Tag Archives: Carnegie Vanguard HS

Students use artistic talents to raise money for blind Chinese orphans

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When asked how they spent their summer months, many students answer that they went to the beach or a swimming pool, visited with relatives, or took a vacation.

But one student from Carnegie Vanguard High School was able to write a most unusual “what I did over my summer vacation” essay this fall after she spent a week and a half in June playing the piano to benefit needy Asian children.

Senior Kerrigan Quenemoen, along with her partner, Kenneth Yu (who graduated this spring from Bellaire High School), were invited to do a series of charity concerts in China to raise money for blind Chinese orphans. Continue reading →

Museum features nine students’ artwork in teen exhibition

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Artwork created by students from Carnegie Vanguard High School and the High School for Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) is on display at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston through July 19.

The museum’s Teen Council organized the exhibition, titled Perspectives 189: From the Margins, which focuses on marginalization and its personal, political, and social manifestations.

Nine HISD students created pieces that were selected for the exhibition. The following students are participating: Continue reading →

HISD students venture into the world of STEM at Rice

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Eastwood Academy student Michael Casio tests water samples in a microbiology lab.

A chemistry formula is just letters to be memorized until it becomes the answer to a problematic disease.

This summer, a group of HISD students are interning in various labs at Rice University and finding such answers. Linked Learning, an HISD program that initiates applied and career-based learning, created these internships with help from the Rice Office of STEM Engagement. More than 300 students applied for 12 spots, making the six-week paid internship applicant pool more competitive than that of a top-tier college.

At the Rice labs, each student is paired with a graduate student mentor. The interns are helping their mentors research everything from Alzheimer’s disease to solar cells to volcanoes. After a few short weeks in the advanced labs, the interns can now toss out scientific terms without a hint of a stammer and handle chemical samples as if it were second nature. Continue reading →

First female Carnegie Vanguard student president wins leadership award

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Mai Pham

Mai Pham, a 2015 graduate of Carnegie Vanguard High School (CVHS) has been awarded a scholarship from The Texas Lyceum, a program dedicated to fostering youth leadership.

In May, the Lyceum distributed $35,000 in scholarships to seven students. The winners were selected from a pool of 900 applicants from all over Texas based on their leadership, academic accomplishments, personal essays, and letters of recommendation. Continue reading →

Teacher scores a bull’s eye by demonstrating physics through archery

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Ernie Vita, who just finished the ninth grade at CVHS, nocks his arrow in P.E. class

Ernie Vita, who just finished the ninth grade at CVHS, nocks his arrow in P.E. class

Jamie Scott, a science teacher at Carnegie Vanguard High School (CVHS), has been demonstrating various principles of physics to her students this year using archery sets purchased with a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) grant.

The $11,000 grant from TPWD’s Community Outdoor Outreach Program also allowed Scott to buy camping equipment for the school’s ECO (Environment, Community, and Outdoor) Club, and purchase tools and plants to convert the school’s green roof into a “pocket prairie,” with help from the Katy Prairie Conservancy.

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Student creates powerful video on post-Memorial Day flood

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When classes were cancelled in the Bayou City due to flooding on May 26, senior Jay Mondkar did not waste his day off. Mondkar, a student at Carnegie Vanguard High School, chose to bike to his school and record the aftermath of the flood with his Nikon D800 camera. He then made a video and posted it on YouTube. Within five days, the video accumulated 2,156 views.

The video, titled “Houston Flooded”, shows scenes of the torrential downpour and water-filled highways, as well as firefighters clearing roads and Houstonians navigating the damaged city.

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DeBakey tops Children at Risk’s list of best Houston high schools for sixth straight year

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Reagan HS, Pilgrim Academy, and 20 other campuses also rated ‘Gold Ribbon’ schools

Children at Risk released its annual list of the top schools in the greater Houston area on April 27, and for the sixth consecutive year, HISD’s DeBakey High School for Health Professions was listed as number one.

Four other HISD high schools were included in the top ten: Carnegie Vanguard High School (#2), the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (#4), Eastwood Academy (#7), and North Houston Early College High School (#10).

T.H. Rogers, which serves students in grades Pre-K through 8, has held steady in the number one position among the top middle schools in Houston since 2011, and ranked first at the elementary level since 2012. Other HISD schools in the top 20 were: Wharton K-8 (#5), Pin Oak (#7), Lanier (#8), and Briarmeadow Charter (#15) at the middle-school level; and West University (#2), River Oaks (#3), Horn Academy (#6), Bush (#13), Condit (#14), Oak Forest (#17), and Roberts (#19) at the elementary level.

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Leland Kibbutzim internship to broaden HISD students’ perspective

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Ten HISD students will be travelling to Israel this summer to experience life on a kibbutz. Every summer since 1980, the Mickey Leland Kibbutzim Internship Foundation has sent high school juniors who live or go to school in the 18th Congressional District to Israel for a month.

Amber Wright and Tenaya Oliveras (Yates HS); Malcolm Edmonson (Worthing HS); Branaun Galentine (Wheatley HS); Genereux Nkundimana (Davis HS); Nahome Mekonnen (Leland College Prep Academy); David Valdes (Houston Academy for International Studies); Lizette Lerma and Pamela Banner (Carnegie Vanguard HS); and Jazzmin Sanchez (Reagan HS) will all travel to Israel June 6–July 4.

The communal philosophy of caring for one another appealed to the late congressman. Following Leland’s vision, interns learn about life in a collective community and the diverse culture of the region, as well as work, travel and live in Israel. The program is organized, coordinated, and funded by The Mickey Leland Kibbutzim Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston.

Four students win national recognition for their writing talent

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Four students from HISD schools have been recognized at the national level this spring through the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

Bellaire High School’s Liana Wang and Carnegie Vanguard High School’s Victoria Songyang won Gold Key Awards, while Bellaire High’s Christina Tan and Gabriel CyPacht from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts won Silver Key Awards.

Only 39 students in Harris County earned awards at the national level of this competition, which is sponsored regionally by the Harris County Department of Education. To see a full list of winners, please click here.

The Gold Key winners will be honored at a ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City in June.

Student Congress members share their concerns with state legislators

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Nine HISD students travel to Austin over spring break to make their voices heard

Nine students from various HISD high schools got a chance to influence Texas law last week when they traveled to Austin on March 17 for a visit to the state capitol.

The trip offered high-schoolers a behind-the-scenes look at the law-making process and a chance to express their concerns about various issues to state legislators.

Carnegie Vanguard High School seniors Raquel Douglas and David Valerio spoke with the staff of almost 20 representatives, focusing particular attention on members of the Public Education Committee.

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