The next eight months of the year will be marked by much progress in the 2012 bond program, including the start of construction on all of the schools in the first group.
“We’re moving very quickly through our design phase,” said Daniel Bankhead, HISD’s general manager of Facilities Design. “This is an exciting time. We’re defining the character of the buildings.”
Last year, a pair of juniors in the EMERGE program at Eastwood Academy had a thought: EMERGE prepares high-performing students from underserved communities to successfully attend and graduate from Ivy League and other top-tier colleges. Maybe EMERGE students could volunteer to help other students study? And with that spark of inspiration, Students With Academic Grit – or SWAG – was born.
HISD students have the opportunity to apply for the new Futures Academies at Jones High School. The districtwide program follows the HISD Board of Education’s decision to keep Jones High School open but to repurpose the campus into a home for a specialty program.
The Futures Academies at Jones — like other academies across the district — will allow students the chance to earn industry certifications, college credits, and even an associate’s degree, all at no cost.
Students who attend Jones will have two high-wage, high-demand career pathways to choose from: Health Sciences or Construction Technology. Health Sciences will give students the opportunity to work toward becoming a certified nurse assistant or certified personal trainer, with the possibility of going on to earn advanced degrees in nursing or physical therapy. Construction Technology will offer students the opportunity to work toward becoming an industrial electrician or HVAC technician, with the potential to earn advanced degrees in construction technology. Both programs will operate in partnership with Houston Community College.
“Our students can earn more than just a high school diploma. They are being prepared for both, high paying jobs and college,” said Geovanny Ponce, who recently was named as principal and will oversee the rollout of the new program and its pathways. “The decision to take a job or go on to pursue a four-year degree will be in their hands.” Ponce previously served as the principal of Hartman Middle School and is credited with helping to develop the school’s health and medical science magnet program.
The deadline to apply is May 21. Applications are available at the school as well as online at www.houstonisd.org/futuresacademy
Hundreds of parents took advantage of the sunshine to head out to the School Choice Fair on Saturday, April 26, and many were surprised to find that some specialty and magnet schools still had spaces available.
A seventh-grade student at T.H. Rogers School has won a Gold Key in The Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards for her touching essay about what it’s like to have a sibling with autism.
Hailey Skye Tulio, 12, wrote about her life with her 22-year-old brother, Patrick. She said she chose Patrick as her topic because spreading autism awareness is very important to her.
Hailey Tulio
“There are many different kinds of autism, and each person diagnosed will have his own unique actions and expressions,” Hailey wrote. “In Patrick’s case, he’s in the middle, not too oblivious to the world, but not that aware of it either. If you ask him if he is ‘happy or sad,’ he will always say that he’s ‘happy’ even though he feels differently.”
Hailey’s essay is an honest glimpse into the challenges Patrick and his family face daily. She vividly describes the not-so-good times.
Houston ISD’s JROTC program formally honored its top six cadets from the class of 2014 during the annual HISD JROTC Final Review and Awards Ceremony on April 26.
The students were chosen from the ranks of all seniors in HISD’s 26 JROTC programs and all were promoted to cadet colonel (Army JROTC) or cadet captain (Navy JROTC), which is the highest ranking attainable in the JROTC program.
The selection board members for this year’s competition consisted of cadets from Texas A&M University. Cadets received points based upon their scholastic standing, demonstrated leadership skills, and participation in extracurricular activities. At the competition, cadets were awarded points for their proficiency on a JROTC curricular-based skills test, an oral presentation, a personal evaluation consisting of military courtesy, knowledge of current events, appearance, knowledge of geography, and an evaluation of first-aid techniques such as lifesaving, bandaging, and transporting sick and wounded victims.
The top six graduating seniors from the class of 2014 are:
Juniors who have been identified as needing a boost toward college readiness are being offered the chance to sign up for preparatory classes in mathematics and English language arts in their senior year.
The courses are being developed through a partnership between HISD and the Houston Community College System as part of recent state legislation, known as House Bill 5.
“Summer is about reading anywhere,” says Texas Connections Academy eighth-grader Maggie Martin. That philosophy – and her ability to illustrate it in a compelling design and slogan – has made Martin the winner of HISD’s contest to create a logo for the 2014 “Read Houston Read” district summer reading program for kindergartners through fifth-graders.
Martin’s design, entitled “Every Summer Has a Story,” will appear on all HISD summer reading program materials, including a special parent toolkit that will be sent home in May to encourage summer reading as a family activity.
The Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation on Thursday unveiled a plan of action to boost literacy rates across people of all ages, and is partnering with the Houston Independent School District and other organizations to make literacy a top priority.
“We will not end the cycle of poverty until we end the cycle of low literacy,” said Bush Foundation President Julie Baker Finck in unveiling “Houston’s Literacy Crisis: A Blueprint for Community Action.”
“The blueprint’s purpose is to increase awareness of Houston’s prevalent literacy crisis, elevate literacy as a top priority, and mobilize the community into action,” she said.
The announcement follows the presentation of HISD’s comprehensive literacy plan – Literacy By 3 – to the Board of Education at a workshop last week. The plan engages students, teachers, parents, and community members around the goal of having every student reading with proficiency by Grade 3.
They’ll be front and center stage at each of their graduation ceremonies in a few weeks, but next week, HISD will honor high school valedictorians and salutatorians altogether at the annual Scholars Banquet, to acknowledge the accomplishment of finishing in first and second place in their class academic rankings.