Texas
Public Schools Week
Students
and teachers in Irving ISD and across Texas will celebrate Texas Public
Schools week March 10-14. With this year’s theme, Lift Off to Learning,
IISD schools will hold open houses for parents and neighbors to see
first hand how district schools are teaching students to reach for the
stars.
High schools will have open houses March 10, middle
schools March 11, and elementary schools on March 13. Times will vary by
school and parents are encouraged to contact their children’s school for
more information.
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ICE Celebrates Excellence
Irving ISD conducted the eighth annual Irving Celebration
of Excellence awards ceremony on February 27, honoring 20 schools and
programs with 19 awards. The event was hosted by Rene Castilla,
executive dean of North Lake College South
Irving Center, and was held at Nimitz High School.
In the Humanities category, the
winning elementary, middle and high schools were Britain, Houston and
Nimitz. For the Math/Science category, winning schools were Gilbert,
Lamar and Irving High. In the category of Fine Arts winning schools were
Elliott, de Zavala and Nimitz. For Athletics & Physical Education,
Stipes, Lamar and Irving High were the winners. Brown, Bowie and Wheeler
won in the category of Community Service/Citizenship. Schools placing
first in Special Campus/District were Gilbert and Austin at the
elementary and middle school level with Academy and Nimitz tying for
first in the high school division.
In addition to having broadcasted the event live, Irving
Cable Television Network (ICTN) will replay the ICE Awards March 5 at 2
p.m. and 5 p.m., March 7 at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., and March 8 at 11:30
a.m. ICTN is broadcasted on Time Warner Cable Channel 16 and Verizon
FiOS Channel 30. Please visit
www.irvingisd.net/iceawards
for a schedule of ICE Award replays on ICTN and ISTV.
|
Brenda Bingham, principal at Britain
Elementary School, and leaders from Britain’s student
council were recipients of the elementary school humanities
ICE Award for the school’s “Leaders ‘R’ Us” program. |
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Trustees Present
Golden Apple Awards
The Board of Trustees presented
three esteemed Golden Apple Awards to two individuals and one company in
recognition of their outstanding contributions to students and teachers
within IISD.
Individual award winners were Lulu Cruz and Mike Gregory. Cruz has volunteered on PTA leadership councils
and IISD advisory committees for more than 20 years. Gregory has served
on the IISD school board, volunteered on district improvement and
political action committees and has volunteered at various district
schools.
Don Herring Mitsubishi won the
corporate Golden Apple award for its commitment to supporting not only
the fine arts programs in IISD, but also the company’s recognition of
the district teachers of the year.
For photos of Golden
Apple Award winners see:
www.irvingisd.net/iceawards/golden_apple_2008.htm
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Nimitz Academic Decathlon Team Takes Second at State
For the ninth time in eleven years, the Nimitz High
School Academic Decathlon team placed the top five in state competition,
taking second among 40 teams and placing above defending champion Plano
Senior High School.
Pearland High School finished first
with 50,595 and Nimitz collected 47,724. The Nimitz team also finished
second in the Super Quiz Relay and third in the overall Super Quiz
competition. Five Nimitz students posted perfect scores in the relay
with Hyungoo Kang, Cory McMullen, Austin Christenberry, Murtaza Jafferji,
and Kevin Perkins answering all five of their questions correctly.
Individually, Emarric Zipper was the
second place B student in the overall competition, and Austin
Christenberry led the team in scoring and was the meet’s third place A
student. Celeste Martinez was the top scoring Nimitz C student.
Overall, the Vikings won 50 medals
and each member of the team earned an $800 scholarship for finishing in
second place. Zipper and Christenberry earned an additional $2500 and
$1500 respectfully for their individual performances.
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National Merit Finalists
Six Irving ISD high school students have been designated
as National Merit Scholarship Finalists.
Finalists are: Dylan Cowart, MacArthur High School;
Austin Christenberry, Amanda Peralta and Emarric Zipper, Nimitz High
School; and Hien Nguyen and Mukund Ramesh, The Academy of Irving ISD.
Finalists will be notified at in April and May if they
have been awarded a National Merit Scholarship.
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Nimitz Students Compete in Speech Contest
Nimitz High School students Maria O’Connor and Harrison
Wicks competed in the Voice of Democracy speech competition sponsored by
the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization.
Representing two different VFW “posts” in the Irving
area, O’Connor and Wicks submitted three to five minute recordings of a
speech following the theme, “How I Honor Our Veterans”. Wicks’ speech
won second place and O’Connor’s speech took first place with an award of
a $200 savings bond and the opportunity to compete at the state level.
In state recognition, O’Connor traveled to Austin for a
two-day tour of the state capitol and was announced as the fourth place
finisher among 24 Texas speeches, winning a $2,500 scholarship.
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ISF Donates Teacher Grants
Eight Irving ISD teachers have been awarded Irving
Schools Foundation grants, totaling more than $2,000, to fund attendance
at teacher enrichment workshops during March, April and June.
Elementary school teachers receiving grants are: Brooke
Green, library media specialist, John Haley; Susan Reyes, counselor,
Barton; Mary Ludwick, librarian, Thomas Haley; Teresa Philipps,
kindergarten teacher, Lee; Angela Snyder, physical education teacher,
Thomas Haley; and Lori Lee, fifth grade teacher, Keyes.
Middle and high school teachers were Laura Sichi,
teacher, Secondary Reassignment Center and Hope Krum, librarian, Bowie.
Teacher enrichment grants are awarded monthly to IISD
teachers and are used to attend professional development workshops that
are not otherwise funded by the school district.
|
Thomas Haley Elementary School Principal
Hilda Rodriguez joins Jan Dickson in presenting Mary
Ludwick, library media specialist at Thomas Haley, with an
ISF grant. |
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Irving High Singers Qualify for State UIL
Irving High School choir students participated in UIL
Solo & Ensemble Contest at Townview Magnet High School in Dallas
February 9.
Irving High sent 21 soloists and one ensemble to the
contest, earning nine superior ratings and 13 excellent ratings. For a
complete list of students and the scores they received, please visit
www.irvingisd.net/articles/IHSSoloEnsemble.htm.
Of
the 22 total contest entries from Irving High, six choir students earned
a superior rating on a Class One solo and will travel to Austin in May
for State UIL Competition at the University of Texas. Students are:
Maggie Anderson, Jolie Palmer, Kristy Pitts, T.J. Cooke, J.P. Goski, and
Julian Ham.
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