Tag Archives: College Readiness

Dream Summit workshop to help HISD DREAMers achieve higher learning

For dreamers, it isn’t just about the hope of attaining citizenship but their dreams for a better education. The process of post-secondary education begins in high school, but for many, it isn’t an easy process. With a little help, however, their dreams can be achieved.

College Readiness and Multilingual will be hosting a virtual Dream Summit Senior Workshop from 2:00 to 2:45 p.m. on Oct. 20 (sign up here). The workshop aims to assist students with applying for both college admission and financial aid.

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HCC dual-credit classes to continue online

The Houston Community College System last week announced that due to nationwide school closures, high school students will have access to dual-credit courses online.

Beginning Monday, March 30, all HCC classes, including dual-credit courses, will resume with all coursework online. All courses will be completed through the college’s learning management system (LMS), Canvas.

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Thousands of HISD students to receive high school diplomas at graduation ceremonies

Nearly 10,000 high school seniors from across the Houston Independent School District will receive their diploma at graduation ceremonies held this week for the Class of 2016.

The district’s first graduation ceremony will be held Tuesday, May 24 for the Mickey Leland College Preparatory Academy for Young Men with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner as keynote speaker. The school will graduate its second class of seniors this year with 11 students. The 6th through 12th grade campus is one of two single-sex academies established by HISD in 2011. The ceremony is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Kingdom Builders Center, 6011 West Orem Dr. Mayor Turner also will speak at the graduation ceremony Thursday, May 26 for Energized for STEM Academy High School and at the ceremony for Carnegie Vanguard High School on Friday, May 27.

Additional graduation ceremonies will take place around the city between Friday, May 27 and Sunday, May 29 at various locations, primarily at the Barnett Fieldhouse, Butler Fieldhouse, NRG Stadium, Texas Southern University campus, and Williams Pavilion. Continue reading →

HISD to celebrate College Signing Day as part of White House education initiative

The Houston Independent School District will commemorate national College Signing Day on Tuesday, April 26 by encouraging high school seniors to tout their college acceptance letters and wear college paraphernalia as part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Better Make Room and Reach Higher initiatives to celebrate education.

HISD will host its College Signing Day event at Austin High School, where more than 300 high school seniors will be recognized for their academic excellence. The event will bring together students, administrators, teachers, school counselors and parents to celebrate seniors who are headed to college, thanks to academic scholarships. Many of the students will be the first in their families to attend college. Continue reading →

HISD students have opportunity to attend four college fairs in February

Houston Independent School District students will have the opportunity to attend several upcoming college readiness fairs being held across the city. The events are supported by HISD’s College Readiness department, which is committed to providing higher education access to all HISD students. All events are free for HISD students. Students should check with their college access coordinator to see if school-based transportation is available. Continue reading →

College success advisor corps highlighted by Houston Public Media

Last April, HISD’s Board of Education voted to accept $8.5 million in grants to support the district’s college readiness programs. One of the initiatives those funds made possible was the creation of a 28-person corps of college success advisors, whose ambitious goal is to boost college application, attendance, and completion rates among HISD graduates.

After just one semester of having the corps in place, HISD is already seeing a significant increase in the number of students applying to college — and that has caught the attention of local news media.

The corps’ success is the subject of a Jan. 22 article on Houston Public Media’s website, in which reporter Laura Isensee notes the district’s college application rate has jumped the most among Hispanic students.

“The program so far is making a pretty significant difference,” said Ruth Lopez Turley, a Rice University professor quoted in the article.

Click here to read the full story.

64 HISD students named National Hispanic Recognition Program finalists

Sixty-four seniors from 15 Houston Independent School District high schools were recognized for their academic excellence as part of the College Board’s 32nd annual National Hispanic Recognition Program.

The HISD seniors are among about 5,000 students from across the country and abroad to be named finalists in the program, which colleges use to identify academically exceptional students of Hispanic or Latin descent to receive scholarships. The district more than doubled the number of honorees this year, up from 26 finalists last year. Continue reading →

63 HISD students named National Merit semifinalists

Sixty-three seniors from six Houston Independent School District high schools qualified as semifinalists this week in the 61st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. HISD had 56 semifinalists last year.

The HISD students are among 16,000 from across the country to earn the semifinalist designation, allowing them the opportunity to continue in the academic competition and vie for more than $32 million in scholarships that will be awarded in the spring.

They attend Bellaire, Carnegie Vanguard, and Lamar high schools, DeBakey High School for Health Professions, Eastwood Academy, and the High School for the Performing & Visual Arts. Continue reading →

Interactive bus to help students learn more about health, science, tech careers

[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/123442324″ ]

HISD’s completely revamped career bus is hitting the road.

The district’s Career Readiness Department unveiled the newly remodeled vehicle—known as the Career Ready Wagon—on March 26, when it made its inaugural visit to Atherton Elementary School.

The bus is designed to allow elementary school students in third, fourth, and fifth grades the chance to explore possible career interests before advancing to middle school. It features a robotics station, a flight simulator, and a welding simulator, as well as an electric station that allows students to build their own electrical circuits. Also inside are four touchscreen monitors where students can test their career knowledge with a short quiz and watch a career-related video.

The bus will visit another 10 elementary schools — Anderson, Dávila, Emerson, Field, Garcia, Helms, Jefferson, Mading, Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School, and T.H. Rogers — throughout April and May.

The bus is sponsored by HISD and CenterPoint Energy.

Also see this related story on HISD’s one and only Career Cowboy, Jake Breier, who was the subject of an “I Am HISD” profile last October.