Finding ‘The Right Mix’

Challenges are found in all professions. In education, it can be hard to find a common ground between parents, students and co-workers.

Recently, Spring Branch ISD set out on a quest for “The Right Mix” to build lasting professional and courtesy-infused relationships by teaching employees how to combine vinegar and oil into a tasty vinaigrette  dressing with the help of the staff at the Guthrie Center’s Culinary Arts Program kitchens.

Becky Wuerth, district community relations specialist, offers a series of special cooking classes for SBISD employees as part of the Share A Smile customer service campaign. The classes, so far, include, “The Right Mix,” “Recipe for Success,” and “We are Delicious.”

• View Guthrie Center Culinary Department Website >> (Site features video from this event.)

SBISD has put new effort into improving customer service through the Share A Smile campaign, started in August 2012 by Wuerth. The internal program aims at providing top-notch service to students, families, fellow colleagues and the community. SBISD believes that by working as a team, staff can provide outstanding service to the roughly 35,000 students who choose our campuses for an unmatched education.

Wuerth has worked with various colleagues around the district to develop and provide a variety of staff development offerings to support the four cornerstones of Share A Smile campaign: Welcoming, Hearing, Valuing, and Helping customers. Multiple classes have been held for employees at locations that include the SBISD Administration Building and the Guthrie Center.

Most training sessions involve group interaction and hands-on learning to reinforce the concepts.

Each of the three cooking lessons Wuerth teaches covers a separate theme in the Share A Smile campaign. The newest lesson, “The Right Mix,” teaches employees about valuing customers and handling complex situations using the metaphors involved in the process of making a vinaigrette salad dressing.

Led by the Guthrie culinary chefs, more than 55 employees arrived at the culinary kitchen to find an array of ingredients available for combining into unique blends. As they learned about how to deal with difficult customers, the participants worked in groups, to go through the process of making a vinaigrette dressing to sample at the end of the training session with mixed greens and pasta.

“We chose to make vinaigrette dressing because we want employees to learn about working with difficult situations and take them through the process of finding a solution or emulsifying issues,” Wuerth said.

The salad dressing training session uses many analogies to help participants understand the concept. Oil represents the trained employees. Vinegar represents customers with potential problems. Flavorings represent personal character traits, and an emulsifier represents the actions used to bring two people together to make a well-seasoned interaction .

By participating in hands-on learning, employees are able to comprehend and retain more of the material presented. Both “Together We Are Delicious” and “Recipe for Success” involve similarly structured lessons.

“I have been to seminars about giving presentations, and physical interaction is proven to help participants retain knowledge to a higher degree. As a program specialist, I try to get participants up and moving as much as possible,” Wuerth said.

Wuerth’s classes have been held throughout the fall and will continue to be scheduled in the months ahead. Currently designing a fourth culinary class for next year, she hopes to eventually have a food metaphore class represented in all four themes of the Share A Smile campaign.

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Not a Luck(y) Day

Stratford High School graduate and valedictorian Andrew Luck endured five sacks and a clear 29-17 defeat Sunday as the on-a-roll Houston Texans gained a second consecutive AFC South title.

For at his family, friends and coaches in Reliant Stadium on Sunday, Texans fever wasn’t the biggest draw, but rather Indianapolis Colts’ rookie quarterback Luck. Sunday’s game was his first visit to Reliant as a professional player, but not his first as a quarterback.

Luck, who graduated from Stratford in 2008 and then threw for Stanford University, first took the field at Reliant against Cy Falls High School as a junior. His four-year quarterback coach, Jeff Green, was in the stadium on Sunday.

“When Andrew plays, I’m an Andrew Luck guy,” he said flatly. In more than two decades as a coach, Green said that Luck remains the best high school athlete and quarterback that he’s ever worked with. “He is the best player I have had the privilege of coaching.”

With Luck, it was not all football, either. “He’s a great individual. He’s goal oriented. He has a great ability to prioritize. He always is working, and he is one of the hardest working people on the football field or in the classroom.”

Luck is the son of former Oilers backup quarterback Oliver Luck, who was also the first president and general manager of the Houston Dynamo major soccer league. The Dynamo won the MLS Cup in 2006 and 2007. Oliver Luck is now athletics director at West Virginia University, his alma mater.

Andrew Luck’s former high school coach, Eliot Allen, was another Stratford High staff member rooting for the Colts quarterback on Sunday.

“It’s fun watching him,” Allen told the Houston Chronicle. “I think everyone was satisfied just watching him play. I think people who were rooting for him wish he had thrown for 400 yards and several touchdowns. I don’t think that he played poorly, but the Texans are a good team.”

In addition to the team loss, Luck completed less than 50 percent of his passes against the hot Texans. He threw two touchdowns, including a 61-yard pass to T.Y. Hilton.

Selected first in the 2012 NFL Draft, Luck today has the most wins by a rookie quarterback who was a No. 1 pick. He was described by many sports analysts as one of the best quarterback signing prospects. He signed a four-year contract with Indianapolis worth an estimated $22 million.

At Stanford, Luck was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in both 2010 and 2011.

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Little Readers, Big Texans

Houston Texans fever hit Woodview Elementary School on Tuesday as team free safety Glover Quin read aloud stories to third- and fourth-graders and encouraged them to focus on education and being successful in school.

The Texans, who are 11-1, have already secured a spot in the playoffs. On Monday night, they will be tested when the team travels to New England to face the Patriots. The Texans this year are 6-0 on the road. The Patriots, on the other hand, have now won 19 straight home games in December dating back to 2002, sports analysts report.  

“When I was real little, I dreamed of becoming a football player,” Quin told students. “My dad and my teachers and the people I looked up to all told me that as long as I worked hard and did well in school, I could be anything that I wanted to be.

“And so for me, that is what I did. I read and read and studied, and turns out they were right. I graduated from college and then got the opportunity to come and play football for the Houston Texans. I worked hard and my dream came true. But the success that I have is, in part, because of doing well in school,” he told about 180 students in the school gym.

Quin, No. 29 on the Houston Texans, read aloud from rhyming storybook, “Born to Read,” by Judy Sierra, during his special visit.

After reading aloud, he led students back through the storybook’s three key points:

·        Readers win and winners read.

·        Readers can do anything.

·        Readers can go anyplace.

Playing professional football, Quin told the students, is not a practical dream for most of them, despite his own success. Statistics show that playing in professional sports is a million-to-one gamble for most young people, he said.

“So the thing for you to do to increase your chances for success in life is to really try in school. Do well. Be nice to your teachers. If you do well here in school, then you will have a far better future,” he told the rapt audience.

Glover Quin’s visit to Woodview was sponsored by the Texans and the United Way of Greater Houston, which has a youth reading campaign titled “Readers Do Something About It!”

That campaign kicked off Nov. 3 at Reliant Center where 2,500 area residents joined forces to raise awareness about the importance of early reading and developing strong reading skills.

Woodview Elementary students also took part in a children’s book drive, which began early last month. The book drive’s collection goal is 10,000 or more books for distribution by local youth groups in the Houston region.

Reading by an early age is one of the best predictors for a child’s success in school, work and life. During the recent campaign kickoff, United Way of Greater Houston President and CEO Anna Babin said that the ratio of age-appropriate reading material is 13 books to each child in middle-income neighborhoods. By comparison, in low-income neighborhoods the ratio is one book for every 300 children, she said.

During his school visit, Quin was a cheerleader for books and reading. He told the Woodview students that one of the coolest things possible was to be smart, and reading books makes you cool and smart.

“Nobody can ever stop you from picking up a book and reading it,” he said. “Read everywhere. Read and you will even feel better!”

A native of McComb, Miss., Quin was a four-year letterman in football and basketball. He won the U.S. Army Scholar Athlete Award and later attended the University of New Mexico. He was drafted in 2009 as a defensive free safety by the Texans.

Helping make Quin’s visit possible at Woodview were reading intervention specialist Lourdes Perales and Albert Ceniceros, who attended Woodview Elementary and graduated from Spring Woods High in 2008. “Glover is one great guy, and you can see it in the smiles on the students’ faces,” the Spring Woods High grad said.

Woodview students were big fans, too.

“I can’t believe that I just met a real football player,” said Kenneth Perez, who like much of the young generation in Houston this season wants to be a pro football player. Quin’s key message got through to young Kenneth, however. “It made me feel real good inside that he likes to read and to read to kids like us,” he said.

“I loved that he loves to read books to us and I think that he really likes kids,” Destiny Gonzalez declared after Quin’s visit.

Principal Neda Scanlan and other school administrators had to meet the needs of several groups. As the special event closed, many Woodview staff members present stood in line for a chance to receive a Glover Quin autograph.

Quin patiently signed personal papers and other memorabilia. Maybe the young Houston Texans safety should have talked about the importance of reading and writing.

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Community Education: Register Now!

Register now for SBISD Community Education’s roster of Spring 2013 classes. You can enroll and register online, by mail or in person. Classes will begin Feb. 4, 2013.

What’s new in our Community Education classrooms? Check out the courses on computer use and software, bankruptcy and legal rights, dance, arts and crafts, design, sewing and English as a Second Language, to name just a few learning opportunities.

To view offerings, please visit the district’s Community Education site online or at this address:

http://cms.springbranchisd.com/communityed/HowtoRegisterOnline/tabid/25438/Default.aspx

For more information, please call the Education Center at 713-251-1695. Or visit department offices at this address:

SBISD Department of Community Education

9016 Westview

Houton, Texas 77055

The Community Education offices are located behind the Spring Branch Education Center on Westview. Follow the signs and drive to the building’s north side parking lot.

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Stars in the Classroom

Eleventh-grader Brenda Nunez at Spring Woods High School wrote four short paragraphs about debate and speech teacher Vicky Beard, then submitted her nomination to area First Community Credit Union and its Stars in the Classroom program for exceptional educators.

“From encouraging us to attend college and leading our debate team to success, to simply being a second mother to everyone on the student team, she truly deserves to be recognized as a Star in the Classroom,” Brenda wrote.

“A phrase commonly heard from Mrs. Beard is: ‘All of my babies attend college!’ She assures everyone that all those ‘babies’ have a bright future. Realizing that more than 50 percent of our team come from low-income families, she also helpsus gain scholarships.”

Brenda’s message-in-a-bottle nomination found receptive readers at First Community Credit Union. On Tuesday, Dec. 18, Brenda stood stunned with little tears of joy rolling down one cheek inside Board’s debate room.

As one of 10 winners in the credit union’s Stars in the Classroom program, Mrs. Beard won a $500 donation, Houston Texans tickets and sideline passes and a classroom visit by Houston Texan offensive fullback James Casey, who is the face of the Stars in the Classroom program.

In addition to her $500 check and personal congratulations, Casey, presented Mrs. Beard with a signed Texans shirt, No. 86, his player position number. “I’ll never wash it!” Beard beamed.

She also attended Sunday’s game against the Colts with family. “I hollered at you!” she teased the strapping Houston Texan.

Casey’s own life story is an incredible tale of personal loss and achievement. He grew up near Fort Worth, living in trailer homes with his parents. When he was 16 and a sophomore in high school, his mother died in a trailer fire while he was in class.

Essentially homeless, he depended on his girlfriend’s family and his athletic trainer to help him graduate on time from high school. Through it all, he never lost belief in himself and his future.

Brenda won a group audible exclamation when Casey handed her a football autographed by him and by Texans quarterback Matt Schaub. Brenda is a debate class student. Under Beard, students in debate and speech have placed nationally several times recently, and her teams have lined her classroom walls with shiny state and regional trophies.

Beard attended Meadow Wood Elementary, Spring Forest Middle, the former Westchester High School and later graduated from Stratford High. She holds a bachelor’s degree in speech/theatre from Houston Baptist University, as well as a master’s degree in theatre from the University of Houston. Drama pays off for her prize-winning students.

“I am extremely grateful to my student Brenda Nunez who entered me in this contest. She knew we needed the money to pay for entry fees for future debate tournaments that the team will now attend. This is where the $500 will be spent,” Beard said. “It was truly an awesome day which I will remember for years to come!”

Texans starting fullback Casey, 28, now in this fourth NFL season, held spellbound 50 students who gathered in Beard’s room. He patiently explained to them the benefit of college and higher education. At Rice University where he played football as an older student, he triple majored in economics, managerial studies and sports management.

He was not the best or brightest student, either. “Stay in school,” he urged the students.

“I’m not the smartest person, but I work hard and I stay focused on doing what others won’t do so that I am better prepared,” he said. His personal motto, on and off the football field, is: “To achieve what you want, you have to do what others don’t.”

He arrives at Reliant Stadium at about 5:30 a.m. every day, earlier than all but his quarterback, Schaub. “You can’t play football forever, so I’m going to make sure I do as much as I can now so when it ends, I know I did everything I could,” he said.

He earned a football scholarship at Rice after spending four years in minor league baseball. Rice for him was all about football and studying, especially as an older student. “I looked on it like a business venture. I prioritized my time – school and football.” No partying.

He was known as “Thor” on campus there, and in one game he played seven different positions, including quarterback and punt returner. He set school records with 111 catches for 1,329 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also had five rushing touchdowns.

“I have options now. You have few options without a high school diploma. Life is short, and we all learned that this past week. You only have so much time. It’s really about you deciding what you want to do. Stay in school and have options.”

For more information on First Community Credit Union (FCCU) or on the Stars in Classrooms Program, visit the FCCU website: http://fccu.org

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Christmas in the Park

Eighteen students with the Spring Woods High School Chorale performed recently during the Christmas in the Park community celebration held at Spring Branch Presbyterian Church. The student chorale sang five seasonal carols a cappella for a large crowd. The church and Village park are located at 1215 Campbell Road.

“It was inspiring to hear a tight-knit group of choristers pull well-known material off flawlessly by listening and tuning to each other throughout the pieces. Your passion for the music was infectious and I very much look forward to hearing you perform again soon,” wrote attendee Lance Thomas after the outdoor park event.

Spring Woods High students performed at Christmas in the Park for the second year. Student performers and other group members include the following:

10th Grade – Hannah Harlow, Makayla Franco, Emily Meeks, Blas Duran, Andrew Nesloney

11^th Grade – Rebecca Royall, Cynthia Mendez, Lizbeth Flores, Sofia Rodriguez, Nick Turnbough and Andrew Whitten

12^th Grade – Samantha Lopez, Mary Quinones, Eva Michelle Zapata, Jennifer Hernandez, Robert Barbosa, Nick Knoerzer, Bradley Whitten and Parker Blome

Katy Cuddihee directs the Spring Woods High Choir.

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More than 500 district students recognized by College Board

The College Board has recognized 511 Spring Branch ISD high school graduates and students that together earned 555 separate Advanced Placement (AP) Scholar Awards.

The students were honored for high scores on numerous Advanced Placement Exams administered during the 2011-2012 school year.

Students in the Classes of 2012, 2013 and 2014 (May graduates, current seniors and juniors) who completed rigorous college-level courses were eligible for these national-level tests. In many cases, higher scores like these can earn students college credits as well as advanced placements.

The AP Program offers AP Scholar Awards to recognize high school students who have demonstrated college-level achievement through AP courses and exams.

Although there is no monetary award, in addition to receiving an award certificate, this achievement is acknowledged on any AP score report that is sent to colleges the following fall.

National AP Scholars Award

Forty-four Spring Branch students were named National AP Scholars. This is the highest award given. To earn the award, students must receive an average score of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of the exams. Five is the highest possible grade.

Memorial High

Class of 2012: Lauren Ammerman, Elizabeth Cai, Mark Camero, Madeline Campbell, James Casanova, Eric Chiang, Kelley Dickey, Bohan Fan, James Fan, Kevin Graham, Sutton Guldner, Seth Haber, Victor Harter, Michelle Hong, Caitlin Hruzek, Brittany Iler, Sun Ji, David Kim, Tech Kuo, Charles Lai and Lindsay Limbaugh.

Also, Sarah Maguire, Spencer Muncey, Reika Nakayama, Mary Kathryn Nommensen, Rose Palermo, Aryan Pashaei-Marandi, Nicholas Pohl, Megan Quinn, William Raley, Joan Sanborn, Emily Snow, Andrew Tinsley, James Topp, Charles Wanna, Carson White, Michael White, Jeffrey Wu, Jigyan Yue and Simon Zhang.

Class of 2013: Yezhou Feng.

Stratford High

Class of 2012: Moira Applebaum, Emily Johnson and Andrew Kelly.

AP Scholars with Distinction Award

These students received an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of the exams:

Memorial High

Class of 2012: Omar Alnatour, Lauren Ammerman, Emmalee Bergez, Vance Berk, Mars Berwanger, Dylan Betts, Alina Bondarenko, Eliza-Ann Bornman, Demeris Burritt, Rebecca Bushmire, Elizabeth Cai, Mark Camero, Madeline Campbell, Gabriela Canto, Yuanxue Cao, Angela Carroll, Callan Carson, James Casanova, Cole Chandler, Eric Chiang, Kendall Crouch, Kelley Dickey, Tony Do and Ryan Doyle.

Madeline Duncan, Rebecca Dunn, Andrew Edmonds, Katherine Ewing, Annum Faisal, Bohan Fan, James Fan, Kevin Graham, Sutton Guldner, Seth Haber, Lauren Hackworth, Lauren Harris, Victor Harter, Bonnie Helm, Robert Hogan, Michelle Hong, Caitlin Hruzek, Brittany Iler, Sun Ji, Sang Ju, Meghan Kelley, Nathaniel Kelly, David Kim, Taylor King and Tech Kuo.

Samuel Kusin, Charles Lai, Dillon Larberg, Stefan Lemire, Lindsey Limbaugh, Sara Maguire, Andrew Martin, Melanie Martin, Kate McMordie, Meredith Miller, Emily Morris, Spencer Muncey, Reika Nakayama, Mary Kathryn Nommensen, Hannah Ochs, Caitlin Owens, Camille Owens, Rose Palermo, Heekyung Park, Joon Su Park, Aryan Pashaei-Marandi, Patricia Perrin, Sara Peterman, Kevin Pisters, Nicholas Pohl, Edward Pritchard, Megan Quinn and William Radney.

William Raley, Julia Rogers, Margaret Rogers, Devon Rubbo, Charles Russell, Sahar Sadoughi, Nooshin Saidi, Joan Sanborn, Joseph Scavoone, Nikolos Schillaci, Brandon Simon, Caroline Sladic, Kelsey Smith, Emily Snow, Sara Stiff, Stephen Sykes, Brooks Taylor, Catherine Taylor, James Tebbe, Andrew Tinsley, Mary Titus, Martin Tolentino, James Topp, Margaret Tran, Kristopher Van Norman, Taylor Vickers, Taylor Walker, Alice Wang, Charles Wanna, Conner Waughtal, Carson White, Michael White, Ariel Wilks, Jeffery Wu, Jingyan Yue, and Simon Zhang.

Class of 2013: Elyssa Berney, Cooper Cain, Casie Chen, Timothy Davis, Yezhou Feng, Kristen Heaton, Tram-Trieu Hoang-Nguyen, Sang Ji, Dmitriy Khripkov, Connor McCampbell, Anna Peel, Colin Rockwell, Kaijia Tian, Audrey Vinall, Jevons Wang, Selma Wanna and Tzu Ming Yeh.

Spring Woods High

Class of 2012: Edward Alvarez, Brooke Fritts and Mahnoor Zia.

Class of 2013: Kim Nguyen.

Stratford High

Class of 2012: Michael Aldridge, Moira Applebaum, Christopher Arcy, Kellie Barranco, Ellen Barth, Susan Burrows, James Cardenas, Alex Dubois, William Duffy, Valerie Finstad, Glenn Frutiz, Thomas Fuller, Matthew Greene, Holly Hendrickson, Mason Hurtte, Taylor Jackson, Alyssa Johnson, Emily Johnson, Andrew Kelly, Mark Leader, Matthew Lien, Thomas Maranuk, Kamryn Richard, Lara Samameh, Sarah Slack, Austin Stephens, Ammarah Tario, Respina Vaezian and Preston Wall.

Class of 2013: Hyo-won Jeon, Samuel Kim, Matthew Lastrapes, Elaine Lui, Andrew Palughi, Olivia Pope, Lydia Sweet and Tian Yao.

Class of 2014: Alison Sunderhaft.

Westchester Academy

Class of 2012: James Chambers, Christopher Eustice and John Petty.

AP Scholars with Honors Award

These students received an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of the exams:

Memorial High

Class of 2012: Rebecca Allums, Cody Birdwell, Lamar Bretches, Laura Cale, Julie Chong, Tinglan Dai, Nicholas Dennis, Christina Depena, Kyle Dobbins, Kendall Fitzpatrick, Amy Fricks, Melanie Gaw, Seung Han, Baikal Hong, Katherine Huddleston, Donya Iranpoor ,Tori Karren, Cameron Kato, Kyle Koch, Kimberly Landa, Daniel Lewis, Stuart McNulty, Jennifer Millard, Ryan Moritz, Eric Olsson, Alison Peachee, Patricia Phillips, David Rowe, Hamza Salim, Samantha Scioneaux, Conrad Shillings, Mengdi Sun, Drew Tolson, Elaine Wilkerson, Daniel Wong and Lisa Zulkarnain.

Class of 2013: Maryam Amjadi, Albert Amran, Carla Bendy, Emma Bravo, Benjamin Butler, Donald Egan, Austin Espey, Marie Evans, Kimberly Heaton, Manusha Jayasinghe, William Jou, Sydney Keller, Min Woo Kim, Jiyeun Lee, Subrat Mahapatra, Kelsey Moreland, Annalee Noel, Anna Pendergrass, Ashley Reischman, Victoria Rushing, Mary Schatzman, Sunidhi Singh, Paul Snow, Aditya Srinivasan and Riccardo Stella.

Spring Woods High

Class of 2012: Jordan Cabrera, Ian Ray and Xiadani Tovar Castillo.

Class of 2013: Parker Blome, Wendolyne Castillo, Candace Edgley and Jack Rodgers.

Stratford High

Class of 2012: Samuel Benneck, Riley Bradshaw, Kyle Brickhouse. Tyler Denney, Connor Drysdale, Hayley Gibler, Matthew Haws, Julia Hoagland Sorens, Andrew Humphrey, Michael Killough, Matthew Lathrop, Daniel Leeper, Isai Martinez, Kyoung Oe, Blake Schreiber, Brian Skulski, Madeline Stone, Agatha Tutia, Rachael West, and Shuyu Zhang.

Class of 2013: Anna Chong, Isabel Deakins, Nahyeon Kim, Homin Lee, Andrew McCleary, Hayden McMordie, Amy Penick, Matthew Sibley, Kathleen Temple, Oscar Truong, and Ruoxi Wu.

Westchester Academy

Class of 2012: Jarred Gillie, Anna Hagee and Eric Miller.

AP Scholars Award

These students completed three or more AP Exams with scores of 3 or higher:

Memorial High

Class of 2012: Kiana Alirezaei, Ellen Anderson, Lauren Bender, Katherine Bushong, Benjamin Carl, Megan Carrigan, Michael Cisarik, Amanda Collins, Patricia Curry, Brock Davidson, Bonnie Diehl, Matthew Furrow, Caleigh Geiser, Samuel Gibson, Annie Green, Sarah Herzig, Sarah Jeu, Ester Kim, Howard Kim, Lauren Laderman, Alexis Le, Janice Lin, Macy Livingston, Aleena Madni and Taylor Maloney.

Emma Mattson, Emma McArthur, Daniel Miller, Robert Miller, Ayesha Mirza, Kendall Oelfke , David Oh, William Powell, Jackson Randolf, Aaron Ruzinsky, Nadine Sabir, Arturo Salomon-Said, Allison Sawyer, Ajita Sen, Saad Siddiqui, Alyssa Smith, Emma Sutton, James Thompson, Henry Vu, Wayde Wendell, Suzannah Whitehead, Kelly Wilson, Katherine Wright, Tengfei Wu, Rachel Wyatt, Hao Xu, Sheng Xu, Dain Yi and Bevan Zuri.

Class of 2013: Emily Ackerman, Joy Ahn, Pooja Bollampally, Bradleigh Breland, Fraser Bronston, Haley Brunner, Mariana Carmona Aguiler, Lalisa Chiravanich, Kevin Colbert, Matthew Compian, Meili Criezis, Michael Davidson, Lorenzo De-La-Torre, Lisa Ellis, Andrew Frewer, Alexander Gerome, Mitchell Groesbeck, Jack Henington, Dustin Jaoude, Erin Kreindler, Da Eun Lee, Charlotte McDermott, Rachel Moore, Pardis Moravej, Eric Ohman, Yestle Ough, Olivia Peel, Taylor Phillips , Allison Sawyer, Erika Schroeder, Kenneth Shim, Eric Simmons, Sarah Song, Blair Tysob, Katherine Ustick, Farrin Velasco, Jason Vila, Jack Wagner, Lee Winkler and Brian Young

Class of 2014: Sophie Wilczynski.

Northbrook High

Class of 2012: Saul Pina and Oscar Ramirez.

Class of 2013: Fernando Ruiz

Spring Woods High

Class of 2012: Brian Alvarado, Angela Arroyo, Geovani Chico, Sydney Coffey, Kyle Guillemette, Francisco Gutierrez, Jessica Jones, Kassandra Jost, Saad Khan, Caitlin Luper, Ignacio Montano, Brittany Moore, Scott Moore, Phuong Ngo, Vannessa Potts, Edgar Ramirez, Jacob Rogers and Theresa To.

Class of 2013: Victoria de la Guardia, Kevin Pham, Shawna Promsakanasakol, Ruby Salazar and Kimberly Warburton.

Stratford High

Class of 2012: Rebekah Adair, Christie Alexander, David Anderson, Hannah Ashcroft, Benjamin Bogaert, Mathew Bogaert, Jeffery Bourdon, Jackson Braband, Hailey Bramhall, Katherine Canales, Aditya Dargan, Caroline Dodd, Kristina Duskin, Kirbie Ermler-Gonzales, Katie Grooms, Sarah Hendrickson, Miles Hennington, Heather Henry, Michael Hezberg, Kyle Jackson, Andrew Johnson, Rebecca Jones, Shannon Kelley, Marina Khalid, Linden Lanier, Daniel Lee, Jeffrey Lee, Matthew Lee, Harold Lynde IV, Michael MacCrory, Mckenzie Martin, John Martinez, Margret Mclurkin, Sean McDermott, Matthew Milan, William Miller, Leah Nash, Laura Nazarenus, Jessica Newman, Kenneth Nouri, Kathy Oh, William Okeefe, Katherine Perez, Kristin Peters, Hannah Price, Clarissa Rodriguez, Emma Ross, Heather Rovner, Gretchen Schneider, Marshall Settegast, Kirstyn Smith, Madison Smith, Alyssa Sturgis, Henry Strum, Parker Tennet, Eleanor Thomas, Jawed Wajiha, Brooke Wallace, Douglas West, Evan White and Kathryn Wood.

Class of 2013: Andres Acosta, Walter Baker, Jordan Bernstein, Sarah Bostick, Elizabeth Butler, Nathan Byerly, Steven Cisneros, John Craig, Kathryn Dickinson, Anne Dimitrov, Timothee Flichy, Amy Fox, Emily Frazelle, Hayley Friedman, Catherine Frost, Katherine Goss, Lianna Gregorian, Eduardo Guzman, Omid Hadj, Holly Heckmann,Stephanie Humburg-Meaux,Nicholas Jones, Kurt Kaiser, Young Kim, Thomas Leyden, John Lynch, Stephen Martinez, Jacqueline Mask, Patrick Miller, Evan Moore, Cesar Muniz, Conner Parker, Mallory Parker, Kyle Rathgeb, Cai Rohleder, Sarah Ross, Evan Stone, William Strong, Othniel Tay, Paige Tormey, Grace Touchstone, Fernando Trujano, Harrison Vaporciyan, Alexander Weber and Bronte Ye.

Westchester Academy

Class of 2012: Nkosi James, Blake Lindsay, Tyler Loving and Jack Thornton.

Class of 2013: Katrina Benwell.

Class of 2014: Adam Kassir and Alyssa-Uyen Nguyen.

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Toy Drive Gets Results

Spring Branch Community Health Center (SBCHC) distributed more than 350 toys on Dec. 19 to students at The Lion Lane School for the third year in a row.

SBCHC has partnered with GE Oil & Gas, Community Health Choice, (CHC), and SBISD for several years now to provide holiday gifts to two area preschool centers, Lion Lane and Tiger Trail Schools for Early Learning. 

The partnership started three years ago when Ana Padron, a Community in Schools employee, shared with SBCHC that many students at both schools did not receive outside support during the holidays. SBCHCs and started an annual Toy Drive for the holidays.

“Every year our partners come through and help collect over 600 toys to distribute to every child at each school! Each class is also able to take a group picture with Santa after they receive their gift. For the first time this year, volunteers from SBCHC, GE, and CHC read a holiday book to each class. Afterwards, Santa Claus came by during the Lion Lane Sign-Along to greet every child,” Edlin Maldanado with SBCHC said. “The children were all smiles the entire morning.”!

 The community partners are already looking forward to next year when the tradition will be shared with more students, Maldanado also said.

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IB Science News

International Baccalaureate (IB) students in the 11th and 12th grade program at Westchester Academy for International Studies (WAIS) presented special group projects in science to the entire school earlier this year.

Known as the Group 4 Project, the student presentations are a huge undertaking that all WAIS IB Science students complete once in their two years of the IB Diploma Program. These projects were presented this year on Nov. 27.

The project encompasses IB Biology and IB Chemistry for juniors and seniors. Mixed biology and chemistry groups are created, each with eight or nine students. This year, 71 IB students formed eight separate groups. Each group was presented with an article about bioengineering to spark thinking.  

Students were then introduced to the theme created annually by WAIS IB science teachers.
This year’s theme was, “How do scientists and engineers mimic natural mechanisms or structures in nature to create products or machines that will improve or enhance human performance or efficiency?”

Students are given the freedom to interpret the theme as they like, as long as it ends with a student presentation/model and or process to emulate. The open-ended project gives students an opportunity to work together and respect individual contributions, while illustrating student creativity, ingenuity and intelligence. 

The students were given one month to complete the project and prepare presentations. The projects were counted as a test grade for both IB Chemistry and IB Biology classes. The Group 4 Project is required to earn the IB Diploma. Students must participate.

After teacher and peer evaluation, projects were opened up to the entire school for students to showcase their hard work. Presentations also demonstrate the power of group sharing to solve global inquiries. “The concept of the project is really process based, versus product based. The end results are normally very diverse and creative. It is exciting to see what the students come up with and the direction each group chooses to take,” said IB Biology and AP Biology teacher Laura Sigworth.

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Summer in France

The director of National Geographic Student Expeditions will speak three separate times on Friday morning, Jan. 11, 2013, at Memorial High School about group’s summertime Europe travel program. A Houston trip to France with Spring Branch ISD is planned, organizers say.

Director Jeff Shumlin will speak in the high school auditorium about the Houston-SBISD trip and about possible job opportunities in the future for students at the following Memorial High bell times:

• Period 2 – 8:47 a.m. to 9:38 a.m.
• Period 3 – 9:44 a.m. to 10:41 a.m.
• Period 4 – 10:47 a.m. to 11:38 a.m.

District parents and families are invited. Memorial High School is located at 935 Echo Lane. All visitors should enter through the high school main entrance early so that visitor registrations can be conducted as required.

For more information about this program, contact Memorial High Photography instructor Cathy Bottoms at 713-251-2578.

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Making Toyland Real

Hundreds of Memorial Middle School students responded to class requests for children’s toys to help make the lives of those less fortunate brighter this time of year.

 

In all, about 500 toys were delivered to the Houston-based Good Neighbor Program for delivery on Saturday, Dec. 22, to a local apartment housing complex.

All children’s toys will be distributed to families in assisted living situations with children 13 years old or younger.

Memorial Middle students in the Yearbook and Digital Photography Class taught by Stephanie Aguirre distributed toy drive posters, made school announcements, collected toys from campus students, and then organized, boxed up, loaded and delivered the gifts to the local program.

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