Ceremonies Honor
Graduates
Approximately
1,500 graduating members of the Irving ISD senior class will be honored
for their accomplishments as they begin the next chapter of their lives.
Baccalaureate proceedings are scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Calvary
Church, 4401 N. Highway 161 in Irving. Graduation ceremonies will be
held at Potter’s House Event Center, 6777 Kiest Boulevard, Dallas, with
The Academy of Irving ISD graduation Friday at 3:30 p.m., followed by
MacArthur High School ceremonies at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, seniors from
Irving High School will graduate at 10 a.m. and Nimitz High School
ceremonies will begin at 2 p.m.
Valedictorians and salutatorians for the four high schools will make
their traditional speeches at their respective ceremonies.
Valedictorians and salutatorians are: Kevin Itty and Rebecca Taylor,
Irving High; Thinh Dang and Gretchen Geltemeyer, MacArthur; Jaclyn Le
and Austin Christenberry, Nimitz; and Hien Nguyen and Waziha Samin, The
Academy.
For
the fourth consecutive year, valedictorians and salutatorians from each
high school will receive a free laptop computer, complements of Dell
Computer.
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JA
Students Go International
Two
teams from Irving High School’s Recordkeeping class combined efforts to
form a four-person team that won first place for their region as part of
the Junior Achievement (JA) “Banks in Action” national online
competition May 20-30.
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Students
from Irving High School’s Recordkeeping class competed in
Junior Achievement area competition May 19, winning second
place, and earned an invitiation to compete in national
competition. Students pictured are Charlie Crowe, Tyler
Story, Ivan Tellez and Hayden Higgins. |
With
their win, Seniors Charlie Crowe and Tyler Story, and Juniors Jessica
Martinez and Tabitha Moreno received an invitation to travel to
international competition at Citigroup world headquarters in New York
City June 30-July 1.
Leading up to national competition, the two teams of students from
Irving High competed in the Banks in Action area contest at Citigroup
headquarters in Las Colinas May 19. The teams, comprised of students in
Irving High’s Career & Technical Education Recordkeeping class, won
second and third place. The second place team won a $1,000 U.S. Savings
Bond and the third place team won a $600 U.S. Savings Bond. Because of
their wins, the teams were then invited to participate in Junior
Achievement’s two-week online national contest.
The
Irving High teams were lead by Recordkeeping Teacher Shane Davis, who
has been nominated as a JA Teacher of the Year.
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Farine,
Thomas Haley Win Top Geography Bee Awards
The Farine Elementary
School Geography Bee Team won first place at district competition May 28
at MacArthur High School. The team from Thomas Haley Elementary School
won second, however both teams completed regular rounds tied with 48 of
54 possible points. Farine won the bee in the tie-breaker round.
Fifteen IISD elementary
schools competed and teams were comprised of fourth and fifth grade
students from each school. Team members from Farine won medals and a
world atlas in recognition of their accomplishment.
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Geography
Bee Team members from Farine Elementary School and Coach Pam
Campbell celebrate their win in the IISD Geography Bee May
28. |
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Seniors Awarded Wal-Mart Scholarships
|
Waziha Samin |
Wal-Mart, an IISD Partner in Education since 2001, announced Waziha
Samin, senior at The Academy of Irving ISD and the school’s
salutatorian, has received a $10,000 scholarship from the Walton Family
Foundation.
Samin is one of 150 graduating seniors nationwide who received the
scholarship awarded to children and dependents of Wal-Mart associates.
She is the daughter of Dalia and Mohammed Islam.
Additionally, four IISD seniors have each been awarded a $1,000 Wal-Mart
Community Scholarship. Recipients are Yasmina Debbab, Aya Riyal, and
Nosheen Khan from The Academy, and Vincent Jaramillo from MacArthur High
School.
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Orchestra
Students Recognized
Three orchestra students from Irving High School have been named Texas
Music Scholars by the Texas Music Educators Association.
Juniors Jillian Attan and Ankita Krishnan, and Sophomore Daniel Oh, are
among 1,300 Texas students selected because of their outstanding
qualities in scholastic merit, musicianship and citizenship.
Carl
Welle is orchestra director at Irving High and nominated the students
for the honor.
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Read
Aloud Day at Britain
Britain Elementary
School celebrated Read Aloud Day (RAD) June 3, emphasizing reading and
the achievement of the school’s student writers and illustrators.
During the school
year, each student wrote and illustrated a hard-bound book. The top
book in each class competed for the RAD Award, a campus-wide book award
based on the Caldecott and Newbery Awards.
Performers at this
year’s Read Aloud Day included award-winning author Susan Stevens
Crummel, storyteller Jiaan Powers, a Texas Commission on the Arts
Touring Artist, and magician James Wand. Community volunteers also
participated by leading small groups of students. Britain won an ICE
Award in 2007 for the Read Aloud Day program.
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Pierce Pennies Provide Books
Students at Pierce Early Childhood School conducted a penny drive,
raising $2,230 in two weeks to purchase books to be donated to the
United Service Organizations (USO).
The program, United
Through Reading, is sponsored by the USO and allows soldiers who are
deployed overseas to record themselves reading a children’s book.
Recorded messages are then sent back to the soldier’s family for his or
her child to see their parent reading to them.
The school originally set
a goal of raising $500 for the program, however since students far
exceeded the goal in so short a time, students were rewarded with pizza
parties and Pierce Principal Linda Tucker dressed in a panda costume and
rode a bicycle during the presentation ceremony.
Guarantee Bank donated change counting services for the effort and
Wal-Mart and Half Price Books donated additional funds to purchase
books.
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Sarah Duhon
(back row, left), counselor at Pierce Early Childhood
School, presents a ceremonial check to United Service
Organizations (USO) representatives John Robinson and Sherri
Allen, assisted by Pierce Teacher Starr Shelton and her
students Konner Vinson (front left) and Alexis Quintero. |
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Summer Food Service Program
IISD
Food Service Department will conduct its Summer Feeding Program
beginning June 10 at selected school sites.
According to government regulations, the program is only available to
individuals between 1-18 years of age, food is to be consumed on-site,
and may not be shared with others. Individuals not meeting the age
requirement are welcome to purchase a meal at IISD established prices.
For
more information, access:
www.irvingisd.net/foodservices/articles/summer_food_program.htm
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District Weekly Schedule
Resumes in August
This
is the final issue of the District Weekly for the 2007-2008
school year. The Weekly will resume publication August 20.
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