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September 15, 2008
You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday: Austin teachers wins Dallas Cowboys-autographed car
From the Texas Department of Transportation:
Julia Payne, a teaching assistant at Clint Small Middle School in southwest Austin, was the winner of a new Ford Hybrid Escape in the “Drive Clean Across Texas” sweepstakes, sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Dallas Cowboys. That’s Dallas Cowboys Safety Roy Williams autographing the steering wheel of Payne’s new ride, above.
According to the Department of Transportation’s press release, Payne did her part to improve air quality in Texas by combining trips in her fuel-efficient Honda Civic.
For the sake of Texas’s air quality, she might want to stick with the Civic for highway driving, at least. The Ford Hybrid Escape gets a 2009 EPA-estimated 34 mpg city/31 highway in forward wheel drive. The 2009 Civic sedan gets 25 mpg city/36 mpg highway.
The Civic Hybrid gets 40 mpg city/45 mpg highway. If only Honda sponsored the sweepstakes.
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September 8, 2008
You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday: San Marcos schools celebrate Grandparents' Day
From the San Marcos school district:
Claire Avalos and her proud grandparents enjoyed a Grandparents’ Day breakfast together at De Zavala Elementary School on Friday. (Photo by Kelly Bost)
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September 2, 2008
You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday: San Marcos welcomes students back to school
Because many are returning to work and school after the three-day weekend, this week’s You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday features a “Welcome Back to School” parade at Travis Elementary School in San Marcos.
According to San Marcos district spokeswoman Iris Campell:
San Marcos CISD’s Travis Elementary took the “Welcome Back to School” message to the streets —literally— when 17 pickup trucks full of teachers, administrators, and support staff paraded through neighborhoods with enthusiastic messages on Friday, August 15. Beginning about 9:45 am, the portable pep rally drove through the Regency Mobile Home Park, C.M. Allen Homes, and Allenwood Homes before returning to the Travis Elementary parking lot.
Travis is looking forward to “great things” this school year, principal Niki Konecki said.
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August 18, 2008
You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday: Wimberley kids graduate from sheriff's academy
This week’s You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday comes courtesy of the Hays County Sheriff’s Office:
During the week of July 14 through July 18, 2008, the Hays County Sheriff’s Office held it’s annual Junior Deputy Academy at the Wimberley VFW Post 6441. Twenty six children, ages 8 to 11 years of age attended this years academy. The class consisted of presentations by Wimberley EMS, Wimberley Fire, Air Evac Helicopter, Pedernales Electric Cooperative, Hays Caldwell Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and several sections of the Hays County Sheriff’s Office.
Graduation took place on Friday, July 18 with a presentation and refreshments by the American Red Cross. Hays County Sheriff Allen Bridges (the guy in the white cowboy hat in the back row) presented certificates to graduates and thanked their families for the sacrifices many of them made to ensure that their children were able to attend the class.
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July 28, 2008
You oughta be in pictures: Solar Nachos
San Marcos teachers learned ways to use hands on activities in the classroom to illustrate concepts like renewable energy and energy efficiency, such as showing students how to use a solar oven to cook food.
The experiment was part of program called the Solar for Schools Project, a partnership with the State Energy Conservation Office and the City of San Marcos Electric Utility Department aimed at teaching students about energy concepts.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Kudos!, Photos, San Marcos schools
July 14, 2008
You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday: Akins High junior crowned Miss Junior Teen Texas
From Austin school district spokeswoman Roxanne Evans:
Akins High School junior Taylor Semone Henry, above, was recently named Miss Jr. Teen Texas United America (sic). Taylor’s win gives her a chance to earn a $500 scholarship and the opportunity to compete in the Miss Jr. Teen United America pageant at 3 p.m. October 19 at the Wyndham Hotel in Austin.
Taylor, 16, is an honor roll student in the New Tech High at Akins. She is a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters, a volunteer with the iChoose Program, a program designed to help students make healthy lifestyle choices, and a volunteer with GenClub, a mentoring program for middle school girls. Taylor, pictured below with her mother Alvenetta Henry, is also a member of Rosewood Avenue Missionary Baptist Church and is employed by the Austin/Travis County Youth Works Program.
This was Taylor’s first pageant competition. The pageant is affiliated with the Texas United America Pageant.
Here’s hoping that Taylor avoids the pitfalls Miss USA evidently tripped over last night:
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July 7, 2008
You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday: Austin young poets head to national competition
From Austin school district spokeswoman Roxanne Evans:
Two students from the Austin school district will be part of a four-student poetry team that will compete in the 2008 Brave New Voices Under-21 Poetry Slam Nationals in Washington, D.C. next week.
LBJ High School student Ruby Willmann, shown above performing at an April poetry slam in Austin, and Reagan High School student Shanitra Harris, show below performing at an April poetry slam in Austin, will be part of the team that also includes students from the Round Rock and Killeen school districts.
This is the fourth year in a row a Reagan High School student will compete and the second year Harris has qualified to be a member of the Central Texas team to compete nationally. The students advanced in local contests sponsored by the Austin-based Texas Youth Word Collective to reach the national competition
The young poets will compete against more than 200 other young poets from the United States, Canada and Europe in venues including the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, the Atlas Performing Arts Center, and the Lincoln Theater.
The Texas Youth Word Collective youth literacy project is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts through the Texas Commission on the Arts.
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June 30, 2008
You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday: San Juan Diego Catholic High School in Austin
This week’s You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday features artwork by David Baker, who graduated from San Juan Diego Catholic High School in Austin in June. (The school featured Baker’s artwork on a greeting card, which is how I got my greasy paws on it.)
At San Juan Diego, which was founded in 2002, students spend spend five days a month working as clerks or in other capacities at local businesses or non-profits. It’s one of a group of about 20 corporate work-study Catholic high schools nationwide focused on serving students from low-income families and modeled on Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago.
As part of the school’s corporate work-study program, Baker worked at the law offices of Clark, Thomas & Winters and at Dell, Inc.
Baker’s artwork presents a contemporary rendering of St. Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican who reported seeing the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe and having her image imprinted on his cloak in 1531. In Baker’s work, “the saint is professionally dressed like the students of San Juan Diego Catholic High School” and bears the school’s seal on his chest, according to the explanation on the card’s reverse.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Kudos!, Photos, Private schools
June 23, 2008
You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday: Austin history competition winners
O. Henry Middle School parent Judith Bryant tells us that three students at Austin’s O. Henry Middle School excelled at a state-wide history competition and advanced to a national competition. The students produced independent projects on subjects including the development of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the World War II Battle of Luzon and Big Bend National Park. Pretty cool stuff, no?
According to the Texas State Historical Association, Fulmore Middle School student Kevin Brenner (in Mary Anne Wilkinson’s class) also won at the national level for his website Until She Spoke: The Haitian Revolution of 1804.
Bryant writes
Seventh grade Pre-AP History students at O. Henry Middle School recently participated in a local, regional and state-wide Texas History Day competition…[choosing] any event in history as their subject, as long as it related to the 2008 National History Day theme of “Conflict and Compromise.”After the state-wide Texas History Day competition, which was held at the Bob Bullock Museum and the University of Texas on May 3, three O. Henry students qualified to compete at the national level.
Kevin Espinoza, center, son of Annette and Carlos Espinoza, placed second in the state in the Individual Documentary category. His film, “The Wright Amendment: How Conflict and Compromise Helped the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex,” examined the original controversy surrounding the proposed closing of the Dallas Love Field airport and the compromise amendment, proposed by then Speaker Wright, that allowed Southwest Airlines to continue operating out of Love Field after DFW airport was built. As part of his research, Kevin interviewed Speaker Wright personally, as well as others involved, and used that footage in his documentary.
Will Bryant, right, son of Judith and Bill Bryant, placed second in the state in the Historical Research Paper category for his paper “The Battle of Luzon: Deadly Conflict; Deadlier Compromise.” His paper examined the World War II conflict in the Philippines on the island of Luzon and the ultimate surrender of thousands of American troops to the Japanese, which resulted in events arguably worse than the conflict, such as the infamous Bataan death march. The paper also chronicled the personal ordeal of Captain Adolph H. Giesecke, Will’s great, great uncle, who lived through these events and then died in Japan as a POW. As part of his research, Will interviewed Captain Giesecke’s son, Dr. Adolph Giesecke, Jr., as well as other family members. His paper has also been chosen by the Texas State Historical Association to be published in the 2008-2009 Texas Historian.
Trent Butler, left, son of Laura and Allen Butler, placed second in the state in the Individual Performance category, writing and performing a one-man play entitled “The Birth of Big Bend National Park.” Trent’s play required him to act in several different roles: a rancher, a state representative, a Civilian Conservation Corps worker and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Each character explained what he needed from the land that became Big Bend National Park, revealing conflict and compromise in the process. A highlight of Trent’s research was interviewing nine former Civilian Conservation Corps workers at the 75th CCC reunion held at Bastrop State Park in March.
O. Henry’s participation in the history day competitions was organized by O. Henry History teacher Duane Devereaux, who worked countless hours preparing the students for each level of competition. As a result of his efforts, a record twelve O. Henry students made it to the state competition, with three advancing to compete at the National History Day Competition at the University of Maryland in June.
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June 16, 2008
You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday: Lake Travis student gets diploma after nine tries
Lake Travis school district spokesman Marco Alvarado sent us this story about a former migrant student who passed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) — and earned her Lake Travis High Schol diploma — after nine tries at the TAKS test.
Alvarado writes that Guadalupe Jaimes, 23, pictured above on the left receiving her diploma from school staff, passed the science portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) on her ninth try, officially earning her diploma from Lake Travis High School (LTHS):
School principal Charlie Little and staff from the counselor’s office arrived at the Chicken Express in Lakeway where Jaimes works unannounced just before the lunch-hour rush on May 20 and presented Guadalupe with her diploma.
“I am so happy,” said Jaimes, a native of Nuevo Copaltepec, Mexico, who was joined at the impromptu ceremony by her sister Hilda, nieces Jessica and Alex, and nephew Fernando. “I didn’t expect this. I know how I feel, but I can’t find the words to say it.”
While most freshmen enter high school at the age of 14 or 15, Guadalupe was 17 years old when she enrolled at LTHS in the fall of 2002. But even more challenging, she didn’t speak a word of English. Upon enrollment in Texas public schools, students like Guadalupe labeled as Limited English Proficient (LEP) are initially exempt from taking the TAKS. However, they are closely monitored by their teachers and counselors via a Language Proficiency Assessment Committee—or LPAC—to ensure the TAKS is administered at the earliest practical date. At one point, Guadalupe’s LPAC indicated she did not understand English well enough to master TAKS. But with assistance from LTHS Spanish/English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher Jessie Bejarano and others who were determined to see her succeed, Guadalupe persevered.
In order to graduate from a Texas public school, all students must pass each section of the TAKS which includes Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, and Science. For Guadalupe, science proved to be an obstacle, eight obstacles to be exact. But just as Ms. Bejarano was determined to help Guadalupe master the English language, LTHS science teacher Angela Frankhouser focused all efforts on Guadalupe and the challenges she faced with the TAKS.
“Guadalupe’s success is a result of her hard work and perseverance,” said Ms. Frankhouser. “She never quit. Her success was the culmination of the time and dedication of many science teachers and counselors at the high school that worked closely with her. Each time she was to take the test, Sherrie Raughton—our head counselor—made sure to arrange tutoring with our amazing science teachers. Many people contributed to Guadalupe’s success. The greatest contribution, however, was from Guadalupe herself. She made this happen.” “Ms. Angela,” as Guadalupe refers to her, “helped me get through (the science TAKS),” admitted the youngest of five sisters and a younger brother who attends Lake Travis Elementary School. Guadalupe’s ninth and successful attempt came in April 2008. “I am thankful to Ms. Bejarano and Ms. Angela for helping me graduate.”
While her current employment provides Guadalupe with a steady diet of valuable experiences and a reliable income, she doesn’t plan on serving-up legs and thighs for too long. “I want to go back to school and become a bilingual teacher.”
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Kudos!, Lake Travis schools, Photos
June 9, 2008
You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday: Austin math whizzes
Rene LeBlanc from the Pentathlon Institute writes to tell us that a team of students from Clayton Elementary School in Southwest Austin won the National Team award in the National Mathematics Pentathlon Tournament. The Clayton team was the first from Texas to bring home the award.
Austin student Eryn Dickerman (above) also received the Delbert Detwiler award for participating in the Math Pentathlon for eight years in a row. Dickerman is the third person in the state of Texas to receive the award.
According to the Mathematics Pentathlon website, “Mathematics Pentathlon is a program of interactive problem-solving games, supportive curricular and instructional activities, and assessment tools for ALL students in grades K-7. This motivational program strengthens basic math concepts and skills, aligns with National and State Mathematics Standards, and stimulates creative thinking while developing problem-solving skills.” Over 1,000 Texas students and about 200 schools nationwide participate in the Math Pentathlon tournaments.
Here are the math pentathletes in action:
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June 2, 2008
You oughta be in pictures Monday: Library book give-away
Music for Literacy, the group organized by an Austin school district librarian to allow Austin musicians to donate to Austin public school libraries, has been giving away books for the summer. As the following pictures prove, the gifts have been making some kids very happy. Thanks to Elizabeth Medrano, who runs the Blackshear Elementary School library, for sending us these shots.
The first book distribution was at Blackshear May 27. This week, kids from Govalle Elementary School will be getting books.
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May 19, 2008
You Oughta Be in Pictures Monday: San Marcos students
Third graders at De Zavala Elementary School in San Marcos “razzled and dazzled” their audiences during several performances of the musical extravaganza “Circus, Circus!” Thursday, the San Marcos school district communications director, Iris Campbell, writes.
The event, produced by music teacher Mary Irwin included magicians and tumblers, faux elephants and lions, a Ringmaster and a strongman, clowns and much much more, as they say.
(Above we’ve got Marc Anthony Palalcios as a colorful clown, below we’ve got clown Tiffany Futch, dancer Samantha [no last name given] and the Big Top stage itself.)
