Category Archives: District IV – Patricia Allen

Sterling HS valedictorian wins coveted Gates Millennium Scholarship

RobertChildress_250Robert Childress, a senior at Sterling High School, will be following his military dreams to Texas A&M University this fall at minimal cost to himself, after representatives of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced the winners of the Gates Millennium Scholarships for 2015.

Childress, who is the valedictorian at Sterling this year, was one of only 1,000 students chosen from more than 52,000 applicants nationwide—and the sole student selected from HISD.

The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) program was established in 1999 to promote academic excellence and to provide an opportunity for outstanding minority students with significant financial need to reach their highest potential.

Candidates for the GMS award must be citizens or legal permanent residents of the United States. Students must also meet the Federal Pell Grant eligibility criteria, have at least a 3.3 GPA (on a 4.0 scale), and have demonstrated leadership through community service or other extracurricular activities.

A full list of Gates Scholars from the Class of 2015 is available here (link to PDF is at the bottom of the article).

Design charrette held for Askew, Wharton Dual Language, Young Women’s College Prep

Project Advisory Team (PAT) members for Askew Elementary, Wharton Dual Language Academy, and Young Women’s College Prep Academy (YWCPA) spent two days this week in an intensive workshop to put together preliminary design plans for their new facilities.

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Yates HS holds Elective Fair for future freshmen

Yates High School held an Elective Fair and Signing Day event on April 29 for Houston-area eighth-graders to see all that the school has to offer. Yates has two magnet programs—communications and maritime—and a Career & Technical Education program in health sciences.

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DeBakey tops Children at Risk’s list of best Houston high schools for sixth straight year

Reagan HS, Pilgrim Academy, and 20 other campuses also rated ‘Gold Ribbon’ schools

Children at Risk released its annual list of the top schools in the greater Houston area on April 27, and for the sixth consecutive year, HISD’s DeBakey High School for Health Professions was listed as number one.

Four other HISD high schools were included in the top ten: Carnegie Vanguard High School (#2), the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (#4), Eastwood Academy (#7), and North Houston Early College High School (#10).

T.H. Rogers, which serves students in grades Pre-K through 8, has held steady in the number one position among the top middle schools in Houston since 2011, and ranked first at the elementary level since 2012. Other HISD schools in the top 20 were: Wharton K-8 (#5), Pin Oak (#7), Lanier (#8), and Briarmeadow Charter (#15) at the middle-school level; and West University (#2), River Oaks (#3), Horn Academy (#6), Bush (#13), Condit (#14), Oak Forest (#17), and Roberts (#19) at the elementary level.

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Jack Yates HS students tour Houston Public Media

 

Taking advantage of the chance to observe radio and television professionals at work, Jack Yates School of Communications Student Television Network (STN) chapter members toured Houston Public Media’s facilities on the University of Houston campus.

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The students, accompanied by Yates High School journalism instructor and STN sponsor Victoria Syes, observed KUHF staff members during their live radio show. Students also operated studio cameras and spoke with on-air talent Dave Fehling and web producer Stacey Morrow.

Leland Kibbutzim internship to broaden HISD students’ perspective

Ten HISD students will be travelling to Israel this summer to experience life on a kibbutz. Every summer since 1980, the Mickey Leland Kibbutzim Internship Foundation has sent high school juniors who live or go to school in the 18th Congressional District to Israel for a month.

Amber Wright and Tenaya Oliveras (Yates HS); Malcolm Edmonson (Worthing HS); Branaun Galentine (Wheatley HS); Genereux Nkundimana (Davis HS); Nahome Mekonnen (Leland College Prep Academy); David Valdes (Houston Academy for International Studies); Lizette Lerma and Pamela Banner (Carnegie Vanguard HS); and Jazzmin Sanchez (Reagan HS) will all travel to Israel June 6–July 4.

The communal philosophy of caring for one another appealed to the late congressman. Following Leland’s vision, interns learn about life in a collective community and the diverse culture of the region, as well as work, travel and live in Israel. The program is organized, coordinated, and funded by The Mickey Leland Kibbutzim Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston.

HISD students to learn about finance at Rice Summer Business Institute

Rice University has chosen 21 HISD juniors and seniors to attend the 2015 Rice Summer Business Institute (RSBI). The program is designed to broaden the expectations of students from low and moderate income communities as to possible career paths and to develop business leaders for Houston’s future.

Bryan Davila (Chávez HS); Melissa Guzman (Davis HS); Jacory Bellnamy, Lesbia Espinal, Heili Torres, and Elvis Velazquez (Madison HS); Ernesto Camarillo and Lorena Lara (Reagan HS); Abigail Gonzalez, Ruby Rapalo, and Rosa Tristan (Sam Houston MSTC); Giovanna De Leon, Torrance Hunter, and Estefani Reyes (Sharpstown HS); Dante Perez (Wheatley HS); and D’Arius Jackson, Tiarra Jarmon, Joshua Kirkendoll, Charmaine Nealey, Tanya Owens, and La Tresia Wilson (Yates HS) will gain firsthand experience of the fundamentals of finance and business June 13–27 on the Rice University campus.

RSBI provides students with an insight into the world of business, economics, energy, and finance. Participants learn how the stock market works and how to manage a portfolio. They also learn about branding, inspiring others, making ethical business decisions, and how to start a business.

HISD group wins Wayne Williams Library Project of the Year Award

WayneWilliamsGroup_400A group of educators from HISD, including three librarians—Jo Reed (Scroggins ES), Cheryl Hensley (MacGregor ES), and Sue Carnes (Bell ES; now retired)—was recognized recently with the Wayne Williams Library Project of the Year Award for 2015 by the Texas Library Association.

The librarians were selected for coordinating schoolwide reading campaigns at their respective campuses based on the Lunch Lady series of graphic novels by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. The project not only built on students’ enthusiasm for graphic novels, but also increased their awareness of health and nutrition through a cleverly organized partnership with HISD Nutrition Services Dietician Jennifer Lengyel that connected daily meal offerings to literature.

The project was so successful that at Scroggins, interest in graphic novels spurred the principal to quadruple the school’s collection of that type of book from 12 to 48. At MacGregor, circulation of the Lunch Lady books increased by 90 percent. And at Bell, the demand for graphic novels increased so much that emergency rations of books had to be secured.

The Wayne Williams award is designed to recognize a project that exemplifies the highest levels of achievement, professional standards, and inspiration to other libraries. Reed and her colleagues were formally honored during a special ceremony held on April 15 at the Texas Library Association’s annual conference in Austin.

HISD, Prairie View A & M partnership to allow students to earn nursing degree faster

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The Houston Independent School District and Prairie View A&M University partnered Wednesday to announce a new registered nursing pathway for the students of Jones Futures Academy.

The partnership will allow students in the existing Allied Health program at Jones to take college level anatomy and physiology and medical terminology courses that directly align with Prairie View A&M’s nursing degree plan. Continue reading →

HSPVA’s ‘Sound of Music’ nominated for six Tommy Tune Awards

Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) announced the nominees for the 13th annual Tommy Tune Awards, and HISD’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) received six nominations for their production of “The Sound of Music.”

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