Art students from Spring Woods High and Landrum Middle
schools were among the young artists who turned dedicated downtown street
spaces into big, colorful art squares on Sunday, Nov. 23.
Spring Woods High art teacher Crystal Fiocchi joined featured
student artists Kira Slentz and Lilya Gehman, plus other students, on a school
bus that headed downtown to the annual Via Colori Street Painting Festival. (See
Houston Chronicle story below for more details.)
Spring Woods High students completed four art squares, and
students from across the district volunteered at the event, which supports The
Center for Hearing and Speech in Houston. This year’s festival was delayed one
day due to rain.
Landrum Middle School art teacher Andres Bautista, who has
been involved in the festival for many years, also attended the festival with
students, including many of his former students who are now Northbrook High
School alumni.
Lilya Gehman
The Houston Chronicle posted this report on its website
involving the high school and middle school, and featured art students:
Spring Woods High junior Kira Slentzwas selected as this year's Via Colori
Apprendista artist for the annual downtown street painting festival – Via
Colori Street Painting Festival.
Spring Woods High senior Lilya Gehman was also selected to
participate in designing one of the the SWHS 10-by-10-foot group squares.
Multiple SWHS students created the final street painting masterpieces.
Spring Woods High School took a bus of students to the festival on
Sunday since the festival was canceled on Saturday due to the weather, said
Crystal Fiocchi, Spring Woods High School Art Department chair.
Landrum Middle School also had an art square on Sunday as well,
she said.
"Spring Woods High School completed four total squares at the
festival and we had students from all across the district at the event
volunteering their artistic talents to help support The Center for Hearing and
Speech in Houston," Fiocchi said in an email. "It took many, many
talented artist hands to get all the squares complete in just one day!"
The Via
Colori Street Painting Festival is a free, normally two-day event that attracts
up to 25,000 visitors annually. The streets of downtown Houston become a giant
canvas during the festival for artists that range from students to professional
street painters from across the nation and Mexico.
The theme
for this year's festival was "The Art of Sound." Street artists young
and old drew inspiration from music and nature to remind festivalgoers of the
gift of sound. The festival benefits The Center for Hearing and Speech, for
which it has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. LINN Energy was this
year's festival sponsor.
Chronicle subscribers will find this report with photographs
on chron.com.
Several
Spring Branch ISD school libraries, campus librarians
and administrators and principals are featured in a corporate video
created by North Mankato, Minn.-based children’s book publisher
Capstone.
The
publisher’s video, titled “School Libraries Matter:
The Changing Role of the School Librarian,” was broadcast in October at
the annual School Library Journal Conference, which was held in
Minnesota.
A Capstone-based video crew visited Rummel Creek Elementary
School and other district campuses last year to support a publisher’s book series titled “Pebble Go.”
While
visiting SBISD, the video crew interviewed two librarians,
Karen Harrell of Rummel Creek and Karyn Lewis of Meadow Wood Elementary.
Also included are Meadow Wood Elementary Principal Pamela Redd and
SBISD’s Director of Innovative Media Resource Systems JoAnn Conlon.
The
video also features positive remarks about changing
trends in children’s books and school libraries by Sylvia Knight Norton,
executive director with the American Association of School Libraries
and Rebecca Miller, who is the editorial director of the School Library
Journal.
Jason Project researcher and Boeing Space Exploration
mechanical engineer Tony Castilleja Jr. will speak about his passion for
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and how it influenced
his studies and career during a special public talk at Spring Woods High School
on Thursday, Dec. 4. This special public talk will be held from 6:30-8 p.m. in
the high school mini-auditorium, and is open to all interested SBISD students,
families and staff.
The program is hosted through the district’s Jason Project
and is funded through a generous grant from Chevron.
Tony Castilleja Jr. is employed as a mechanical engineer with
the Boeing Space Exploration Division. He helps develop and market the next
generation of space aircraft, and has worked on the design of Boeing’s CST-100
spacecraft. He also will speak to students during the day on Dec. 4 at
Westchester Academy for International Studies, Memorial High School and Landrum
Middle School.
Mr. Castilleja holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in
mechanical engineering from Rice University. He has served as a panelist at the
U.S. Dept. of Education for STEM Best Practices for English Language Learners,
and he co-founded the Dream Outreach Program that promotes STEM careers by
pairing Houston area high school students with a team of Rice Engineering
students as mentors.
Several Valley Oaks Elementary students may become TV stars
soon as a segment from their “Kid’s Eye View: Real World, Real Fun,” travel and
culture video show is broadcast twice in the weeks ahead on KHOU/Channel 11.
The student-based holiday special, titled “Kid’s Eye View,the Hunt for Holiday Magic,” will be broadcast 7-8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6,
after the highly popular SEC Championship Football Game. A second episode,
titled “Part Deux,” will be broadcast at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20.
The holidays-through-the-eyes-of-children broadcast includes
stops at Main Street Theater’s Madeline’s Christmas production and San
Antonio’s famous Riverwalk. Student hosts interview other students from Valley
Oaks and Spring Branch ISD.
Program hosts are Valley Oaks Elementary students Delaney
Polocheck, a fifth-grader, and her younger sister, Nicki Polocheck, who is in
third grade. Their mom, Jeanne Polocheck, is a former television producer.
“It’s all about Christmas traditions in Texas,” Delaney said
of the broadcasts. “In Texas, there are different traditions everywhere that
you go. We go see different places and events, and they are not all the same –
different food, different styles, different kinds of entertainment.”
A Holiday Magic Countdown segment gives Nicki and other
students a place for talking about everything from giving traditions to
favorite holiday movies.
Other Valley Oaks students featured in this program are
fifth-graders Shelby Rall, Carson Zahn, Dominic Bujanos, Callum Glover and
Grace Delpit, and third-graders Campbell Zahn and Jeanette Belt.
The new, student-focused program, “Kid’s Eye View: Real
World, Real Fun,” will be part of permanent programming in the Children’s
Museum of Houston in 2015, airing in the museum’s Brown Auditorium.
Jeanne Polocheck left the television station to produce the
travel and culture show and to encourage more Texas families to explore their
world. Her family shot first season segments in France, Spain, Italy, Austria
and Germany.
Narrated by her daughter, Delaney, with cameos by Nicki, she
gives parent views and trip tips so that families can plan their own
adventures. In the first season, the segments included an art conservator in
Madrid, a Mediterranean spear fisherman, truffle farmers in the Provence region
of France, and a chaplain to Monaco’s royal family.
“Kid’s Eye View introduces culture and travel to kids in a
fun and entertaining way, while they’re learning what life is like around the
world,” Polocheck says.
She hopes the series will win new fans in the classroom, too,
and be introduced into classroom curriculums in the future.
The student website episodes are released every week on kids-eye-view.com.
Dedication
ceremonies were held at two Spring Branch ISD campuses on Nov. 18 and Nov. 19
to mark the 31st year of the SPARK School Park Program, which has
now built and opened 200 campus-based, family friendly parks across Houston.
Six
schools were featured during Spark Week, including SBISD’s Spring Forest Middle
and Pine Shadows Elementary schools in SBISD. Dedications were also held at
four HISD campuses.
Most
of SBISD’s 18 Spark Parks are based at elementary schools, but the Nov. 18
dedication at Spring Forest Middle School showed what can happen when students,
parents and a school team dream big about a secondary-level campus.
Spring
Forest’s new Spark Park includes a giant, two-story wall mosaic of 190 flags at
the entrance of the school created by students and artist Rose Toro. “Flags
represent what it means to be a multicultural campus in the middle of a big,
multicultural city like Houston,” the artist said after the recent dedication.
The
middle school art project incorporates mosaics into several murals or related
signs. Mosaics were installed at the entrance to the music and fine arts wing.
Mosaic sports balls and an inspirational word wall stand at the rear of the
school.
Highlights
include a huge, spirited Bobcat painting on the competition gym wall; large,
colorful banners posted at the rear entrance; welcome signage front and back;
inspirational courtyard quotations; a multi-use sport court; and native Texas
landscaping, new benches and trash cans.
Stratford
High School senior Andrew Ford, a Spring Forest Middle School graduate, put
more than 50 hours of work into the acrylic Bobcat painting. A fan of classic
modern auto design, the senior had never before painted such a large animal
figure.
“I
was skeptical at first about doing it, but I was glad that I did,” said Ford as
he stood next to his large-scale work. His future goal is an industrial design
career.
Jennifer
Bradshaw, Spring Forest Middle’s PTA Park Project chair, said that students had
sold lollipops and the PTA held a letter-writing campaign to families, area
businesses and firms. The group was able to raise more than $80,000 through
candy sales and letter appeals.
SPARK
Park donors are listed on a huge, “Giving Tree” style mosaic of glass and
tiles. Other funding for the park includes $5,000 from SBISD and $10,000 from
SPARK.
The
Spring Forest Middle School Park dedication event included remarks by SBISD
leaders. Houston City Council’s Jack Christie, a three-term SBISD and State
Board of Education board member, told students and parents to think positively
about their middle school.
Student
groups performed songs and dance routines as part of the indoor dedication,
which was held inside due to cold weather.
“You
are in Spring Branch, Texas, the best place in the world, and Spring Forest
Middle School, the best school in the world!” Christie exclaimed. (See
detailed list of dedication special guests at Spring Forest Middle
below.)
Dedication
ceremonies for Pine Shadows Elementary’s SPARK Park were held Nov. 19. The new
park, called a re-SPARK project, resulted from the rebuilding of the elementary
school as part of the 2007 Bond program. Thirteen elementaries have been or are
being rebuilt under the plan.
The
Pine Shadows Park includes new playground equipment and an outdoor classroom.
The four-seat walls of the outdoor classroom are decorated with student-made
tiles. Art teacher Alyssa Beauchamp and a SPARK Park artist, Rose Toro,
assisted students.
The
Pine Shadows project cost roughly $125,000, of which $98,000 was paid for by
Community Development Block Grant funds obtained through the City of Houston.
The park design was led by SHW Group, LLP, now called Stantec.
Pine
Shadows PTA, staff and student fundraising efforts included the sale of
commemorative bricks, SPARK Park T-shirts, water bottles, and appeals for
donations. Spring Branch ISD has donated $5,000. Other donations included
$5,000 from Harris County Precinct 4, Jack Cagle’s office, and $10,000 from
Spring Branch Management District. Bayou City Fellowship made a donation to the
school-community park, also.
Special
guest speakers at the outdoors Pine Shadows dedication included Houston City
Council Member Brenda Stardig and Neal Rackleff with the City of Houston’s
Housing and Community Development Dept.
“I
went to school next door at Spring Woods Junior High,” Councilwoman Stardig
said. “I want to thank the SPARK Park Board for being here once again, and
stepping up with another project. This we know: SPARK Parks help the
neighborhood and schools.”
The
City of Houston’s Neal Rackleff noted that President Barack Obama, through
federal funds used to build the park, deserved some public credit. As a
first-generation college graduate, and a law school graduate, he encouraged
students in the Pine Shadows Fifth-Grade Choir to reach for the stars in their
own lives.
“Education
has been a huge blessing in my life. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t
go on to college, or find your dream!” he proclaimed.
Spring Branch ISD Superintendent
Duncan Klussmann, Ed.D., praised the ongoing commitment of the district and the
SPARK Park Board and its dedicated executive director, Kathleen Ownby. (See
detailed list of dedication event special guests at Pine Shadows Elementary
below)
Dedications were hosted at four
HISD campuses: Chavez High School, Revere Middle School, and Helms and Port
Houston elementary schools.
Spring Forest Middle School SPARK Park – Dedication Details
Spring
Forest Middle School is featured inside the new 2015 SPARK Art Calendar for
June.
Trees
for Houston, with assistance by volunteers from College of Wooster, planted 30
trees.
Special Guests included the following:
Emily
Taylor with District 7 U.S. Rep. John Culberson’s office presented a flag flown
over the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Wendi
Lojo with Texas Sen. Dan Patrick’s office presented a flag that flew over the
Capitol in Austin.
Deanna
Harrington with District 133 Texas Rep. Jim Murphy’s office presented a
certificate of recognition.
Spring
Forest Principal Kaye Williams, Ed.D., was master of ceremonies for the event.
Spring
Forest Middle Spark Committee and PTA members Jennifer Bradshaw, Alison White
and Roxanne Yose were introduced.
Stratford
High student and artist Andrew Ford was introduced as a special student artist.
Harris
County Attorney Vince Ryan made special remarks.
SBISD
Associate Superintendent Jennifer Blaine, Ed.D., represented the district
superintendent.
SBISD
Trustee and Spark Board Member Chris Gonzalez made special remarks.
