It was a whirlwind tour of several high school campuses, as Interim Superintendent Dr. Grenita Lathan surprised seniors with the Superintendent Scholars Awards.
This was the third year of the awards, which were underwritten by Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages and the Houston ISD Foundation. Handpicked by Lathan, the 11 students were selected from HISD seniors nominated by their principals or leadership teams.
Continue readingStudents will have opportunity to compete for more than $31 million in scholarships
Fifty seniors from eight Houston Independent School District high schools have earned one of the top academic honors in the nation by qualifying as semifinalists in the 64th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.
The students attend Bellaire, Carnegie Vanguard, Lamar and Westside high schools, DeBakey High School for Health Professions, Houston Academy for International Studies, Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and Sharpstown International School.
The students are among 16,000 from across the country to earn the semifinalist designation, allowing them the opportunity to continue in the academic competition and vie for more than $31 million in scholarships that will be awarded next spring. Continue reading
DiscoverU has increased the number of partnerships it has with HISD schools to seven for the current school year, allowing even more students to expand their horizons through foreign travel, college campus residencies, business internships, and more.
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Several HISD schools saw significant increases in the amount of scholarship and financial aid offers their seniors received this year. Recent HAIS graduates Karina Barbosa (left) and Rynique Lucas received more than $1.7M in scholarship and financial aid offers between them.
The numbers are in, and HISD’s Class of 2015 has received almost $265 million in scholarship and financial aid offers.
At $10 million more than the Class of 2014, Director of College Readiness David Johnston called the figure “a testament to the district’s college readiness efforts.” A handful of campuses have also seen significant increases in the amount of money their seniors have been offered from last year to this one.
College Success Manager Pamela Joyce Williams attributes Washington High School’s jump from about $2,360,000 in 2014 to more than $7,223,000 in 2015 to a year-long outreach campaign, in which she sent students and their parents regular progress reports and email reminders about deadlines through Naviance. Continue reading
For many students, spring break usually means vacation on the beach, a road trip across the country, or simply rest and relaxation at home. But students from the Houston Academy for International Studies spent their time away from school performing hands-on service learning projects in another country.
Twelve students and two teacher chaperones participated in the Rekha & Sudhir Puranik Foundation’s Impact India program. The program is based at the Puranik Foundation’s Vision International Learning Center, a rural English school that serves more than 80 impoverished primary and secondary students from villages around Pune, India.
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“Impact India is designed to teach students about India’s rich history and culture, and give them insight into how different cultures address social and political challenges,” said Rekha & Sudhir Puranik Foundation Executive Director Revati Puranik. “The school and the foundation are fully sustainable without electricity and running water, an ideal environment for students to participate in service-learning activities focused on alternative energy, agriculture, and education.”
Tacy Gilmore (Houston ISD/Dave Einsel)
I Am HISD profile showcases Educational Diagnostician Week
In this week’s I am HISD, which features HISD students, graduates, and employees, we are highlighting Educational Diagnostician Week across Texas by interviewing HISD Lead Evaluation Specialist Tacy Gilmore. Gilmore talks about when she became a diagnostician, how she evaluates students for disabilities, and who decides which students are evaluated.
How did you come to be a diagnostician for HISD?
I was working as a seventh-grade math teacher in Alief ISD, when I became interested in becoming an Educational Diagnostician. As a general education teacher, I wanted to know how I could have a greater impact on student achievement and the process to get the individualized support needed. I attended graduate school at Prairie View A&M University, where I became certified, first as a counselor and then as a diagnostician.
The Houston Academy for International Studies (HAIS) was officially recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School at an awards ceremony on Nov. 11 in Washington, D.C., and Principal Melissa Jacobs-Thibaut was also presented with the Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding School Leadership.
The award recognizes campus leaders who are committed to doing whatever it takes to help their students meet high standards. The award’s namesake served as secretary of education from 1981 to 1985. Continue reading
The Houston Academy for International Studies has been named a 2014 National Blue Ribbon Exemplary High Performing School.
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National Blue Ribbons are awarded annually to schools to validate the hard work of students and educators. To be recognized as an exemplary high performing school, a school must have its students test in the top 15 percent in the state in both reading and math, have subgroups test in the top 40 percent in the state or have a graduation rate in the top 15 percent in the state. Continue reading
Rising senior Mai Pham (CVHS) wades in the Sea of Galilee.
Eight current and former HISD students got the trip of a lifetime recently, after spending four weeks in Israel courtesy of the Mickey Leland Kibbutzim Internship.
Students from Carnegie Vanguard High School (CVHS), the Houston Academy for International Studies (HAIS), Reagan High School, and Yates High School won eight of the ten spots available in the program, which is open to both rising seniors and recent graduates from Texas’ 18th Congressional District.
Across the U.S., thousands of high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors buy books, attend seminars and complete online tutorials in hopes of boosting their SAT scores. This year, HISD EMERGE fellows hope to boost their scores by attending an intensive SAT boot camp which provides test strategies and content-based instruction. In past years, the program has led to significant increases in scores on the critical reading, mathematics and writing sections of the SAT.
Students who attended boot camp said they found the materials and instructors helpful: