Category Archives: District VIII – Judith Cruz

High school students research Houston environmental issues

Furr HS environmental communications students present at a Houston City Council hearing with program business partners, Jackie Young of Texans Together and Juan Parras of T.E.J.A.S.

Furr High School students testified before Houston City Council on Dec. 16, asking authorities to reject a new trash proposal currently under consideration by the city. According to reports, the council members were impressed with the students’ speeches.

The students are enrolled in Furr’s Environmental Communications pathway, part of HISD’s Linked Learning program that combines rigorous academics with hands-on learning and real-world experiences, thanks in part to a $30 million federal Race to the Top grant.

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Pre-K students get a holiday surprise

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Preschool students at Farias Early Childhood Center enjoyed an early holiday treat Tuesday, Dec. 16. Santa and his helpers along with HISD high school students and members of Leading Ladies, a nonprofit female youth service organization, distributed toys to 380 excited four-year-olds. Continue reading →

Students give up texting, social media for technology timeout

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Most students can’t put down their phone long enough to go days without texting or accessing their social media account. But several students at Eastwood Academy were up for the challenge. Continue reading →

Early college plus early childhood equals innovative family literacy event

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HISD’s East Early College High School (EECHS) recently held its very first family literacy day—but it wasn’t for the benefit of its own students.

Instead, the event was designed to get some of the district’s youngest pupils interested in reading, and all students from nearby Laurenzo Early Childhood Center were invited to attend. Continue reading →

Grant brings free books to every student at Crockett ES

Mimi Vance (pink sweater) and former Houston First Lady Andrea White (burgundy sweater) visited Crockett ES on Dec. 2

Every student at HISD’s Crockett Elementary School encountered a very special guest bearing gifts on Dec. 2—but it wasn’t Santa Claus.

On that day, four different authors came to campus with copies of their books, which they read aloud from and talked about with students. Pre-K and kindergarten students heard from Mimi Vance and former Houston First Lady Andrea White, who co-authored “Tummies on the Run” and “Snuggles.” First-, second-, and third-grade students met Keith Graves, who wrote “Monsterator,” while fourth- and fifth-graders met René Saldaña, author of “The Mystery of The Mischievous Marker.”

The visits were coordinated by Assistant Principal Dina Rayo-Kirkconnell, who obtained a grant from the Texas Book Festival to underwrite it. The grant also allowed each student to take home a copy of the book he or she learned about, and paid for extra copies of each book to be purchased for the library.

HSPVA breaks ground for new school in downtown theater district

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Construction at the new High School for the Performing & Visual Arts got an enthusiastic start on Sunday with a groundbreaking ceremony that drew hundreds of people to the school’s new location downtown.

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Day 5: Sixth graders to teach kindergartners how to code

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Sixth graders from The Rusk School will use their newly acquired coding skills to show kindergartners how to code on Friday, Dec. 12. The sixth graders, who have been coding all week as part of the Hour of Code global initiative, will work together on coding activities with the youngsters on iPads and laptops. 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 →

Students explore similarities of medicine, energy, aerospace at Pumps & Pipes

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Forty HISD students experienced what it would be like to be a surgeon and an engineer at Pumps and Pipes, where thousands of medicine, energy and aerospace professionals and researchers exchanged ideas and explored crossover technologies in each industry.

“The aerospace, energy and medical fields have different techniques, but they basically use the same concepts,” said Energy Institute High School sophomore Shawn Attar.

Students from Energy, Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan, DeBakey High School for Health Professions, Furr High School, Kashmere High School, Lamar High School, M.C. Williams Middle School, and South Early College High School attended the annual event Monday, Dec. 8 at the Houston Methodist Research Institute. The event is organized by ExxonMobil, Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, University of Houston, and NASA. Continue reading →

eNews Highlight: College acceptance letter helps quiet student’s fears

Though she’s well on her way to completing no fewer than 16 different applications to various universities, HISD student Olaide Sode was still worried about not getting into college until she received her very first acceptance letter about a month ago.

Read how this milestone experience helped diminish some of the Carnegie Vanguard High School senior’s anxieties in the Dec. 5, 2014, edition of eNews.

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