Westbury HS band surprises Michael Strahan at Hall of Fame parade

Westbury High School’s band and dance team traveled to Canton, Ohio, last weekend to celebrate former student and athlete Michael Strahan’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and they had a special surprise for him.

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Strahan played for Westbury for one year, and attended and played at Texas Southern University before his 15-year career with the New York Giants. The last game he played was Super Bowl XLII, which the Giants won.

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Washington HS students take lift-off dreams to New Mexico for seventh straight year

After eight months of construction, five Booker T. Washington High School engineering students finally had a chance to try to launch the high-powered hybrid rocket they nicknamed The Golden Eagle Four. The students traveled to the White Sands Missile Range last week in New Mexico to launch the rocket, hoping to see it reach a height of 100,000 feet.

“Seeing our rocket on the launch pad was one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen,” said Washington senior Michael Ortiz. “We worked so hard to get to that point. We started with calculations on paper to drawing a rocket to actually seeing the rocket on the launch pad.”

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New Middle College High School trains corps of leaders

When the new Middle College High School-Gulfton campus starts classes Aug. 25, it will already have a trained group of student leaders.

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About 40 seniors from the school learned confidence- and team-building skills last week at a five-day summer leadership camp held at Talento Bilingue de Houston. Continue reading →

Lanier MS holds debate camp for sixth graders

Incoming sixth graders at Lanier Middle School got a head start on picking up debate skills for the upcoming school year.

“These kids are going to be ready for competition before maybe some of the other sixth graders,” debate coach Franz Hill said. “We want them to develop confidence and learn the rudiments of putting together arguments and persuasive writing, and how to take initiative.”

Lanier’s debate team is consistently one of the top middle school teams in the nation. The school earned the Overall School of Excellence Award at the National Speech and Debate Association’s Middle School Tournament in June. Continue reading →

“Educalos” Weekly segment to discuss district’s reading initiative Literacy By 3

Hilarion Martinez, principal of Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, will discuss Literacy By 3, a district wide initiative which aims to have every child reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade. The program is based in guided reading, independent reading and teacher-facilitated read-alouds at the elementary level and in varying proven strategies for secondary students. Martinez will discuss Literacy By 3’s strong emphasis on school readiness for preschool children and professional development to improve teacher effectiveness in K-3 grades. This is the first episode of weekly segments that will run through May. Continue reading →

First HISD FUTURES class to graduate with college degrees, work certifications

The Houston ISD FUTURES Academy will recognize 84 students who earned an associate’s degree or work certification from Houston Community College at a graduation ceremony as part of the academy’s mission to prepare students for job opportunities in high-demand technical fields. The ceremony is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 7 at Houston Community College Southwest, 5601 W. Loop South. Continue reading →

Verdict is unanimous: Legal internships provide solid evidence of nurturing attorneys

Even HISD’s own Assistant General Counsel Izzy Anderson is a product of the CIS program

Until this summer, Davis High School student Shantelle Martinez had never set foot in a real courtroom. Now, the rising senior is planning for a career in criminal justice—and all because of her experience in an eight-week legal internship program this summer coordinated by Communities in Schools (CIS), in partnership with the Houston Bar Association. Continue reading →

Don’t close that book just yet: Summer reading competition now has prizes

HISD’s summer reading program just got a lot more competitive.

The district’s corporate partner, myON, has announced that it will be extending students’ access to its online library through Aug. 31 and offering prizes to students who read the largest number of books and/or spend the most time reading there. HISD joined forces with the company earlier this year to expand students’ access to age-appropriate reading materials.

HISD students who place in one of the following four categories will receive a free mini home library from Capstone: Continue reading →

PowerUp teachers learn how easy it is to create video productions

Educators from almost two dozen high schools got a lesson in super-quick video production and “flipped” classrooms recently, when their peers from the Mooresville Graded School District in North Carolina came to Houston to share their expertise on one-to-one student/laptop initiatives.

This cute video, created by the team from Mooresville to show how easy short films are to produce, features teachers from the Phase II schools who completed the training.

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