Sixteen Spring Branch ISD graduating seniors were among 396 Houston area students who received more than $7 million in scholarships from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

In all, the Show awarded 238 Metropolitan scholarships and 114 Opportunity scholarships to students from 58 school districts in eight counties.

The student awards are based on academic achievements and economic need. In addition, there were 15 Student Art scholarships awarded to young artists who competed at the district level in the Show’s School Art Program in 2012.

Twenty-nine scholarships were presented for other outstanding achievements. Student scholars were recognized on May 22 at an awards banquet in the Reliant Center.

Memorial High School

• Emily Ackerman – Military Scholarship
• Sang Ji – Metropolitan Scholarship
• Alec Vila – Opportunity Scholarship
• Jason Vila – Opportunity Scholarship

Northbrook High School

• Jose Apolinar – Opportunity Scholarship
• Linh Chau – Metropolitan Scholarship
• Sandra Lara – Metropolitan Scholarship
• Natividad Mosqueda – Student Art Scholarship

Spring Woods High School

• Rena Dang – Opportunity Scholarship
• Diane Duong – Opportunity Scholarship
• Kevin Pham – Metropolitan Scholarship Stratford High School
• Nahyeon "Christiana" Kim – Metropolitan Scholarship

Westchester Academy for International Studies

• Alexa Gutierrez – Opportunity Scholarship
• Jennifer Hoang – Metropolitan Scholarship
• Emerald Rodriguez – Opportunity Scholarship
• Jacquelinne Tobar – Opportunity Scholarship

-- This report was compiled by Communications Dept. Intern Kali Venable.

Read More

It's Been a Great Year in SBISD!

Because of the combined efforts of our educators, staff, community and parents, our students will leave for summer vacation  equipped with new learning, new friendships, new skills and new ideas about the world around them. As we end this school year, I would like to share some of our major accomplishments during the 2012-13 Academic Year.

This year, we launched Spring Branch T-2-4, our district’s rigorous goal to double the number of students completing some form of higher education. To my knowledge, no other public school system has adopted such a goal. I am so proud of the way in which so many of you have embraced this vision for our students and their futures.



An area of T-2-4 that makes me very proud is the Employee Scholarship Campaign. This scholarship program donates 100% of the funds donated to support the higher education aspirations of our employees’ children who graduate from a Spring Branch high school. This year, a record-breaking 41 of our employee’s graduating seniors earned Employee Campaign Scholarships. The Employee Scholarship Campaign is promoted and managed by the Spring Branch Education Foundation.

Also, this school year, we saw major progress on our 2007 Bond Program. We reopened Pine Shadows and Housman Elementary schools, began construction on Frostwood Elementary School, broke ground on Valley Oaks, and completed the design development for Rummel Creek Elementary.

Since 2007, we have rebuilt 10 elementary schools and completed roughly 98% of our renovation projects. In addition to construction, we have also provided wireless access throughout our system and made significant technology upgrades at all levels.

In addition, our SKY Partnership successfully launched KIPP Courage at Landrum Middle and YES Prep Northbrook at Northbrook Middle. SKY’s unique model of co-location and collaboration between SBISD and two high performing charters – KIPP Houston Public Schools and YES Prep Public Schools – resulted in a $2 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

This coming year, we will open our new Highly Gifted Academy at Valley Oaks Elementary School and Secondary Dual Language Programs at Spring Woods and Spring Forest Middle Schools.

Legislatively, we are pleased to anticipate some financial relief that will enable us to provide salary increases for our educators and staff, and we achieved passage of significant legislation to reduce testing and expand flexibility of graduation plans for students. Whether or not these pieces of legislation become law is in the hands of Governor Perry.

Have a restful and enjoyable summer!

Read More

$15 Million in Scholarships & Still Counting

Spring Branch ISD graduates have been offered more than $15 million in college scholarships, and new student awards and scholarships for the Class of 2013 still are being recorded.

As of June 5, our graduating seniors had been offered more than $15.8 million in college and university-related scholarship offers. Some students may receive multiple scholarship offers through separate colleges and universities, related organizations, corporations, foundations, or community and nonprofit groups.

About 2,100 seniors graduated from SBISD secondary schools on June 1 and June 3 in separate graduation ceremonies held at the Don Coleman Coliseum.

• Student Scholarship Offers at a Glance (6/05/2013)
• Memorial High School – 92 students with offers valued at $6,484,596
• Northbrook High School – 60 students with offers valued at $1,096,651
• Spring Woods High School – 65 students with offers valued at $1,583,688
• Stratford High School – 60 students with offers valued at $4,500,000
• Westchester Academy for International Studies – 58 students with offers valued at $2,171,657

Total Scholarship Offers – $15,836,592

Final reports on graduate offers are expected later this month. Congratulations to all our graduates and to all our scholarship winners!

Read More

Another Gold Circle Leadership Award

For a fourth year in a row, Spring Branch ISD (SBISD) has been issued the Texas Comptroller’s Gold Leadership Award, its highest level of recognition.

View the 2013 Leadership Circle Score Sheet: http://www.texastransparency.org/local/scoresheet2013/isd_springbranch.php

Among other highlights, SBISD is recognized for posting its budgets, financial reports and a searchable check register online. SBISD has won several national awards for financial reporting and transparency.

Highlights:

• The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) gave its highest recognition, Distinguished Budget Presentation, to SBISD in 2010-2011. GFOA issues this award for budget documents that function as policy documents, financial plans, operations guides and communications tools.
• SBISD’s Finance Department has earned the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for 20 years. The award is given by the same group, GFOA, for the district’s comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR).

The SBISD Finance Department team is directed by Associate Superintendent for Finance Karen Wilson.

Read More

Newspring Student Scholarships

Spring Woods High graduating senior Chinh Pham and Northbrook High graduate Adrianna Guillen were respectively awarded first- and second-year scholarships during the recently held 2013 Newspring Student Art Auction.

The auction of student art and scholarship announcements were held May 2 in the Be Human Gallery located in CityCentre. Chinh Pham of Spring Woods High School was awarded the new 2013 First Baptist Spring Branch Scholarship. Adrianna Guillen, a 2012 Spring Woods graduate, was awarded a second-year award through the Newspring Linda Buchman Scholarship.

Linda Buchman is SBISD’s Community Relations Officer. She helped leaders with Newspring establish the nonprofit group, which supports both community business and youth art outreach efforts.

First Baptist Spring Branch’s scholarship is new this year. The student scholarships are awarded to Spring Branch ISD students in recognition of their commitment to excellence in visual arts, community service, and academic achievements.

Students submit applications for these awards. Supporting Newspring in its auction this year were Framecrafters, Bradley’s Art & Frame, BeHuman Gallery and CityCentre.

The Newspring Art Studio now sells student art year-round online and in its studio located at 1900 Blalock, Suite P, at the corner of Campbell and Blalock. To learn more, please visit http://www.newspringcenter.org.

Read More