Jane Long Academy senior successfully navigates pharmacy tech program, family duties

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Editor’s Note: This week, thousands of HISD seniors will receive their diplomas during graduation ceremonies across the district. Many of our students have overcome challenging circumstances during their educational journeys. We are sharing a few of their stories this week.

Jonathan Urquilla is graduating from Jane Long Academy with an associate’s degree in pharmacy technology. It’s been a long time coming for him, but he has even bigger plans to become a doctor one day.

Jonathan was born in San Francisco to a Salvadoran mother and Mexican father, but his father was not part of his life growing up. His family owned a Salvadoran restaurant in the Bay Area, but when they were forced to move out of the building, his mother brought Jonathan and his siblings to Houston, where they had family.

“I have an older brother, but he went off on his own pretty early, so I became the man of the house,” Jonathan said. “I always worked to help support my mother and my little sister, first in the restaurant where his mother worked, and later at Walgreen’s.

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Bellaire High School wins national economics competition

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A team of Bellaire High School students successfully put their economic skills and knowledge to the ultimate test to win the top prize at the 16th annual National Economics Challenge held this week in New York City.

Bellaire now has won two of the last three of these challenges in the advanced placement, international baccalaureate and honors students division of the competition. The team was among eight finalist schools to compete in the two-day competition hosted by the Council for Economic Education. The competition began with more than 10,000 students. Continue reading →

Lee High School stakeholders sign steel beam to be used in construction of new building

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On the last day of school, Lee High School students, staff and community members had the opportunity to sign one of the final steel beams to be erected in the construction of their new school.

The school, recently renamed Wisdom High School by the HISD Board of Education, is being rebuilt as part of HISD’s voter-approved, 2012 Bond Program. It is slated to receive a new $73.8 million facility to accommodate 1,700 to 1,900 students.

“The beam signing is an awesome experience for the kids. They’ll remember it forever,” said HISD Trustee Harvin Moore, who represents the school. “This is going to be an amazing campus when it’s finished, and I’m extremely pleased with the progress.”

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HSPVA construction project goes underground

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Construction on the new High School for the Performing and Visual Arts is well underway in downtown Houston, as workers have already excavated 25 feet into the Earth and hauled away roughly 55,000 cubic yards of dirt to make way for the building’s two-level, underground parking garage.

“When the weather was cooperating with us, we were running 40 trucks per day, averaging close to 400 loads per day out of the hole,” said Wesley Moncrief, senior project manager with McCarthy Building Companies, the construction manager at risk on the project. “Dirt removal will be finished in the next few weeks and then we’ll install two large tower cranes.”

Other activities happening this summer are installation of spread footings, the perimeter basement walls, and subsurface drainage. Barring any major impact to the schedule, Moncrief said he expects concrete to be poured for both levels of below-ground parking as well as the main ground floor of the building by the end of 2016.

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Refugee flourishes at Westbury HS, will graduate with full scholarship to study physical therapy

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Editor’s Note: This week, thousands of HISD seniors will receive their diplomas during graduation ceremonies across the district. Many of our students have overcome challenging circumstances during their educational journeys. We are sharing a few of their stories this week.

Ludreche Bouanga was 11 years old when he moved to Houston with his family from Gabon, a country bisected by the equator on the Atlantic coast of Africa.

The young refugee spoke no English and knew little about American culture when he started as a middle-school student in HISD. Seven years later, the 18-year-old is graduating from Westbury High School with a scholarship to attend Allen Community College in Kansas, where he plans to study physical therapy and run track and cross country.

“I didn’t think it was possible,” he said. “But I met some people who helped me along the way.”

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Nutrition Services honors cafeteria employees at End of the Year Awards 

Nutrition Services school cafeteria staff on Tuesday were honored at the department’s End of the Year Awards gala. The ceremony, held at Wheatley High School, recognized school cafeterias and individuals at elementary, middle, and high schools.

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The Rusk School to become middle school with health and medical focus

For young students with an interest in a health or medical career, there is a new magnet middle-school program in HISD.

Beginning with the upcoming school year, The Rusk School will transform from PK–8 into a middle school with a medical focus.

“We are very excited about the big changes coming to Rusk,” said Principal Daniel De León. “The new middle school will be modeled after the highly successful Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan. We have room for up to 250 students in sixth grade, and we want parents to begin applying now.”

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North Houston Early College HS opens doors early for visit from graduating seniors

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Having spent six years in a temporary campus, Principal Angela Lundy-Jackson couldn’t stop smiling as she showed off the new North Houston Early College High School, one of 40 schools being rebuilt or renovated under HISD’s 2012 bond program.

“Everyone is just giddy,” she said. “It’s been a tremendous learning process but now I see the reward.”

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Tanglewood MS celebrates new building and a new name

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Tanglewood Middle School community members on Monday evening marked two significant milestones in the history of the Galleria-area school: the dedication of their new building addition, and the renaming of their campus from Grady to Tanglewood.

“We’re excited to have the entire building finished. We’ve been in T-buildings a really long time,” said Principal Gretchen Kaspar-Hoffman. “It has a collegiate feel to it. I think our kids stand a little taller and listen a little better in this environment.”

The $14.8 million addition, which opened to students in February, is the first project to be completed under the Houston Independent School District’s 2012 Bond Program. It expands student capacity at the school from 580 to 850, and completes the multi-phase master plan for the campus, which began with funds from the 2007 Bond Program. The new wing features 24 classrooms, six science labs, six learning commons, and three administrative suites.

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