Junior High and changed Richmond forever. Co-written by Armstrong students, this story honors Jane Cooper Johnson’s courage as the first African American student at Westhampton Junior High and later Thomas Jefferson High School, and the mother whose determination helped make that history possible.
Bobby Bayliss & Wyatt Kingston
Thomas Jefferson High School, Classes of 1962 and 1969
What began as a story about Bobby Bayliss, one of college tennis’s legendary coaches, became something deeper: the story of Wyatt Kingston, his former TJ student and lifelong friend. Told with current Thomas Jefferson students, this piece traces a teacher-student bond that lasted more than 50 years and Wyatt’s decades of work creating belonging for young people in Richmond.
Melody Barnes
John B. Cary Elementary · Dogwood Middle · Jefferson-Huguenot-Wythe, Class of 1982
Before Melody Barnes helped shape national policy in Washington, D.C., her foundation was built in Richmond Public Schools by teachers who challenged her, believed in her, and helped her see what was possible. Co-written with Huguenot student Angie Minor, this story follows Melody from RPS to UNC, law school, Capitol Hill, and The White House.