HISD’s School Choices are Great All Over, from Academics to Extracurriculars
There’s an impressive “school choice” story to share with you today from Sharpstown International School, which is a grade 6-12 HISD magnet that emphasizes global citizenship. More than 130 countries are represented in the student body, and they speak more than 90 languages – with the majority fluent in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Urdu or Farsi.
For student musicians and their advisers from Sharpstown International School, the trip to a band competition in Sealy was worth it. Fifteen SIS musicians earned seats in the regional band, and ninth-grader Loi Lao, fifth from left, moved on to state competition.
SIS is one of those shining examples that HISD is able to use when we talk to parents grappling with the decision to choose between public and private schools, worrying about the notion that maybe that a school with a specific focus doesn’t offer enrichment programs up to the levels that they would find elsewhere.
It’s not often that our schools go head-to-head with private schools, but recently, the stellar student musicians from SIS competed with their counterparts from about 20 of the Houston area’s finest private schools at the Association of Texas Small School Bands regional audition in Sealy. The result: 15 SIS musicians earned seats in the regional band – the highest number from any school — and performed in concert last weekend at Houston’s Kinkaid School (which, incidentally, placed 14 musicians in the band). Loi Lao, an SIS ninth-grader who has been playing the clarinet for only two years, has been chosen to compete at the state level in January in Waco.
Congratulations to all these young people and to their band directors, Kelly Brunson and Troy Morris. And thanks to SIS for adding another example to our bragging rights about the overall excellence of our focused school options. That’s music to our ears.
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