The Waltrip High School Jazz Ensemble #1 has won first place at the National Jazz Festival.
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Austin HS students talk business on GRAMMY Career Day with music industry professionals
Stephen F. Austin High School was selected as a recipient of the GRAMMY Signature Schools Award. The GRAMMY Signature Schools Award is designed to honor public high school music programs across the country with special awards and grants based primarily on need and a compelling plan to address that need.
The GRAMMY Museum awarded a grant of $5,500 to Stephen F. Austin and hosted a virtual question and answer session on Friday with over 60 students in the performing arts department. Industry professional guests on the panel included moderator David R. Sears, GRAMMY Museum vice president of education of GRAMMY In the Schools, Larry Batiste, music director and owner of LaSugar Bear Entertainment and producer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/composer/arranger Jason Goldman.
Continue readingHISD Fine Arts Extravaganza this Saturday with Miller Outdoor Theatre
The HISD Fine Arts Department is ending the school year in a big way, with a live virtual performance with Miller Outdoor Theatre.
The free virtual event on Saturday, May 22, will feature performances from across the district. The program will include performances from band, choir, piano, guitar, orchestra, dance, theatre, and the visual arts, with students from kindergarten through high school.
Continue readingSchool Choice application deadline for Phase 2 is Feb. 26
Parents who would still like to apply for a school choice program for the 2021-2022 school year have until Friday, Feb. 26 to do so.
After all applications in Phase 1 have been offered, eligible Phase 2 students who meet a program’s qualifications will be considered in the order in which their application was submitted, should the program have space available.
Any applications for students who live outside the HISD boundaries will not be considered until Phase 3, even if the application was submitted during Phase 2.
Continue readingHISD to name student winners of 2020 holiday greeting card competition
The Houston Independent School District on Monday, Nov. 16, will unveil the winners of the district’s 2020 holiday greeting card student art competition.
This year, 18 students from HISD elementary, middle, and high schools were named finalists from a total of 99 entries. The 18 finalists were chosen by the district’s area superintendents. Those 18 entries then went to HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan for judging. She then chose one elementary, one middle school and one high school to represent the district as winners.
During a virtual ceremony beginning at 12:30 p.m. at Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, the winning cards will be announced by HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan.
Continue readingHISD grad receives scholarship for work in MFAH’s #StrongerThanCovid photo series
An alum of the Houston Independent School District was recently presented with a college scholarship from Houston’s prestigious Orange Show Center for Visionary Art.
Mary Onwumere, a 2020 graduate from Lamar High School, received the $500 scholarship for her work in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s #StrongerThanCovid photography series. Mary’s work, along with 18 other HISD students, make up a virtual exhibition curated by the MFAH and can be viewed here.
Continue readingMuseum of Fine Arts Houston presents online exhibit featuring HISD students
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston recently released an online photography exhibition featuring works from HISD Class of 2020 graduating seniors created during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The virtual exhibition, Stronger than COVID-19: Empowering the Seniors of Houston Independent School District to Reclaim the Narrative of Their Senior Year, was inspired by Booker T. Washington High School art teacher Maya Imani Watson, who, as the mother of a class of 2020 senior, wanted to give students from 12 HISD high schools the opportunity to take back the story of their senior year, which had been sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Continue readingHigh school fine arts students use dance to connect
Students from Bellaire, Lamar, Madison, Milby, Westbury, and Westside high schools collaborated on a dance piece performed in response to a strong poem written and recited by Andrea Minotti, a senior dance student at Westside High School.
“This situation will fade, but we can’t run away from it,” he writes, “so as the days go by, sitting inside, what you will make of it?” Minotti’s powerful message inspired the dancers to express their emotions during this difficult time.
Continue readingDance students base project on Pershing MS student’s narrative
Students from Black, Gregory-Lincoln, Hamilton, Meyerland, Pershing, and Revere middle schools collaborated on the HISD Dance Connected project, inspired by a narrative written by Pershing Middle School student Mariam Galstyan.
Mariam’s narrative, which is read by Gregory-Lincoln student Kendal Burns, was inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic. Meyerland PVA teacher Chadwick Peters did the video editing and sound mixing.
Continue readingParker ES chorus named finalist for American Prize National Competition
HISD’s Parker Elementary School Chorus has been selected as a finalist in the 2019-2020 American Prize National Competition in the Performing Arts.
Parker’s advanced chorus, under the direction of Marianna Parnas-Simpson, is nominated for The American Prize in Choral Performance—youth division. The advanced chorus is made up of fourth and fifth-grade students.
“It is a huge honor for our Parker students and their families to be recognized like this on a national level,” Parnas-Simpson said. “It is a testimony to their hard work and dedication to the choral art.”
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