Category Archives: Career/technical education (CTE)

Westside HS students win Cooking Up Change competition for second time

CookingUpChangeThree students representing Westside High School’s Culinary Arts Program won grand champion for the second year in a row at the Cooking Up Change Culinary Competition held on March 28.

Jalien Noel, Jose Acosta, and Briseida Salas wowed judges with a Cajun chicken with black bean hoppin’ John, Texas cabbage and greens, and pineapple turnover. Their winning meal will be featured on next school year’s high school lunch menu. The team will also travel to Washington, D.C. in June to represent Texas in the national Cooking Up Change competition against more than ten teams from across the nation.

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Interactive bus to help students learn more about health, science, tech careers

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HISD’s completely revamped career bus is hitting the road.

The district’s Career Readiness Department unveiled the newly remodeled vehicle—known as the Career Ready Wagon—on March 26, when it made its inaugural visit to Atherton Elementary School.

The bus is designed to allow elementary school students in third, fourth, and fifth grades the chance to explore possible career interests before advancing to middle school. It features a robotics station, a flight simulator, and a welding simulator, as well as an electric station that allows students to build their own electrical circuits. Also inside are four touchscreen monitors where students can test their career knowledge with a short quiz and watch a career-related video.

The bus will visit another 10 elementary schools — Anderson, Dávila, Emerson, Field, Garcia, Helms, Jefferson, Mading, Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School, and T.H. Rogers — throughout April and May.

The bus is sponsored by HISD and CenterPoint Energy.

Also see this related story on HISD’s one and only Career Cowboy, Jake Breier, who was the subject of an “I Am HISD” profile last October.

Second annual career day at Foster Elementary

More than a dozen careers were represented by attendees at the second annual Career Day at Foster Elementary recently. Attending the event were engineers, police officers, a sheriff, an attorney, a counselor, insurance agents, dental representatives, and even a snake-handler from Texas Snakes.

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Yates HS students receive practical training for health services careers

Students at Yates High School are getting practical experience in the health services arena. The Health Science Program at Yates HS is in its first year, and the new Jack Yates Community Clinic opened at the beginning of March. Services provided in the Community Clinic include blood pressure screenings for faculty, staff and students, height and weight measurements, and patient education. Continue reading →

Need help applying and paying for college?

fafsa-promoFebruary is full of free events to help HISD families

Navigating the college application process and finding financial aid to pay for higher education can be somewhat daunting for both students and parents, but HISD and various community partners are here to help throughout the entire month of February.

Mark your calendars, and check below for a list of FREE fairs, expos, and events that are open to middle- and high-school parents.

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Students to get a jumpstart on entering the oil and natural gas industry

Beginning this semester, at least 1,000 high school students from 12 HISD schools will have access to cutting-edge oil and natural gas curriculum and resources to earn a basic petroleum industry certification during high school. The certification is typically required for entry-level positions in the oilfield. The OPEN Petroleum Education Network will offer students in the program at least four online courses in petroleum, oil well drilling, well control, and rig pass. Students who successfully complete the introduction to well control course and the rig pass curriculum will be eligible to receive a certificate from the International Association of Drilling Contractors.

“By educating early on about these opportunities and by providing foundational skills, the program will give HISD students a jump-start on well-paying jobs before they even graduate from high school,” said HISD Career Readiness Assistant Superintendent Michael Webster.

Participating high schools include: Chavez, Energy Institute, Furr, Kashmere, Lamar, Mickey Leland College Preparatory for Young Men, Milby, Reagan, Waltrip, Westside, Wheatley, Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy.

Futures Academy pharmacy students receive white coats, scrubs

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Nearly 200 HISD students in the Futures Academy of Pharmacy Technology at Jane Long Academy received white coats and scrubs during the program’s third-annual White Coat Ceremony Wednesday. Continue reading →

HISD to link virtual learning to classroom with on the job video conferences

Career professionals will soon be able to join an HISD class virtually to speak to students live on camera about their industry, giving students an up-close and personal look at numerous professions.

As part of a new HISD Linked Learning initiative to combine core academics with career-based knowledge, hundreds of career and technical education teachers participated in a two-hour training this week to learn how to use Nepris.com, a web-based platform that easily connects teachers and students with industry experts for video conferences. Although teachers often organize face-to-face student visits with professionals, this tool will allow teachers and students to participate in these sessions without having to leave the classroom.  Continue reading →

First-year school nurse revives campus club to encourage STEM careers

HISD’s Booker T. Washington High School is usually known for its magnet engineering program, but some students there have an interest in healthcare—and one first-year school nurse is helping them to explore it.

Members of the Booker T. Washington High School health club examine a sheep’s heart during a field trip to the Houston Health Museum.

Members of the Booker T. Washington High School health club examine a sheep’s heart during a field trip to the Houston Health Museum.

Worthing High School alumna Shara Fontaine, who joined Team HISD in 2014 after nine years as a labor and delivery nurse and a stint in the U.S. Air Force, resurrected the student health club at Washington last fall to better serve students with career aspirations in healthcare. The club now has about 15 members, and Fontaine has been coordinating special activities to further stoke their interest in that field. Continue reading →

Kroger leads mock job interviews for students studying human resources, retail

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Austin High School students met with Kroger human resources executives to participate in mock job interviews to help prepare for future career opportunities as part of the school’s human resources and retail pathway. Continue reading →