Yearly Archives: 2015

Students make the most of Top-Tier College Night

HISD hosted its annual Top-Tier College Night on Oct. 6, and hundreds of students and their families came out to learn more about what Ivy League and other high-profile institutions have to offer, as well as what qualities they are looking for in applicants.

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“Some of our students have amazing grades, and some don’t,” explained Justin Segal, a representative from the University of Pennsylvania. “But comparing yourself to others is not really fair, because grades don’t tell the whole story. We’re more focused on if your application is consistent with your stated interests. Because if you’re applying to business school, but all you’ve done so far is arts and theatre, there’s a bit of a disconnect there.” Continue reading →

Sharpstown International School holds second bond community meeting

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Sharpstown International School held its second community meeting on Tuesday to brief more than 50 students, parents and community members on district plans to renovate its existing campus.

“The (Project Advisory Team) and design team worked very hard for the last eight months for the vision and future of Sharpstown International,” said Michael Sabouni, architect at Autoarch Architects. “We are very happy to share the journey of success of how will we transfer a school built 50 years ago into a 21st century educational facility that is going to serve us for an additional 50 years.”

Continue reading →

Bellaire HS grad gets $100,000 grant to fund her ‘bright’ idea

After a devastating earthquake hit the island of Haiti, one Bellaire High School graduate was inspired to do something — and one of the nation’s largest banks is helping her in her quest to light up the world.

Andrea Sreshta (Bellaire HS Class of 2002) and one of her Columbia University graduate-school classmates invented a solar-powered light that is collapsible, lightweight, and affordable. They called it LuminAID, and made the first 50 prototypes by hand in 2010. It has since been used in more than 70 countries around the world, and during disaster relief after Hurricane Sandy, Typhoon Haiyan, and a recent earthquake in Nepal. Continue reading →

Paraguay: Guaraní culture and hydroelectric resources

Paraguay is one of the only two landlocked countries in South America. It is bordered by Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia. The country is home to the Paraguay River, one of the most important waterways in South America, which flows through Brazil, Bolivia, and Argentina. The river divides the country into two very different geographical regions. Paraguay consists mostly of grassy plains and wooded hills in the eastern region and low, marshy plains in the western region. Because of the absence of mountain ranges to provide a natural barrier, winds can reach speeds as high as 100 mph. This can significantly impact changes in temperature within a short span of time.

Continue reading →

Volunteering duo can’t wait for Read Houston Read to start back up again

In this week’s I Am HISD, which features district students, graduates, employees, and other team members, returning volunteer Sharon Plummer discusses how she and her husband first discovered the Read Houston Read program, why they both immediately signed up to participate, and why they can’t wait for this year’s first mentoring sessions to begin.

Sharon Plummer & Chandler Davidson

Sharon Plummer & Chandler Davidson

I understand you and your husband, Chandler Davidson, both volunteer as reading mentors at Burnet Elementary School through Read Houston Read. How did that arrangement come about?

We had actually been looking for an opportunity to read to elementary students for quite some time. Maybe even a couple of years. We had made several inquiries with various organizations, but just could not find a good fit. Then I happened to see this. And I thought, “Oh, my gosh, this is it!”

What is it about reading to young children than appeals to you? Continue reading →

Get to know your neighbors on National Night Out October 6

Knowing who lives next to you can sometimes be the first step in preventing crime—and that’s why police departments across the country have been encouraging people to step outside on one evening each year to meet their neighbors.

This year marks the 32nd anniversary of National Night Out, a crime/drug prevention event created and sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch.

In Texas, official activities will take place from 6–9 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, and all Houston-area residents are encouraged to put on a smile, lock their doors, and go outside to meet their neighbors.

Want to meet Houston ISD police officers? They are holding an event at Peck Elementary, 5001 Martin Luther King Blvd., from 6-8 p.m.

Backpack Buddy program helps fill weekend ‘food gap’

HISD Nutrition Services and the Houston Food Bank have been working together since 2014 to deliver extra food to needy students through the latter’s “Backpack Buddy” program. Its goal is to fill the food gap that exists at certain students’ homes over the weekends. Last year, about 89 schools participated. This year, that number has increased to 101, making this partnership a lifeline for disadvantaged HISD students.

“It’s really sad,” said HISD Dietitian Nan Cramer. “We have children who come in Monday morning starving because their last meal was the previous Friday afternoon in school.”

The district recently received its first 25 pallets of food for distribution. And last Friday, students at participating campuses were discreetly issued their food sacks, so that they could enjoy healthy, nourishing meals even after school hours. Continue reading →

First School Choice Open House helps parents fine tune their campus selections

HISD hosted the first of four School Choice Open Houses on Oct. 3, 2015, and hundreds of families came out to Jordan High School on Saturday to explore their options.

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“My main interest is the gifted and talented (G/T) program,” said parent Linda Le, who has two daughters. “These sessions are helpful, because you can look at all the different schools and talk to someone right away to get as much information as you need.”

“As a teacher myself, I’m able to see the different schools and what they offer, ask questions, and then decide what’s best and look at locations,” added Dominique Broomfield, a teacher at Eliot Elementary School with three children. Continue reading →

‘Caught in the Act’ spotlights Law Elementary School

Dual-language kindergarten teacher featured in October 2015 C.I.A. video

Cristina Garcia Chumillas, a dual-language teacher at Law Elementary School, was “Caught in the Act” of delivering great instruction during a recent visit to her kindergarten class. An HISD video crew, along with Elementary Curriculum and Development Officer Lance Menster and Assistant Superintendent of Multilingual Programs Gracie Guerrero, surprised Chumillas and her students and captured the video below.

[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/141449460″ width=”500″ height=”280″ responsive=”no”] Continue reading →

HISD home visiting program to help hundreds of families prepare children for preschool

The Houston Independent School District this week will begin offering in-home lessons to hundreds of new families from across the district in an effort to help parents better prepare their children for preschool.

The lessons are part of the district’s Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters — or HIPPY program. As part of the program, HIPPY home instructors models simple educational activities for parents to practice with their 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds.

The one-hour, weekly lessons span 30 weeks and cover early literacy skills, mathematics, science, fine and gross motor skills, and language development. Research shows that HISD kindergarten students whose parents have participated in the HIPPY program significantly outperform their peers in reading and math. Continue reading →