HISD Foundation supports the event for third year in a row
Nearly 1,000 recent graduates will have the chance to enter a drawing to win a brand new car and more than $10,000 in scholarships at the upcoming third annual Cool to Be Smart celebration on Aug. 4 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Bayou City Event Center, 9401 Knight Road.
Recent graduates from HISD’s Bellaire, Carnegie Vanguard, and DeBakey high schools, along with the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, were named National Merit Scholarship winners in the third and final round of announcements on July 15.
EECHS students Christopher Martinez (left), Alexandra Santos (right) and homeschooled-student Nicolas Xiong (center)
Students at two HISD schools brought home first- and second-place trophies in the SECME National Engineering Competition, a robotics event held in Daytona Beach, Fla. Even a security snafu at the airport couldn’t stop East Early College High School (EECHS) students from winning the grand prize.
Alexandra Santos and Christopher Martinez won first place in overall VEX robotics, along with homeschooled student, Nicolas Xiong, who has been on EECHS’s team since 2011. Young Men’s College Preparatory Academy’s seventh-grade students Marcellus Jordan, Steven Jackson, and Daveon Clemons won second place in overall VEX robotics.
North Early College High School graduates and Principal Angela Lundy-Jackson
Many members of the Class of 2013 earned more than their high school diplomas this year—nearly 200 of them also earned associate’s degrees from Houston Community College.
Challenge Early College, East Early College, Empowerment College Preparatory Academy, Houston Academy for International Studies, and North Houston Early College high schools all offer students the opportunity to take college courses along with high school courses. This year, a total of 179 students from all of those campuses combined left high school with a two-year college degree.
Rhonda Goldmann of Lovett Elementary does the "Division Dance" with her students as part of her summer school math instruction.
Those traveling in Europe a little more than three years ago may have bad memories of an Icelandic volcano causing them to be stuck in airports waiting for volcanic ash to clear the skies, but Lovett Elementary School science teacher Rhonda Goldmann has some hope for a repeat performance later this summer.
Goldmann will travel to Iceland to observe active volcanoes in the hopes of learning more about their positive and negative effects to bring back new lessons for students.
Government Fleet, a leading transportation industry magazine, has announced the top 100 fleets for 2013 and HISD is once again the only school district in the country to earn a spot on the list (not including Honorable Mentions).
2013 will mark the third consecutive year for HISD’s Transportation Services department to be on the list. In 2011, it ranked 57th in the nation among the best fleets in North America, and last year, it moved up five spots to number 52. This year, HISD broke into the top half of the list, with a ranking of number 47.
Scholarship offers for the Class of 2013 continue to pour in. As of this week, HISD’s most recent graduates had been offered $186 million in college scholarships – a new record for the district.
“We expect that number to increase even more over the next few months as students continue to receive word about different scholarships they have applied for,” said Alan Summers, Assistant Superintendent of College and Career Readiness.
E-STEM Academy seventh-grader Jada Malveaux (fourth from L) was recently named the “Gold” award winner in Luby’s Achieving Character Together (ACT) program, earning her free Luby’s meals for a year. With her are (L to R): Luby's Marketing Field Specialist Tiffanie Gupton, E-STEM teacher Joshua Wiley, parents Sharon and Bartholomew Malveaux, and E-STEM Principal Argentina James.
Making good decisions in one’s day-to-day life generally does not elicit public accolades or financial rewards, but for one HISD middle-school student, a willingness to help others and withstand peer pressure has brought her both the applause of her teacher and a prize package worth about $3,500.
Jada Malveaux, a seventh-grader at the E-STEM Academy, was one of dozens of students to be nominated throughout the 2012–2013 school year for recognition through Luby’s Inc.’s ACT Program (Achieving Character Together), which was introduced in September 2008 and designed to promote and reward outstanding character achievement in middle-schools students.
Board of Education Award recipient Sara Jamison, right, gets a hug from Booker T. Washington magnet coordinator Kathleen Moreland, left, after commencement.
Each year the Board of Education recognizes distinguished seniors from HISD high schools in recognition of their total accomplishments exemplified by their character, academic achievement, leadership, and service. Selection is made by a school committee appointed by the principal and the award is presented by the board trustee during commencement exercises. An outstanding young man and young woman are selected as well as up to five honorable mention students from each high school. This year’s recipients are:
Graduating seniors put on their cap and gown while friends and family held back tears before their loved ones crossed the stage and received their diploma.
We went behind-the-scenes at Delmar Field House for a bit of the action before the ceremony for the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice commenced.