Alief ISD received the Meritorious Budget Award (MBA) for excellence in budget presentation during the 2014-15 budget year by the Association of School Business Officials (ASBO) International. The program promotes and recognizes excellence in school budget presentation and enhances school business officials’ skills in developing, analyzing and presenting a school system budget.

Alief ISD obtained the Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO) Award of Merit for Purchasing and Operations with Recognized Status. This award is presented to school districts that are committed to following professional standards in the acquisition of goods and services.

Alief Early College High School has been designated an Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Highly Certified Site for the 2014-15 school year by the AVID Chief Executive Officer. This award is presented to sites that have demonstrated exceptional implementation and success of the AVID Program.

About 2,160 Alief ISD elementary students from Boone, Bush and Sneed received new bicycles from Elves & More, an incentive program to improve the reading, behavior and attendance of students. Alief ISD business partners ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP sponsored the program this year.

Martin Elementary and Miller Intermediate were awarded grants totaling $22,500 for their respective after school programs. The grants were funded by the City of Houston and the Harris County Department of Education’s Center for Afterschool, Summer and Extended Learning (CASE for Kids).

Hastings Ninth Grade Center students Erik Ponce, Jessica Alvarado and Oghenemarho Brenda Avworo won a Teen Safe Driving Campaign video contest sponsored by the Vietnamese Culture and Science Association. Ponce won first place and received $500. Alvarado and Avworo split third place, and each received $50.

Boone Elementary teacher Miranda Freitag recently earned funding from DonorsChoose.org for four iPad mini tablets in protective cases for her students to use in reading and math.

Hastings High School graduate Alonzo Dotson (Class of 2003) was honored in a Forbes 30 Under 30 list as one of football’s brightest young stars. Dotson, who is a college scout for the Green Bay Packers, previously attended Chancellor Elementary, Best Elementary and Alief Middle School. He was spotlighted in the June 2014 edition of The Alief Communicator newsletter.

Elsik High School graduate Reginald A. Thomas (Class of 1999) recently received his General Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Prairie View A&M University and is currently a stem cell therapy specialist at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He graduated with a Bachelor of Chemistry from Texas Southern University. Thomas previously attended Chancellor Elementary and Alief Middle School.

Alief ISD alumna Francisca Acosta (Class of 2011) and two of her research projects were spotlighted on Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering Website. Acosta, who attended Martin Elementary, Owens Intermediate, Killough Middle School and Hastings High School, is currently a senior at Rice.