Second-year HISD teacher Adeeb Barqawi’s physics students at Kashmere High School received a mayoral proclamation today from Mayor Annise Parker and Council Member Jerry Davis naming Tuesday, April 15, 2014 “Kashmere High School Junior and Senior Day” in Houston. The proclamation is in recognition of Barqawi’s students receiving the highest passage rate on the physics district level assessment (DLA) in HISD last fall. More than 85 percent of junior and senior students passed at the 70 percentile mastery level on the physics DLA.

“It was a monumental moment in my students’ lives and mine when they outperformed every single high school in HISD on the physics district level assessment,” said Barqawi, a Teach for America corps member who is his school’s Teacher of the Year. “I was elated to see the support and investment of the community in which I teach when it comes to celebrating my students’ success.”

Out of the 84 students who met the DLA mastery level, 44 students are graduating seniors interested in pursuing STEM-related careers and have won a combined $1.2 million in scholarships to universities including the University of Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor University, the U.S. Air Force Academy, Prairie View A&M, and Texas Southern University.

“I am most proud of the personal and academic growth exuded by my students as the year progresses as they take ownership of their current life and future prospects,” Barqawi added.

Kashmere is part of a $12 million federal grant to HISD to fund Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) magnets. The school’s magnet focuses on engineering, robotics, and human resources/business management in the engineering field.

The STEM magnet also features a Futures Academy School of Chemical and Process Technology program and still has plenty of openings for the 2014-2015 school year. To learn more or to apply, contact Ogechi Uwaga at ouwaga@houstonisd.org.

[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000f8n0H6k_VNM” g_name=”20140414-Kashmere” width=”600″ f_fullscreen=”t” bgtrans=”t” pho_credit=”iptc” twoup=”f” f_bbar=”t” f_bbarbig=”f” fsvis=”f” f_show_caption=”t” crop=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_l=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_show_slidenum=”t” f_topbar=”f” f_show_watermark=”t” img_title=”casc” linkdest=”c” trans=”xfade” target=”_self” tbs=”5000″ f_link=”t” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”t” f_ap=”t” f_up=”f” height=”400″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” ]