April 22, 2013

Points of Pride

Kerr High School was named one of Children at Risk’s top 10 high schools in the Houston metropolitan area. Kerr, given an “A” grade, was ranked fourth out of 150 Houston-area high schools, and ranked 11th out of 1,171 Texas high schools. The rankings serve as an accessible guide for the community on the performance of local schools and to spark important dialogue on the quality of Texas public education.

Thirty-seven Alief ISD students in fourth to sixth grade were named Duke Tip Talent Search participants by Duke University. Students from Cummings, Kennedy, Outley, Holmquist and Horn Elementaries and Klentzman and Budewig Intermediates were chosen based on their exceptional academic ability.

Congratulations to the following campuses for their high levels of participation in the After School Rocks! Fun Run:

  • Klentzman Intermediate and Best Elementary won first and second place respectively for the highest percentage of staff participants.
  • Martin Elementary had the highest number of student participants for the second year in a row.

Hastings High School is one of the top 10 finalists in the Southwest Region category in the 2013 Vans Custom Culture Competition. Represented by students Eduardo Medina, Anhthu Nguyen, Ivan Martinez and Cedrick Smith, Hastings is one of the top 50 schools from across the nation to participate in this high school shoe customization contest. Participants have a chance to win money for their art programs and for their winning shoes to be produced and sold in Vans stores. To vote, please visit this link. Voting ends May 13.

Elsik High School’s Student Council delegates participated in the largest gathering of student leaders in the United States recently. Students joined nearly 5,000 students and advisors representing 400 student councils from across Texas at the annual Texas Association of Student Councils (TASC) Annual Conference. Student Brigitte Robayo served as TASC State Secretary and represented Elsik and Alief.

Alief ISD students came out on top at the recent Texas Art Education Association State Visual Art Scholastic Event (VASE) competition. Eleven of Elsik High School’s works medaled, and student Miriam Valadez won a Gold Seal for her three-sided vase. Three Hastings High School students medaled at State VASE as well.

Horn Elementary’s kindergarten teachers and students recently received a thank you note from Sandy Hook School for sending notes and their favorite winter story books to the students in response to the tragedy. The note stated how grateful the students and staff were for the overwhelming support.

Alief Early College High School teachers Dr. Noemi Dimaliwat and Kevin Sevin were recently selected as Teachers of the Game by Devon Energy and the Houston Rockets. Exemplary teachers are nominated by their peers and are chosen by the sponsors for this award.

Taylor High School teacher Sana Aleem was selected as one of two Texas high school teachers to participate in the Summer 2013 Brussels European Union Centers of Excellence study tour through the University of Texas at Austin.

Kerr High School student Jamie Wells won $5,000 for her sculpture submission to the Culture Shapers Visual Arts Contest. Out of the 212 sculpture category entries, Kerr had the most students of any single school to place in the Top 10.

Alief ISD students recently competed in the Conference 5A Region 3 Academics Spring Meet. Kerr and Hastings High School each have two state qualifiers, while Taylor and Elsik High School each have one state qualifier. The following students placed in their respective categories:

  • Kerr students Mohit Agarwal placed third in Current Issues, Adam Aitbouchireb placed fifth in Computer Applications, and Nadia Zulfa placed second in News Writing.
  • Hastings’ Speech Team won second place. Student Abigail Onwunali swept the top spot in Prose Interpretation, while Muhammad Yunus and Sidney Odom placed third and fifth respectively in Poetry Interpretation.
  • Elsik student Lucia Aremu placed second in Prose Interpretation.
  • Taylor student Emily Court took second place in Feature Writing, and Aditi Busgeeth placed fourth in Editorial Writing.