Marlen Peña has been named the new principal of Lewis Elementary School. Peña began her career as a second-grade teacher at Herrera Elementary School, worked as a health teacher at Eastwood Academy, and served as the magnet coordinator at Burbank Elementary School. Her most recent assignment was assistant principal at Benavidez Elementary.
Peña earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas State University and a master’s degree from the University of Houston-Clear Lake.
Photo courtesy Jeff Fitlow/Rice University
Chávez HS students build, test their skills through unique partnership with Rice University
Thinking up a concept, executing its design, and thrilling in its success—or learning from its failure—that’s what the Cardboard Boat Regatta at Chávez High School is all about.
Eleven teams comprised of sophomore, junior and senior girls, with mentoring assistance from Rice University graduate students, GE Oil & Gas volunteers, and Chávez HS faculty, raced cardboard boats of their own design on June 25 in the new signature event of the three-year-old Rice University Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering (IBB) Girls STEM Initiative.
Students from Furr and Chávez high schools tour largest wastewater facility in the city
The source of our water is becoming the source of a career for several HISD graduates. Fifteen students who just graduated from Furr HS and Chávez HS were selected to partake in a three-week class on water maintenance that will result in them gaining Class D water operator licenses as well as eligibility for employment with the City of Houston Public Works Department.
The class is a part of HISD’s Linked Learning initiative, which combines academics and hands-on learning to prepare students for real-world experiences and career pathways.
Librarians Alice Hedstrom (Almeda ES), Cheryl Hensley (MacGregor ES), and Jo Ann Reed (Scroggins ES) and Library Specialist Gloria Dennis get ready to take the bookmobile on the road. Photo courtesy Muses3 LLC.
Children living on the far north and south sides of Houston have a new reading resource this summer—and it will be coming to them.
HISD’s brand-new bookmobile will be visiting city parks in the North Forest and Sunnyside communities on alternating Fridays to provide children with a chance to pick out their own reading materials without having to visit a library.
Students at Poe ES pose with Principal Jeff Amerson and their new books.
A new partnership between the Boniuk Foundation and Chicken Soup for the Soul is helping students in HISD and across Harris County to develop more cultural awareness while simultaneously building their literacy skills.
The partnership kicked off on May 14 at Poe Elementary School, where a group of students gathered to open boxes of books that were being delivered to the libraries of every school in Harris County.
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Mastering words is a way of mastering the world. And students at Chávez High School have proven such mastery by winning the first annual Vocabulary.com Vocabulary Bowl.
The nationwide competition challenges students to sign up and play vocabulary games. For each word a student masters, his or her school receives a point. The competitive aspect spurred Chávez students to accumulate an impressive 303,387 points.
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Seguin Elementary hosted the school’s first Robo-Tech Expo, which showcased skills and projects students learned in robotics and technology classes during the school year. Students in grades K-5 presented two-dozen projects, including robots, technology, and programming projects, to students, staff, and about 40 parents on May 19, 2015.
Students at almost two dozen HISD schools are now better able to explore the visual arts, after their campuses won art supply kits valued at $1,000 each from the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts (GRFA). The schools received the kits after submitting grant requests to George’s Art Closest, an initiative of the organization named for the well-known Louisiana-based artist who created “Blue Dog.”
Up to 20 campuses also got free field trips to a temporary exhibit of Rodrigue’s artwork at West Avenue at River Oaks, 2800 Kirby Dr., second floor, and Adrienne Lewis’ third-grade math class at Field Elementary School even received a visit from the artist’s son, Jacques Rodrigue, on May 18. Continue reading
Trustee Paula Harris (far L) presents the Board Awards to some of the first graduate from the Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy
Each year, the HISD Board of Education honors distinguished seniors from district high schools in recognition of their accomplishments, as exemplified by their character, academic achievement, leadership, and service.
Selections are made by school-based committees appointed by each principal and the awards are presented by the trustee representing each district during commencement exercises.
One outstanding young man and young woman are selected from each high school, as well as up to five honorable mention students. A list of this year’s award recipients is here (.pdf) and a list of the students receiving honorable mention is here (.pdf).
HISD held its fourth annual Celebration of Excellence at the Hilton Americas Hotel on May 15, 2015, and one of the evening’s most exciting moments came when the district’s Elementary and Secondary Teachers of the Year were announced.
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Robert Uzick, a fourth-grade teacher at Cunningham Elementary School, and Jessica Joseph, a sixth-grade math teacher at Hogg Middle School, have been named the winners of these awards for 2015. Continue reading