Martin Elementary teacher Teresa Salinas and Alief Middle School teacher Michaela Henderson were respectively named the 2016 Alief ISD Elementary and Secondary Teachers of the Year. Salinas is a 4th grade bilingual teacher, and Henderson is a 7th grade science teacher.

Million Mile Month Update:

  • Team Leaderboard: Administration Instruction is still in the lead. Administration Business is in second place, while Collins Elementary is in third place.
  • Individual Leaderboard: Roxana Subonj (Collins), Raul Pabon (Hastings) and Rita Minter (Holub) are in first, second and third place respectively.

Alief Middle School students Thao Le and Crystal Okoh were nominated to compete for BroadCom Masters. It is a special event that allows participants to meet famous scientists, senators and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House for a week. In order to be nominated, Le and Okoh had to rank in the top 10 percent of all middle school students who competed at the Texas State Science Fair.

Alief Early College High School students Seun Adebanjo and Busayo Okusaga have qualified for the National Speech Debate Association National Competition in Utah this June. Adebanjo made it to the finals in both Dramatic Interpretation and in Duo with Okusaga.

Former Martin Elementary student Miguel Morin is currently competing as a part of Team Yankee on La Voz Kids, a music competition on Telemundo. Morin performed the song Guadalajara on the show, which is broadcasted across the United States.

The Elsik High School Student Council was elected to the Texas Association of Student Councils State Office of President. Amina Mabizari will serve as the Elsik student representative.

Alief ISD seniors received scholarships from the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. The Metropolitan, Opportunity and School Art Scholarships are each $18,000 over four years.

  • Alief Early College High School: Bao Huynh (Metropolitan) and Sarah Babson (Opportunity)
  • Elsik High School: Brian Bui (Metropolitan) and Grace Akinyemi (Metropolitan)
  • Hastings High School: Faridat Agboola (Metropolitan)
  • Kerr High School: Duong Vu (Metropolitan) and Mary Tran (Metropolitan)
  • Taylor High School: Allison Sanborn (Metropolitan) and Dinh Le Thuy Anh (School Art)

Hastings High School student Temisan (TK) Kuyatsemi was selected to the Greater Houston Coaches Association All-Star Football Game. The competition will be held in June. Kuyatsemi is a senior defensive end football player for the Bears.

The O’Donnell Middle School Robotics Club competed in Rockets Science, a collaboration between the Houston Rockets, Space Center Houston and Houston Community College. O’Donnell received the award for “Most Successful Recovery” for its model rocket out of all of the teams.

The Olle Middle School Skybreakers Team won first place at the Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering (TAME) and Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering (SECME) bottle rocket competition.

Elsik High School student Emmanuel Johnson won first place in boys singles at the district tennis meet. He defeated a tough Dulles High School player in three sets.

Hastings High School students Jasmine Akhiemien, Angelica Montoya Moreno and Olamide Olotu were selected to participate in the 2016 Houston Methodist Hospital Summer Nursing Externship Program.

The Hearne Elementary Student Council, with the help from the entire campus, raised $2,797.01 during its annual Pennies for Patients Campaign. The fundraiser benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Hastings High School students Josseline Vargas, Marcio Mbongo, Wilfido Ramos, Kevin Ponce and Jonathon Pruneda were selected for a July backpacking trip to Glacier National Park in Montana. Hastings students recently completed two backpacking trips to Huntsville and Lake Livingston.

Kerr High School and Hastings High School students recently traveled to the Interscholastic League Press Conference (ILPC) Spring Convention. At the Grand Awards Assembly, Ann Morris (Hastings) was recognized as the state Yearbook Editor of the Year. In addition, Michael Bui (Kerr) and Estefany Mejia (Hastings) received summer workshop scholarships. The Distinguished Merit rating was awarded to the Kerronicle (Kerr) Newspaper, Bear Facts (Hastings) Newspaper, Kerronicle (Kerr) Online Newspaper and the 2015 Bear Tracks (Hastings) Yearbook. Current students and graduates also took home many first, second and third place finishes for their work on their school publications in their respective divisions.

Hastings Ninth Grade Center Library Information Specialist Charla Hollingsworth co-presented at the Texas Library Association annual conference with a fellow librarian. The presentation was “10 Ways to Transform 21st Century Libraries.”

Hastings High School teacher Kim Smith received $2,000 worth of water sampling equipment for benthic invertebrates, a weather station, and sling psychrometers to measure relative humidity. Smith received the funding from DonorsChoose.org.

Alief ISD graduate Mikaley Brooks is a finalist for the 2016 Houston Texans Cheerleaders. Voting will close at 10 a.m. on Monday, April 25. Click here to vote for Brooks, who previously attended Chancellor Elementary School and Alief Middle School. She graduated from Taylor High School in 2012.