More than 2,700 Alief ISD seniors will graduate from the five high schools on Sunday and Monday. The Class of 2016 has been awarded approximately $54 million in scholarships and grants, exceeding the scholarship figures from recent years.

Hastings High School students Ann Morris and Fortune Onwunali are UIL 6A State Champions. Morris won in Feature Writing, while Onwunali won in Prose.

Approximately 50 art pieces created by Alief ISD student are currently on exhibit at the Texas Education Agency Building in Austin from now until July 15. This student art exhibit consists exclusively of Alief ISD art.

The Alief ISD Education Foundation awarded 33 scholarships this year thanks in part to your support. The scholarships totaled $62,000 for the Class of 2016.

The Alief Superstars were recognized at the Special Olympics Summer Games in Arlington. Steve Garcia (Hastings) won gold in Softball Throw and silver in the 50M Dash. Amanda Santana (Taylor) won gold in the 50M Dash and bronze for Softball Throw. Timothy Hinson (Hastings) won a bronze medal for the 100M Dash.

Alief ISD CTE students Tam Pham, Karla Esquivel, Koncheieiona Schnyder, Joy Ihnewe, Citlaly Plaza, Faridat Agboola and Katherine Zarate successfully passed their Floral High School Certification Test. This is a two-part exam testing floral industry knowledge and requires students to design two floral designs within an hour. The students attend Elsik and Hastings.

The Elsik High School Choir won various awards at the Director’s Choice Competition in San Antonio. The group won Superior Rating for Mixed Choir and Women’s Choir, Excellent Rating for Show Choir and Alief Jazz Ballet and Best in Class for Mixed Choir and Treble Choir. The Elsik Varsity Choir was also named Overall Outstanding in Class.

Hastings High School students Priscilla Cao, Sarah Faulhaber, Alecia Richard and Fatou Salla each received the Roy Folse Memorial Fighting Bear Scholarship. The award is worth $1,500. This is the seventh year for this memorial scholarship.

Rees Elementary, Heflin Elementary, Mata Intermediate and Alief Middle School are winners of this year’s Alief ISD Battle of the Books Competition.

Outley Elementary recently received a grant from Target and a donation from a parent sponsor. Thanks to their generosity, third grade students were able to visit NASA.

Elsik High School student Brian Mejicanos won the Best Video Award from the 2016 District Film Fest.

Six Hastings High School students signed their letters of intent to play college basketball. Congratulations to Ahmir West, Sarah Faulhaber, Tia Jones, Ashley Moore, Ireale Singleton and Lakyra Bedford.

Staff from Alief ISD’s Health Services Department were recently honored. Mata Intermediate Nurse Wendy Mafumo was honored by Houston Chronicle as one of the top 150 nurses in Houston. Alief ISD also recognized Dana Irving as the RN of the Year, Nerissa Cato as the LVN of the Year and Carrington Ekar as the Clinic Aide of the Year.

Cummings Elementary interventionist Robin Ginger, Olle Middle School teacher Christopher Lacy and Cummings Elementary Principal Jeanette Byrd each received a Guiding Star Award from the Parents for Public Schools of Houston. Many Alief ISD volunteers, parents, teachers and administrators were also nominated for this award.

Alief ISD Business and Community Partnerships Coordinator Dee Jones was named Volunteer of the Year by the West Houston Chamber of Commerce.

Chambers Elementary teacher Tami Rawlins was selected to participate in the 2016-17 Cohort of the Early Literacy Leadership Academy at Rice University.

Elsik Ninth Grade Center Principal Vinson Lewis was selected from a pool of many qualified Texas principals to attend a Harvard Summer Institute in June. He will attend the “Urban School Leaders” institute with support from Raise Your Hand Texas.

Landis Elementary SAC Monitor Michael Lucio and his band King Finn will be performing at the Free Press Summer Festival at NRG Park this weekend. Lucio is a graduate of Hastings High School.

Elsik High School graduate Christine Ha (Class of 1997) was recognized on CNN during a show called CNN Inspirations: Breaking Boundaries. She was the Season 3 winner of Masterchef. Ha also attended Heflin Elementary and Albright Middle School.

Alief ISD graduates Jermall and Jermell Charlo are the first twins to hold world titles at the same time in the same division (junior middleweight). The brothers graduated from Hastings in 2008.