Yearly Archives: 2015

State grant to expand reach of home visiting program for parents of preschoolers

HISD’s Family and Community Engagement (FACE) team has been awarded a $5,880,967 state grant that will help the district significantly expand the reach of its Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program.

The five-year Texas Home Visiting Program grant, a project of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, will provide funding for the district’s Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program to support an additional 500 families with children ages three to five. The grant will also support services for parents of newborns to three-year-olds via Collaborative for Children’s Parents as Teachers program and provide funding to support Adult Education classes offered by Houston Community College for parents who wish to further their education. Continue reading →

Students use artistic talents to raise money for blind Chinese orphans

When asked how they spent their summer months, many students answer that they went to the beach or a swimming pool, visited with relatives, or took a vacation.

But one student from Carnegie Vanguard High School was able to write a most unusual “what I did over my summer vacation” essay this fall after she spent a week and a half in June playing the piano to benefit needy Asian children.

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Senior Kerrigan Quenemoen, along with her partner, Kenneth Yu (who graduated this spring from Bellaire High School), were invited to do a series of charity concerts in China to raise money for blind Chinese orphans. Continue reading →

Gridiron legends kick off National Literacy Month for Bush Foundation

Former Houston Oiler quarterback Dan Pastorini was accustomed to passing a football on the field. Now, he passes on knowledge and a love of reading by volunteering to read to a child. Pastorini and gridiron legend Charles Alexander joined The Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation, Lone Star Sports and Entertainment, and Phillips 66 at Walnut Bend Elementary School on Aug. 31 to help kick-off National Literacy Month.

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Every September, this national literacy initiative aims to raise awareness of the nation’s literacy crisis. Studies show that children who do not read proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely to leave school without a diploma than proficient readers. That’s why volunteers are so vital to helping kids comprehend the power of being able to read. Continue reading →

Community meetings scheduled to share design concepts and site plans for 2012 bond schools

The Houston Independent School District has scheduled six community meetings for the month of September to discuss the progress being made within the 2012 bond program, which will renovate or rebuild 40 schools to create 21st century facilities.

Continue reading →

Hogg MS to start offering students P.E. credit in squash

Principal Angela Sugarek celebrates the opening of new squash courts at Hogg MS with some of her students on Aug. 29.

Principal Angela Sugarek celebrates the opening of new squash courts at Hogg MS with some of her students on Aug. 29.

Hogg Middle School recently became the first public school in the U.S. to house squash courts on its campus and the first in Texas to offer in-school squash courses for physical education credit.

Principal Angela Sugarek and dozens of her students celebrated this milestone with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new in-house courts on Aug. 29.

The state-of-the-art squash and education facility — which was built in partnership with Mission Squash — was constructed out of an existing but underutilized gym at no cost to the school. The renovated space now houses three internationally sized squash courts, a multipurpose learning center, locker rooms, and an academic lab with a full-capacity classroom and multimedia education tools. Continue reading →

Oak Forest ES named ‘Rainforest Hero’ for protecting Sumatran wildlife

The island of Sumatra may be half a world away, but that didn’t stop Oak Forest Elementary School students from caring about its wildlife.

Children in the school’s kindergarten classes raised more than $2,170 before school let out last year and donated it to the Rainforest Trust after learning how man’s activities can threaten the natural world. And for that, the organization named the campus a “Rainforest Hero.”

Continue reading →

HISD announces partnership with Kennedy Center to expand student access to the arts

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Thursday that the Houston Independent School District together with the City of Houston would serve as the 19th site for their national arts education program.

The Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child program will take existing resources from HISD, local arts organizations, the City of Houston, and the Kennedy Center and combine them to increase arts opportunities and provide high-quality arts education for 7,000 students at 11 schools.

The schools include Atherton, Benbrook, Eliot, Hartsfield, Hines-Caldwell, Kashmere Gardens, Memorial, Mitchell, Scarborough, and Whittier elementary schools, and Hamilton Middle School. Additional schools are expected to be added in the coming years. Continue reading →

Blueberry boot camp may lead to new cafeteria choices

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Future HISD students could be seeing more dishes incorporating blueberries in their school cafeteria menus, after HISD Nutrition Services Dietitian Kasandra Davis attended a summer blueberry boot camp in Napa Valley, California.

The U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council held the conference at the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone campus July 18–20, and only 16 school districts were invited to participate.

Continue reading →

Hogg MS principal honored by Texas Parent Teacher Association

AngelaSugarek1_150Though she currently serves as the leader of Hogg Middle School, Angela Sugarek has been recognized by the Texas Parent Teacher Association (Texas PTA) as the Elementary Principal of the Year for her service to Durham Elementary School during the 2014–2015 academic year.

Sugarek was one of only five educators from across the state to be honored, and the only elementary principal in the group. She was formally recognized during the Texas PTA’s annual leadership seminar in Dallas over the summer. Continue reading →

New programs, new construction, new opportunities at Sterling HS

Students at Sterling High School are greeting the new school year with excitement, energy, and optimism. The school’s new principal, Justin Fuentes, is enthusiastic about his school’s programs and the opportunities it offers students.

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Besides Sterling’s resident aviation program and an aviation engineering and designing program through the Michigan Institute of Aviation Technology, it also offers a Futures Academy in logistics and global supply chain management, as well as law enforcement forensics, automotive, and dual-credit courses towards a certificate in welding. Continue reading →