The Alief FFA brought home many awards from the San Antonio Livestock Show. Christian Macedo (Elsik) won Reserve Grand Champion Overall with his longhorn bull. Daniella Romero (Hastings) placed first in her class with her longhorn steer. Xavier Ahmed (Hastings) won third in his class with his longhorn bull.

The upcoming Family U Conference was recently spotlighted by the Harris County Department of Education. The event will be held on Saturday, March 5.

Taylor High School student Marcos Mendez advanced to the UIL state quarterfinals in Film. His narrative video is titled,” H.O.P.E. in the beginning.” The Taylor High School Communication Center was also recently featured by KPRC Channel 2.

Daniel Vazquez (Klentzman Intermediate), Trichelle Jones (Holmquist Elementary) and Eduardo Ramos (Miller Intermediate) were respectively named the first, second and third place Alief ISD District Spelling Bee winners. Vasquez will compete in the 2016 Houston Public Media Spelling Bee on April 2.

The Alief ISD Culinary Arts Team recently won first place at the 4th Annual Soup’er Bowl Soup Cook-Off. The students won the title in 2013 and 2015 and finished third in 2014. The following Alief ISD students recently received scholarships through the 2016 Salvation Army Youth of the Year Scholarship Competition:

  • Maria Slater (Elsik High School) – $20,000
  • Kimberly Hernandez (Elsik Ninth Grade Center) – $2,500
  • Ingrid Torres (Hastings Ninth Grade Center) – $750
  • Noemy Albiter (Killough Middle School) – $500

Teams from Albright Middle School, Killough Middle School, O’Donnell Middle School, Olle Middle School, Alief Early College High School and Kerr High School will advance to the Navy’s Regional SeaPerch Competition on March 26 based on their times at district competitions. SeaPerch is an underwater robotics competition.

Elsik Air Force JROTC student Cadet Staff Sergeant Marco Soto came in second place out of more than 200 cadets in the Individual Drill Down Event at the Cleveland High School Drill Meet. Cadet Second Lieutenant Jennesis Dominguez recently had the honor of introducing Former Central Intelligence Agency Director General David Petraeus at a lecture with the World Affairs Council of Greater Houston. Dominguez and Cadet Technical Sergeant Kler Soe also had the opportunity to participate in a forum discussion with the general.

Three Alief ISD athletic teams made it to playoffs. Taylor High School and Elsik High School’s varsity boys basketball teams both advanced to area competitions and will play Manvel and Dobie at 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. respectively tonight at Wheeler Field House. The Hastings High School varsity girls basketball team also competed at area competitions.

Hastings High School students won many awards from the Needville UIL Invitational. Duy Dinh, Harry Khuc and Brooke Addis were named second place Accounting Team. Ann Morris placed first in News Writing, second in Headline Writing and third in Feature Writing. William Ward placed first in Headline Writing and second in Feature Writing. Eloisa Cortinas placed second in Editorial Writing. Jasmin Garmendia, Jessica Villamar, Cortinas, Morris and Ward were named first place Journalism Team.

The Kerr High School Speech and Debate Team took home first place sweepstakes at Klein High School. The team competed against more than 40 schools. Ten students will be competing at state.

The Elsik High School varsity track team placed second at the Pearland Track Meet, while the junior varsity team won first place at the Hastings Track Meet.

Alief ISD students Ejovi Obus (Elsik), Emmanuel Valencia (Kerr) and Huy Le (Taylor) have their gold key art pieces from the Scholastic Art Awards on display at the Archway Gallery. These are three out of 251 gold key pieces selected for the exhibition showing until March 7.

Scholar Athletes for February:

  • Faridat Agboola represents the Hastings High School tennis program, which she has been a member of since her freshman year. In addition to participating in athletics, she is ranked third in her class, she is a section leader in the school band, a class officer, the National Science Honor Society President, the Math Honor Society President, a member of the African Students Association and a participant of the Academic Decathlon. Agboola previously attended Liestman Elementary, Youngblood Intermediate and Killough Middle School. She has already been accepted to The University of Texas at Austin, where she plans to major in Biology to become a gastrointestinal surgeon.
  • Jorge Martinez represents the Hastings High School soccer program, which he has been active in for four years. He has also been a member of the Hastings cross-country and track teams. In 2015, Martinez was a Regional Qualifier in the 1600 meter run. Outside athletics, he is a member of the Hastings Marching Band and the National Science Honor Society. Martinez attended Smith Elementary, Mahanay Elementary, Klentzman Intermediate and Killough Middle School. He plans to attend Texas A&M University to major in Biology. He hopes to attend medical school to become a heart surgeon.

Alief ISD graduate Jennifer Watts was recently spotlighted by the local media. She is a part of a team of cancer biologists at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) that created a way to make cancer cells destroy themselves in animal trials. Watts, who attended Martin Elementary, Owens Intermediate and Olle Middle School and graduated from Taylor High School in 2011, is currently a senior at UTSA. She was inspired by her mother Judy Watts, a cancer survivor and Klentzman Intermediate 5th Grade Math Specialist.