Nimitz Wins 20th Regional Decathlon
The Nimitz High School Academic
Decathlon Team won its twentieth Regional Academic Decathlon
Championship in 23 years and its fifth consecutive regional victory at
Richland High School January 30.
With
a point total of 43,796 in the large school division, the team earned a
total 71 medals in 10 events. The team was led by David Orozco and Chris
Rohrs who each won 11 medals, and Orozco was the meet’s top “B” student.
Additional medals won by Nimitz decathletes include the following: Ana
Ibanez, nine; Genesis Sanchez, eight; Joel Garcia, eight; Edgar Ibarra,
seven; Ashlyne Menchaca, seven; Linda Dao, six; and Maggie Stiggleman,
four. For “A” students, Rohrs won second place and Sanchez was third.
Among “B” students, Ana Ibanez won second place and Linda Dao was fifth.
Among “C” students, Edgar Ibarra won fourth place, Ashlyne Menchaca was
fifth, and Joel Garcia won sixth place. The Nimitz team won the Super
Quiz and Super Quiz Relay events with Ibarra, Orozco, Rohrs and Sanchez
earning perfect scores in the relay.

The Nimitz High School Academic Decathlon
Team won the Regional Academic Decathlon Championship for
the fifth consecutive year, and a total of 20 wins out of 23
years. Pictured are team members (back row, from left) Chris
Rohrs, David Orozco, Genesis Sanchez and Edgar Ibarra.
(Front row, from left) Ana Ibanez, Ashlyne Menchaca, Linda
Dao, Joel Garcia and Maggie Stiggleman. |
MacArthur High School finished the
meet with 35,209 points and placed third in Super Quiz. Pearl Choi was
fifth place “A” student at the meet and was the team’s top scorer. Choi
won first place in the Essay event, second in Music and third in
Literature. Karissa McCalip and Zach Brown won first and third place,
respectively, in Interview, and McCalip was MacArthur’s top “C” student.
Andrew Ellington won third place in the Super Quiz and was MacArthur’s
top “B” student. In the Art event, Jinae Saki won third place. Other
contributing team members were Jason Ikpatt, Brenda Amata, and Theo
Beyene.
The Irving High School team was led
by Jane Lee who won the interview category. Lee was the team’s top “A”
student, Luis Nambo was the team’s top “B” student, and Edgar Cortez was
the team’s top “C” student.
In the regional medium school
division, the Singley Academy team finished 10th out of 14 teams with
28,912 points and scored a team-high 20 points in the Super Quiz Relay.
Back to top
Middle School Region Choir
Choir students from IISD middle
schools traveled to Red Oak High School January 23 to compete among 600
other students in the Texas Music Educators (TMEA) Region 20 Middle
School Region Choir.
Eighteen students from Bowie Middle
School, Houston Middle School, Lamar Middle School, and Travis Middle
School earned spots in one of three choirs. The three choirs are Sixth
Grade Honor Choir, Seventh & Eighth Grade Honor Girls Choir, and Seventh
& Eighth Grade Honor Mixed Choir. The three choirs will perform in a
concert February 6 at Duncanville High School, with the first group
scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
TMEA Region 20 aligns with
University Interscholastic League Music Region 20 and is comprised of
school districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. For a complete list of
students who earned seats in region choirs, access
www.irvingisd.net/articles/msallregionchoir2010.htm.
Back to top
Cardwell Students Admitted into
Professional Organization
The American Water Works Association
(AWWA) has announced that the first high school chapter to be admitted
into the nationwide professional organization will come from the newly
renamed Cardwell Career Preparatory Center (CCPC).
Announced during the last week of
January, students in the Applied Technology career pathway at CCPC will
have membership dues for this year paid for by the national
organization. According to Katie McCain, past president of AWWA, the
organization became very interested in bringing CCPC students into the
industry, and felt this was a way to make them feel welcome.

A member of City of Irving Water
Utilities Department demonstrates how city utilities operate
for members of the Applied Technology career pathway at
Cardwell Career Preparation Center. |
Terri Buckerfield, applied
technology teacher at CCPC, will speak about the school’s water program
at two industry conferences. Buckerfield will present at the Texas Water
2010 Conference in Corpus Christi in April and the American Water Works
Association annual conference in Chicago in June. The announcement by
AWWA comes following several years of a successful partnership between
City of Irving Water Utilities Department and the Applied Technology
program at CCPC. For more information about AWWA, access
www.awwa.org.
Back to top
UIL Places Irving in New District
In
an announcement by the University Interscholastic League (UIL) February
1, Irving High School, MacArthur High School, and Nimitz High School
have been placed in District 6-5A effective for the 2010-2011 and
2011-2012 school years.
Reassignments announced February 1
are for football and basketball, and other district alignments will be
released by the UIL no later than April 15. In addition to IISD high
schools, other members of District 6-5A include Bell High School,
Colleyville Heritage High School, Grapevine High School, Haltom High
School, Richland High School, and Trinity High School.
For more information about the UIL
district realignments and reassignments, access
www.uil.utexas.edu.
Back to top
STAAR to Replace TAKS
Commissioner of Education Robert
Scott announced January 26 that the next generation of student tests
will be called the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness or
STAAR.
STAAR
will replace the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), which
is the criterion-reference assessment program that has been in place
since 2003. The STAAR name, pronounced the same as star, will be used
for the 12 end-of-course assessments mandated by SB 1031 in 2007, and
the new grade 3-8 assessments mandated by HB 3 in the 2009 legislative
session.
The new tests will be used beginning
with the 2011-2012 school year. Students in the graduating class of
2015, who are currently in seventh grade, will be the first students who
must meet the end-of-course testing requirements, as well as pass their
classes, in order to earn a diploma. The new tests will be significantly
more rigorous than previous tests, and will measure a child’s
performance as well as academic growth. The grade 3-8 STAAR tests in
reading and mathematics, by law, must be linked from grade to grade to
performance expectations for the English III and Algebra II
end-of-course assessments.
During a speech at the Texas
Association of School Administrators’ Midwinter Conference in Austin,
Scott also said the last TAKS-based school accountability ratings will
be issued in 2011. Ratings will be suspended in 2012 while a new
accountability system is developed and the new state rating system will
debut in 2013.
Back to top
MacArthur to Present Shop of Horrors
MacArthur
High School Theater Department will present Little Shop of Horrors
at 7 p.m. February 4-6 in the MacArthur Auditorium. Tickets are $10
for adults, and $5 for students. For more information, call
972-261-2138.
Back to top
Help for Haiti
Students, staff and community
members from Stipes Elementary School raised $708 to be donated for
Haiti relief efforts as a result of Hats for Haiti day.

Students in Erin O’Connor’s third
grade gifted and talented class at Johnston Elementary School collected
$765 through a coin collection January 25-29. Pictured are Stephen
Mitchell, MacKensie Hicks and Cierra Barker-Colquitt.

Back to top
Three
Cheers for Travis
Seventh and eighth grade cheerleading squads from Travis
Middle School won second place for the middle school/junior high
division at the NCA Texas Cheerleading Championship December 13, winning
in all three Game Day divisions in which they participated: second in
Dance, third in Cheer, and third in Fight Song.

Back to top
Follow IISD on Twitter
Keep
up with the latest Irving ISD news and events with three Tweets per
day, Monday through Friday. Follow Irving ISD on
Twitter with your cell phone or online.
http://twitter.com/IrvingISD.
Back to top