Category Archives: Volunteers and partnerships

Girl Scout project brings Lamar HS senior state, national attention

Kianna Hawkins

Kianna Hawkins

A project taken on as one Girl Scout’s quest for the Gold Award has earned her additional recognition at the state and national levels.

Last year, 17-year-old Kianna Hawkins led an initiative called “EyeCare4TeenVision” to provide basic eye-care services and corrective lenses to needy young people. As a part of her project, she joined forces with various local organizations to coordinate a vision screening event for teens and collected more than 300 pairs of gently used eyeglasses. Those efforts led to Kianna earning the Gold Award, which is the highest honor a Girl Scout can receive (see related local newspaper story here).

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New partnership seeks to recognize outstanding HISD teachers

Chick-fil-A and Telemundo are seeking the public’s help in recognizing outstanding HISD teachers by nominating educators for “Teacher of the Month” from February through May.

Winners will receive free Chick-fil-A for a year, a catered breakfast at their school, and recognition on Telemundo’s platforms.

Anyone can submit a nomination, but to be eligible, nominees must be active HISD teachers. For complete details, please see this nomination form (.pdf).

HISD seeking families and home instructors for HIPPY program

HISD’s Family and Community Engagement department is still recruiting families and part-time home instructors to work with the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program for the 2015–2016 school year.

HIPPY is a school readiness program for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children that helps parents prepare their preschoolers for academic success. Instructors visit parents in their homes for an hour a week over a 30-week period during the school year, and model research-based learning activities designed to help Pre-K children develop skills in reading, math, and science. Parents then practice the activities with their children over the week until they learn a new activity during the next lesson. Children whose parents participate in the program consistently outperform their peers in reading and math in kindergarten and first grade.

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Street artist, Codwell ES students re-imagine NCAA March Madness logo

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Well-known Houston street artist GONZO247 shared his craft with about a dozen Codwell Elementary School students on Jan. 20, creating a colorful painting of the new men’s NCAA March Madness logo.

The painting will hang in a soon-to-be-restored basketball court at the Jim & Barbara Morefield Boys & Girls Club, which serves nearly 1,000 predominately African-American youth.

The new NCAA logo was announced immediately following the art lesson at a press conference celebrating the NCAA men’s college basketball Final Four tournament, which will be held in Houston April 1–4. The painting was unveiled at the press conference, along with a plan to restore the basketball court.

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Students ‘tackle’ hunger through Souper Bowl of Caring

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Students from dozens of HISD schools began gathering canned goods and other non-perishables this week to help fight hunger in Houston through the Souper Bowl of Caring. The annual food drive, which is designed to channel sports enthusiasts’ excitement about professional football into helping the less fortunate, kicked off on Jan. 20, and students have already started collecting donations.

“When I think of hunger, it’s always been in the context of a place far away, like a third-world country that is impoverished,” explained Carnegie Vanguard High School student Christine Huang. “The fact that Souper Bowl of Caring really focuses on the national and local levels is something I’ve never seen before.”

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HISD students serve on Souper Bowl of Caring Local Youth Advisory Board

More than a dozen HISD students are serving as Local Youth Advisory Board (LYAB) members for this year’s Souper Bowl of Caring. Souper Bowl of Caring is a national youth-led movement that utilizes the energy of the Super Bowl to collect food items and donations for local charities that work to fight hunger.

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All cash and food donations collected between January 18 and February 7, 2016,  are donated back to the local community. The vision is to turn the nation’s biggest weekend of football into the largest weekend of giving and serving.

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Student-run Apollo Market serves 200 families more than 6,000 lbs. of groceries

Sharpstown High School students, as well as volunteers from Morgan Stanley, Memorial Hermann, and Volunteer Houston, made the holiday season a little brighter for their community at last weekend’s Apollo market. Approximately 200 families were provided with more than 6,000 pounds of groceries.

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The Apollo Market is a weekly food distribution run entirely by student volunteers, but the December 12 market included a special holiday fair for the community, which included:

* fresh groceries, including a turkey

* a recipe demonstration by the Sharpstown High School HealthCorps Cooking Club

* free blood-pressure screenings from Memorial Hermann Southwest staff

* the opportunity to learn more about the onsite Memorial Hermann school clinic

* a nutrition demonstration by Houston Food Bank staff

* booths with holiday games and activities provided by Morgan Stanley staff * the opportunity to register for eligible social services with Epiphany Community Health Outreach Services (ECHOS).

“This was such a great event to support the local community.” said Sharpstown community member Kim Benson. “I was impressed by the students, who were helpful and sweet. It really puts you in the holiday spirit.”

HISD, Houston Symphony, BBVA Compass announce new music program at Crespo ES

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Houston Independent School District, Houston Symphony and BBVA Compass announced Friday a joint partnership that will integrate the Houston Symphony and orchestral music into the lives of students in grades 3-5 at Crespo Elementary School in southeast Houston.

The Houston Symphony School Residency at Crespo Elementary presented by BBVA Compass, in its pilot phase during the 2015-16 school year, will be structured around lessons, instrument demonstrations and performances. Continue reading →

Chevron contributing up to $1M to public schools through Donors Choose

HISD teachers have been partnering with Donors Choose to support student learning since that organization first launched in 2000.

Now Chevron Products Company, a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., has offered to donate up to a million dollars through Donors Choose to fund eligible classroom projects at public schools in Harris County.

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