Category Archives: College Readiness

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

[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/123442324″ ]

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.

HISD Board of Education votes to accept $8.5 million in grants for college readiness programs

The Houston Independent School District Board of Education voted Thursday to formally accept $8.5 million in grants for programs designed to help high school students get into and graduate from college.

The Houston Endowment awarded the district with two separate grants — $5.5 million and $3 million — in February. The $5.5 million grant will be used to expand the district’s successful EMERGE program to all high schools, while the $3 million matching grant will be used to deploy 28 new college success advisors to campuses across the district.

Continue reading →

HISD Board of Education to accept $8.5 million in grants for college readiness programs

The Houston Independent School District Board of Education will vote Thursday to formally accept $8.5 million in grants for programs designed to help high school students get into and graduate from college.

The Houston Endowment awarded the district with two separate grants — $5.5 million and $3 million — in February. The $5.5 million grant will be used to expand the district’s successful EMERGE program to all high schools, while the $3 million matching grant will be used to deploy 28 new college success advisors to campuses across the district. Continue reading →

HISD juniors awarded grant to visit Great Britain this summer

Four HISD students will travel free to Great Britain this summer, thanks to the British Foundation of Texas’s (BAFTX) Junior Achievers award. The students will travel for nearly two weeks learning about British culture.

Continue reading →

Fourth-graders visit Texas A&M and University of Texas at Austin

[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000dYUFQDF.Z4o” g_name=”201503-Shadowbriar-trip-to-TAMU” 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” ]

It’s never too early to get students excited about college. Shadowbriar and Mading elementary schools took fourth-grade students on college visits recently. Close to 150 Shadowbriar students, teachers, and staff, as well as some alumni parents, traveled to Texas A&M University (TAMU), and 55 Mading students went to University of Texas at Austin (UT).

Continue reading →

Deadline to register for free school day SAT administration quickly approaching

Juniors must sign up by April 1 to be able to take the test

Since the spring of 2010, HISD has offered 11th-graders the opportunity to take the SAT, a college entrance exam, at no cost on a normal school day, but students must register by April 1 in order to be eligible to take the test on April 15, 2015.

Students should see their high school counselor to get their free registration voucher and sign up as soon as possible.

Continue reading →

High schools compete to win money for completing financial aid application

Priority deadline for FAFSA/TASFA is March 15 for first-round consideration by many colleges, as well as a few Texas scholarships and loans

Six HISD high schools could win up to $750 for having the largest percentage of students complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by March 15.

Thanks to Advise TX and Texas A&M University, 13 HISD high schools have college graduates on campus year-round advising low-income students on what is required to get into a good school and how to pay for higher education.

“HISD is very happy to partner with Advise Texas to ensure that our students receive additional support in navigating the college and financial aid process,” said Assistant Superintendent of College Readiness Rick Cruz. “They are one of our strong continued partners that do great work alongside our staff to support our students.”

These college graduates are working hard right now to get seniors at their schools (see list of schools below) to complete their FAFSA by the March 15 deadline. Submitting the FAFSA or Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA) by the priority deadline is highly recommended for students seeking to qualify for any of the following: Top 10 Percent Scholarship, Texas Grant, and Texas B-On-Time Loan.

Advise TX College Advising Corps is similar to Teach for America or the Peace Corps in that it places graduates in a position for one to two years after graduation and pays them a salary. Advise TX is part of College Advising Corps, a national organization that works to increase the number of students who enter and complete higher education.

Continue reading →

HISD students offered more than $250K in scholarship money at Black College Expo

[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000eSr2jb.Pvxw” g_name=”20150228-Black-College-Expo” 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” ]

About 450 HISD students attended the 2015 Black College Expo Tour on Saturday, Feb. 28, and a fair amount of those students received “on the spot acceptances,” as well as more than $250,000 in scholarship money.

Continue reading →

Upcoming Texas Alliance of Black School Educators (TABSE) Parent Summit to offer resources and information for parents

The annual Texas Alliance of Black School Educators (TABSE) Parent Summit is being held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Houston Hilton Westchase, 999 Westheimer 77042. The event is free for parents, and will offer information and resources on topics such as federal student aid, communicating with tweens and teens, bullying and cyber-bullying, special education processes, and more. Continue reading →