National Merit Semifinalists

Five Irving ISD students have been selected as semifinalists in the 48th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, and one of them posted perfect scores on two critical assessment tests.

Among 16,000 of the brightest in the nation, these students outperformed 1.3 million students in more than 20,000 high schools on the Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test (PSAT) when they took it as juniors last year.

IISD semifinalists are Mingming Ma, MacArthur High School; Taylor Mastin, MacArthur High School; John Meiser, MacArthur High School; Nichole Plagens, MacArthur High School; and Jodi Jungman, Nimitz High School.

Ma scored a perfect 240 on the PSAT as well as a perfect 1600 on the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). She credits her success to taking the SAT preparation class two summers in a row.

Back to top   

ISF Campaign Exceeds Goal

IISD employees pledged $72,980 to the Irving Schools Foundation's "Your Money, Your Impact" payroll deduction campaign this year. That figure represents a 33 percent increase from last year's all-time high of $54,327 and surpasses the campaign goal of $60,000.

Donations from 1,949 employees yielded $20,249 for grants to teachers, $10,176 to Teacher Enrichment Grants, $22,438 for Stipes Motivational Scholarships, $17,709 to general foundation operations, and $2,409 for other uses.

Eight schools achieved 100 percent participation this year — Austin Middle School, Lamar Middle School, de Zavala Middle School, Barton Elementary School, Britain Elementary School, Davis Elementary School, Johnston Elementary School, and Schulze Elementary School. Those schools will receive $100 grants from the foundation.

Among the four high school campuses, Irving High collected the largest donation. Among middle schools, Austin was the pledge leader. Elliott led the way for elementaries, and Kinkeade outgave the other two early childhood schools. Those schools will be honored with a $100 grant at the ISF Board meeting at 7:30 a.m., September 26 in the Administration Building Boardroom.

"Irving ISD faculty and staff proved extremely generous again," ISF Executive Director Karen Martin said. "The levels of participation made it overwhelming."

Back to top   

Schools Chosen for Study

Four IISD schools have been chosen to take part in a study by the Washington School Research Center (WSRC) focused on successful classroom strategies among high-performing elementary and middle schools with high percentages of Hispanic students.

In fact, IISD has a fourth of the 16 schools in the state selected by the researchers. Irving schools chosen for the study are Austin Middle School, Houston Middle School, Good Elementary School and Townley Elementary School.

“Over the last year, the WSRC conducted an effective practices study in which we hoped to include high performing schools with large Hispanic student populations in the state of Washington,” wrote WSRC spokesperson Duane Baker in a letter to the Texas schools. “Upon analysis of the data, however, we were unable to find schools where the Hispanic students were sharing in the success. At that time we decided to conduct a separate study identifying elementary and middle schools in the state of Texas that are consistently being successful with high percentages of Hispanic students.”

Representatives from the WSRC will visit IISD October 22-24.

Back to top   

Academy Wins Architecture Award

The Academy of Irving ISD was selected as a winner of the 2002 Impact on Learning Awards sponsored by School Planning & Management magazine.

Entries for the competition were received from all across the United States, Canada and Australia. The Academy was recognized in the "Specialized Learning Spaces" category.

"Your project was selected because it solved real-world problems through innovative design, engineering and technology solutions," wrote School Planning & Management Editor-in-Chief Deborah Moore.

The award will be presented at the Council of Educational Facility Planners 79th Annual International Conference, October 20-22, in Phoenix.

Back to top   

Good Elementary Wins Award

Good Elementary School has won first place in a contest for the most creative and effective Earth Day activities, sponsored by educational publisher Positive Promotions.

Good students and staff took part in several Earth Day activities, including cleaning a polluted pond, visiting Irving recycling centers, creating interactive environmental plays, and playing the City of Irving’s Eco Shopping Game.

The school will be awarded a grand prize of $300.

Back to top   

Sign Language Class Times Change

Due to a scheduling conflict with host school Britain Elementary, the beginning sign language class being offered by the Regional School for the Deaf is now meeting on Tuesday nights. The first class met this week. Classes will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Britain cafeteria.

Back to top   

Crockett Middle School Students Published

Eight students from Jennifer Tullis’ seventh grade pre-AP English class will be published in the Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans. Students from the class submitted poems for the publication in October and eight of them recently received word that their poetry will be included in the book. The young poets are: Lauren Atwood, Han Cho, Tyler Danbom, Madison Jeter, Marcy Reavis, Paula Simons, Kylie Smith, and Barbara Sweat.

Back to top   

Fenley Wins THOA Award

Beverly Fenley, health science technology teacher at The Academy of Irving ISD, has been chosen as this year’s Outstanding Experienced Teacher by the Texas Health Occupations Association (THOA), a state arm of a national organization called the Association of Career and Technology Educators (ACTE). Teachers who have taught for five years or more are eligible for the award. Fenley was one of seven winners from THOA regional competitions. She will compete next April for the honor of being ACTE Region IV Outstanding Experienced Teacher against educators from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi and New Mexico.

Back to top   

Entact Inc. Donates Crockett Uniforms

Several Crockett Middle School students have new school clothes thanks to the generosity of one of the school’s partners in education, Entact. Jenny Elste, partner chairman for Entact, Inc. asked employees at her company to donate new uniforms for economically disadvantaged students at Crockett, and the subsequent clothes drive yielded 70 pieces of clothing.

Back to top   

Marketing Class Goes Behind the Scenes

Students in Carie Brennan’s marketing and retail class at The Academy of Irving ISD have been getting a first-hand look at a real-world marketing event lately. Students took two trips to a new Wal-Mart store in Cedar Hill before the store opened for business. Students sat in on planning meetings and learned what goes into a successful grand opening. Some students also received valuable, hands-on training during Wal-Mart’s Groundhog Job Shadow Day.

Wed., September 18, 2002

Academy to Host HOSA Conference

Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) Area 5 will hold its annual Fall Leadership Conference at The Academy of Irving ISD September 28. As many as 450 students from as far as Bowie, Paris and Killeen, Texas are expected to gather for the event. HOSA is the healthcare branch of a national organization called the Career & Technology Service Organization. HOSA has more than 11,500 student participants in the state and 66,000 across the country.