Madison HS Teacher Named KBR Science Teacher of the Year

Madison High School’s Vladimir Gonzalez Lopez (right) was named the 2014 KBR Science Teacher of the Year. With him is last year’s second place winner, Samuel Saenz.

Vladimir G. Lopez, a physics teacher at Madison High School, isn’t interested in spoon-feeding his students their lessons.

“Science is a process,” he said, “And you can’t expect anybody to give you the answers. Students have to do the experiments and try new things, because that’s what they’re going to need when they’re doing real science.”

It’s precisely that commitment to cultivating students’ own investigative skills that has made Lopez the first-place winner in KBR’s fifth annual science awards program. The contest was created in 2009 to recognize new and effective models of instruction that emphasize the scientific method and critical thinking skills.

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Underwater robotics take HISD girls to national competition

Students from Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy participated in the national SeaPerch Challenge at the University of Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss., last weekend.

The students recently were selected as first place in poster/presentation winner at a regional competition, which advanced the school to nationals for the first time. The students placed 20 out of 42 in the national competition.

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Ready, set, Name That Book!

From “Go, Dog, Go” for pre-K and kindergartners to “Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick” for 12th-graders, the reading lists for the 2014-2015 Name That Book competition are online — just in time for leisurely summer reading.

There’s an added incentive to tackle the lists now: Books read from the Name That Book selections will count toward HISD students’ summer reading program goals, and if they’re checked out from a local public library, toward the library’s summer reading program levels.

The Name That Book competition is sponsored each spring by HISD’s Department of Library Services. It’s a program designed to familiarize students with classic literature as well as contemporary, award-winning books across a variety of genres. Teams of students are asked questions about books in their reading level that will test their comprehension of characters and plotlines.

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14 Austin HS students earn welding certificates

Fourteen Houston ISD students are certified welders thanks to a partnership between the district and Houston Community College.

Four seniors and 10 juniors from Austin High School graduated with Basic Welding Helper Certificates on Saturday. How did juniors earn the certificate? The courses the students took at Austin HS were dual credit and the juniors also completed required classes at HCC Southeast, which made them eligible for the certificate.

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Mayor: Read during summer to continue sharpening skills

Houston Mayor Annise Parker stopped by Blackshear Elementary on Monday to encourage students to keep reading over the summer.

“I happen to think the No. 1 reason to like to read is because it’s fun,” Parker said. “You can read about different places. You can read about things that are completely imaginary.”

Parker said teachers can tell which students read over the summer and which ones didn’t because reading skills tend to fall back when children don’t read.

Officials from Houston ISD and the Houston Public Library told students, many sporting Cat in the Hat hats, about their summer reading programs. Students can participate in both programs without having to read separate books — and can gain separate sets of incentives.

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HISD Police Department to participate in TxDOT’s ‘Click It or Ticket’ campaign

The Houston Independent School District Police Department is teaming up with local and state law enforcement agencies and the Texas Department of Transportation for the 13th annual “Click It or Ticket” seat belt enforcement campaign to increase seat belt use among motorists.

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Bellaire HS students win National Economics Challenge

A group of Bellaire High School students skipped their prom to compete in the National Economics Challenge and won!

Seniors Patrick Giradet, Ridge Liu, Laura Zhang and Jinchen Zou flew to New York City for the quiz bowl, which aired live on CNBC on Monday. In addition to receiving a trophy, the team was awarded the honor of ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

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Waltrip HS senior wins car at Cool to Be Smart

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Nearly 2,000 HISD sophomores, juniors and seniors got together Sunday to let the world know it’s Cool to Be Smart. It also pays to be smart – many students left with prizes — and one senior won a brand new car.

The event honored students who have taken Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or dual language courses and their corresponding exams.

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