Category Archives: District IV – Patricia Allen

Come one, come all: Lanier MS opens debate camp to all middle-schoolers

Lanier Middle School’s debate team consistently is one of the top teams in the nation, and the team’s coach hopes to see the program expand to more middle schools.

Each year, Franz Hill holds summer camps for middle-school students interested in being a part of the debate team. This year, Hill opened the camp to students from all of the district’s middle schools, and the response was bigger than he expected.

“I let in about 34 kids each session, and had to turn people away,” Hill said. “The whole reason we opened it up to more students is because we want to see speech and debate grow in the Houston area. It shouldn’t be something that only students who go to a certain school get to do.” Continue reading →

Pumps & Pipes externship shows teachers how to link learning with careers

Mentors for Mentors gives educators direct access to medical, energy, and space professionals

Whether you’re a cardiologist trying to clear a blocked artery or an engineer trying to drill for oil more efficiently, the mechanics and physics at play are the same.

That’s why 15 educators from seven different HISD campuses attended a “Pumps & Pipes” externship recently to learn how to apply concepts from engineering to medicine and vice-versa.

Pumps & Pipes was founded in 2007 to allow medical, energy, and aerospace professionals to learn from on another by comparing notes on common systems and processes. At the “Mentors for Mentors” symposium, they shared insights they had gained with HISD teachers, so that they, in turn, could get students excited about studying science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

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Petroleum Academy students drill deeper into oil and gas career possibilities

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Students Alejandro Venegas and Shannon Rouhana, who completed their externships with Southwestern Energy, pose with Damien Friend, the company’s chief geologist, at the awards banquet.

The next generation of America’s oil and natural gas leaders took its first eager steps toward securing successful careers in the energy industry, when a group of 55 rising seniors and recent graduates from the Petroleum Academies at Milby, Westside, and Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy (YWCPA) participated in a two-week, job-shadowing opportunity at various Houston petroleum exploration, production, and service companies.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and the Petroleum Equipment & Services Association (PESA) Student Externship Program began in the summer of 2010 to provide a one-of-a-kind experience for future engineering and geosciences students enrolled in the IPAA/PESA Petroleum Academies, and to date, 394 externs have participated.

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Jones Futures Academy freshmen tour Prairie View A&M for insight into nursing, architecture

A group of 70 freshman students from the Jones Futures Academy traveled to the campus of Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) on June 25 to learn first-hand what it takes to  become future construction, architecture and nursing students.

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Incoming freshmen dive into the world of STEM

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While some students are vacationing, incoming freshman at South Early College High School (SECHS) are preparing for long careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through a Summer Bridge Program with Houston Community College.

SECHS is HISD’s only STEM magnet early college, aimed at increasing student awareness of and preparation for careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, all while earning an associate’s degree tuition-free from Houston Community College.

The Summer Bridge Program allows freshman to get a head start on building relationships, developing study habits, and improving critical reading, writing, and math skills. The students also had a chance to tour the Houston Community College campus and see where STEM studies might lead them. Back in the classroom, students have been exploring the range of the STEM world by completing virus and yeast labs and learning computer programming to operate robots.

“We are excited about STEM at South Early,” said Summer School Coordinator Cedric Starks. “I wanted the students to experience working in the science lab, conducting tests and experiments, and using codes to program the robots.”

Great debaters continue their tradition of success

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Lanier Middle School students know that oratorical skill can be a powerful tool. The debate team from that campus attended the National Speech and Debate Association’s National Tournament for High School and Middle School Speech and Debate recently—and walked away with one of the top honors.

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Yates HS grad wins her second Daytime Emmy

In this week’s I am HISD, which features district students, graduates, employees, and other team members, Daytime Emmy winner (and Jack Yates School of Communications Class of 1982 member) Kim Gagne discusses when she realized a career in television was her destiny, how she landed her first job in TV, and the journey that took her from covering crack houses on crime beats to producing “The Steve Harvey Show.”

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Kim Gagne as a fresh Yates HS graduate in 1982…

You have been in the television business for more than 20 years and are now the supervising producer of “The Steve Harvey Show.” How did you get your start and how did that lead to where you are now?

Well, after graduating from the University of St. Thomas in ‘86, I got an internship at FOX 26 in the Community Affairs Department. The news director, Will Wright, got sick of me begging him for a job. I literally begged him to put me in the newsroom. Every time I saw him in the cafeteria or anywhere, I would ask him when he was going to put me in the newsroom. Finally, one day he told me he had a spot on the assignment desk and that was my start. I knew I had to get a job in that building and I had to get that job or any job at FOX.

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Summer Bridge program preparing Futures Academy students for success

Rising sophomores get tips from former Futures Academy students and EMERGE fellows

The journey from high school to college to a career can be challenging, but HISD’s Futures Academy is helping students develop the skills they’ll need to get there.

The Summer Bridge Program is arming rising high school sophomores with critical knowledge in the areas of time management, team building, communication, and money management. Four sessions are scheduled for June and feature classes taught by Futures Academy and EMERGE alumni.

“One way we thought this message would resonate with students is by having former HISD Futures Academy and EMERGE students returning from their first year in college lead the sessions,” said Michael Love, assistant superintendent of the Futures Academy. “This allows the students to learn directly from peers who recently walked the same hallways as them.”

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New bookmobile taking HISD’s literacy message on the road

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.

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.

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‘Chicken Soup’ books to feed students’ reading appetite

Students at Poe ES pose with Principal Jeff Amerson and their new books.

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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