Alief Early College High School students recently graduated from Houston Community College with their associate’s degrees. Out of 285 early college high school graduates in the Houston area, 66 were from AECHS.

The Hastings High School Speech & Debate Team participated at the National Individual Event Tournament of Champions in Lincoln, Nebraska. Sidney Odom and Trevion Heliton were the 6th place National Champions in Duo Interpretation. Odom finished in 15th in the nation in Original Oratory. Their next competition will be the 2015 National Speech & Debate Association National Tournament in June.

Sneed Elementary student Bryan Garcia won the Don’t mess with Texas Art Contest. His art work will be featured in the 2016 Don’t Mess With Texas calendar. Garcia is the only winner from Houston out of thousands of student entries.

Killough Middle School student Vy Tran will be participating in the United States Naval Academy Girls Tech Camp this summer in Maryland. She will further her knowledge of engineering at the camp through interactions with mechanical, civil, environmental, electrical and materials engineers.

Alief Early College High School student Arianna Harwell has been selected to participate in the Rice University Energy Explorations Academy this summer. She will perform experiments in Rice’s undergraduate chemistry laboratory and will learn more about fossil fuels and alternative energy.

Hastings High School student Stephanie Omaliko was awarded the George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation Scholarship for $18,000. She is one of only 70 recipients from the Houston area.

The Kerr High School Theatre Department recently recognized its students. Cadre Kerr inducted 42 new thespians, who have worked more than 100 hours in their high school theatre career to earn this honor. The department also recognized 13 Honor Thespians (600 hours), 2 National Honor Thespians (1,200 hours) and 2 International Honor Thespians (1,800 hours).

Alief Middle School was named the winner of the Alief ISD Middle School Battle of the Books Competition. Students have spent the last month quizzing each other and going over all aspects of the books with hopes of answering the questions in the allotted time.

Hicks Elementary raised $6,339.25 for its Jump Rope For Heart fundraiser. The event benefitted the American Heart Association.

Alief ISD Digital Resource Specialist Gerard Tafallo was recently spotlighted by the Texas Distance Learning Association for his innovative work in developing, supporting and promoting the district’s video portal, video conferencing and other technology.

Alief ISD Principals Mary Kesler (Hicks), Carmilla Nandlal (Mahanay) and Bryan Brown (Killough) were accepted into the 2015 Harvard Summer Institute. These leaders are three of 71 Texas principals who were selected after a rigorous application process. Their attendance is sponsored by Raise Your Hand Texas, a non-profit education advocacy organization working to strengthen public education in Texas.