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In a battle pitting one of the newer northeast teams versus one of the original El Paso County schools, new bested old as the Chapin Huskies defeated the Austin Panthers at Irvin High’s Tony Shaw Field Friday night.

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Every year the Rio Bravo Watercolorists teams up with the EPISD Fine Arts department to present one student with a $100 scholarship award for their artwork.

The award this year went to Chapin High School senior Jesus Saenz for his painting “Sombras di Bleu” – a self-portrait he submitted for the 2017 EPISD student art show last month. Last year, the award went to an Irvin High School student.

“I feel very grateful. It really feels nice when people notice your work,” Saenz said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Saenz’s painting was among the 600 submissions to the art show – a fact that does not escape him.

“There are so many talented students at Chapin and other EPISD schools, so this is amazing,” Saenz said.

Teacher Carol Parsons is proud of her student and hopes he will continue to flourish as an artist and person.

“This is the third year I’ve had him as a student so I know what his potential is,” Parsons said. “I know I can push him to new limits, and he’s always thrilled with the results. He’s grown and progressed. I’m happy for him, especially now that he’s a senior and he knows he can do this.”

Saenz plans on saving the scholarship award money for college, where he plans to pursue a career in the arts when he graduates.

EPISD Visual Arts Facilitator Rosa Aguilar last week presented Saenz with the check from the watercolorists group at Chapin.

“We have the Rio Bravo Watercolorists come by our big student art show. They are really good at promoting the creativity and talent of our kids,” Aguilar said.

Aguilar feels the award is a good learning experience for the EPISD art students.

“Our kids take a lot of pride in the recognition,” Aguilar said. “It goes a long way because it inspires them to keep on going with their artwork, and that their work is being validated outside the district.”

El Paso Independent School District Superintendent Juan Cabrera this week announced the appointment of two new principals and a new executive director in the human resources department.

Mary Anna Giba is the new principal at Irvin High School. Ms. Giba had been serving as interim principal at Irvin and previously served as principal at Cielo Vista Elementary School and assistant principal at Alta Vista Elementary.

She is a Northeast native and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Robert Marsh is the new principal at Chapin High School. Mr. Marsh had been serving as interim principal and assistant principal at Chapin, and previously served as interim principal at Bassett Middle and Irvin and Austin high schools. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso and Sul Ross State University.

Mr. Marsh is a former head coach for the Austin High School football team.

Nancy Tovar is the new Executive Director of Talent Acquisition and Personnel Administration. Ms. Tovar had been serving as EPISD’s Director for Area Personnel and Recruiting. She will be charged with workforce planning to meet the current and future needs of the District.

Ms. Tovar – the current president of the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association – has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UTEP.

“I am pleased to have Nancy, Mary Anna and Robert on board as part of the school and central office leadership team,” Cabrera said. “Their appointment puts us on track to meet the goals of the District, which all center on providing high-quality teaching to our 60,000 students.”

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A team of Chapin High School students won the national championship in a literary storytelling competition during the Technology Student Association National Conference earlier this month in Nashville, Tenn.

The team of Celeste Casarez, Lertchaal Hale and Sarah Willis earned first place out of 134 teams in the Children’s Stories category — a competition that asks students to spend months drafting, writing, illustrating and publishing a literary work aimed at promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education to young students.

Chapin’s team used their knowledge of STEM — as well as their research in educational philosophy, child development and writing — to create “Macy McNeer: The Little Engineer.”

The story is an original literary work detailing the lessons and successes of an aspiring engineer.

The story features hand-illustrated and computer-enhanced artwork by students and editing by Chapin High School English teachers. The EPISD Print Shop published the book.

“The story of Macy is amazing, because she invents many things that unfortunately don’t always work,” said Chapin engineering teacher Pamela Cook who co-sponsors the Husky TSA. “But along the way Macy learns many valuable lessons of perseverance, encouragement and achieving goals.”

Cook said the book also helps promote engineering and science among young girls.

Other Chapin teams also fared well at the Nashville conference.

The team of Casarez, Hale, Ray Hernandez, martin Lopez and Gabriel Marquez earned a third-place in the Digital Video Production category for their work on a thoroughly-researchedand well-produced story on social media bullying.

Also, Tim Kalavatis came in sixth in extemporaneous presentation, while Hale earned an eighth place in desktop publishing and ninth in promotional graphics.

The marching season may have ended in the fall for Chapin High School band students, but that doesn’t mean the drum corps is sitting idle.

Chapin is the only high school with a winter guard percussion team, and the squad is already making waves in regional competitions.

The team competed in the Winter Guard Arizona championships last week and earned second place, missing the top spot by fractions of a point.

This is the first year the team competes so it was a great honor for assistant band director Christopher Lawhorne and all his students.

“The kids worked hard. I worked hard. They truly earned that award,” said Christopher Lawhorne, the assistant band director at Chapin and the coach of the percussion team. “Since this is our first year we just wanted to get our feet wet.”

Another special attribute of the Chapin winter guard percussion team is that it is not just a Chapin team.

“I extended the invitation to all the El Paso Independent School District band directors,” Lawhorne said. “We have two students from Coronado and one from El Paso High performing with us.”

The team competed in Arizona since the winter guard circuit in El Paso does not have a percussion event. To compete at state teams have to compete in four prior competitions inside the circuit, but since Chapin is a Texas team they only had to perform at the Winter Guard International Regional in Phoenix to qualify.

That competition allowed the Chapin team to fine tune their show for the state championships.

“We took those judges comments and improved the show. We changed some of the third movement to really enhance the visual effect of the show,” Lawhorne said.

Winter guard percussion teams have to have a custom written show and drill, which the drummers perform in front of judges in a span of five minutes.

“The show can be grueling at times. It’s hard work. They perform it to the best of their abilities and get rated for it,” Lawhorne said. “It really is a way to keep the drum line alive through the winter months.”

To prepare for competition the team practiced 14 to 15 hours every weekend starting at the beginning of the year.

“It’s really demanding, but we pushed each other to produce a great product. It was all worth it. I can’t wait to compete next year,” sophomore Josh Procell said. “I am section leader so it was very interesting learning to collaborate with the other sections. I really gained some great lead

Check out EPISD Live’s coverage of this event!

Chapin High School students received a special music presentation about baritone African American classical composer and singer Harry Burleigh, and his impact on American music.

American cultural historian, or musicologist, Joseph Horowitz shared the unique history of Burleigh, who inspired classically trained musicians like Antonín Dvořák. Burleigh also composed his own pieces and was well known for composing art songs.

“Burleigh is mainly forgotten, but what he did is historic. Before Harry Burleigh no one had sung a spiritual in concert as a solo song,” Horowitz said. “That was his inspiration. He wrote the spirituals down and sung them himself. He made a great contribution to American music.”

Horowitz was set to share the Chapin auditorium stage with one of America’s leading bass-baritones Kevin Deas to perform samples of Burleigh’s music. However weather conditions on the east coast prevented Deas from arriving today.

Students were still treated to Deas’ voice via recorded videos, as well as a live performance by Horowitz on piano and UTEP professor Dr. Lorenzo Candelaria on violin.

“Whenever I get a chance to reach out to the community and meet with students at high schools that’s always a highlight for me. It’s a treat,” Candelaria said.

The duo performed a movement from the Sonatina in G major for violin and piano by Dvořák.

Choir student Chloe Curtis doesn’t like listening to modern music. Instead she dotes on classical composers and musical theater –a fact she proudly proclaims.

“I think this is amazing,” Curtis said. “I have always been interested in learning about different composers and classical music. I didn’t know about him (Burleigh), but I am glad I do now. I am going to look more into his music.”

Horowitz hopes his lesson inspires students to embrace music.

“What I hope is apparent is that the power of music is embodied in these songs,” Horowitz said. “They were sung by slaves. It was a spontaneous utterance that was necessary for their own spiritual well being because their lives were so difficult. They found consolation and hope through music.”

More than 800 high school student leaders from throughout the county bonded and learned to step outside the box on Tuesday at the 2015 District IX Student Council fall conference at Chapin High School.

The event’s baseball theme “Sometimes it’s not bad to step out of the box” encouraged students to step outside the box by embracing their individuality to become more effective leaders on their respective campuses.

“Our students are here today to build on their leadership skills, so they can take those skills back to their home campuses and share their knowledge,” District IX President Advisor Kelley Akins said.

Keeping with the theme, former MLB pitcher Jeremy Bleich spoke to the students about overcoming hardship. He had suffered a major shoulder injury while playing for the New York Yankees. Bleich is currently signed with a Pittsburgh Pirates minor league team.

“What’s really important is leadership and staying positive. I wanted to focus on adversity in a positive light –how to be prepared for it and how to handle it,” Bleich said. “I’m super excited to be here and seeing all the kids’ enthusiasm. It’s a pleasure to be a part of this.”

The event kicked off with team building activities before each school shared their unique cheers during roll call.

“This is such a great atmosphere to be in. All of us are enjoying it,” Chapin senior Caitlyn Polloni said. “I really enjoy being part of student council and getting out in the community and help people.”

District IX spearheads several events throughout the year including a spring conference and two social events.

“We offer lots of opportunities for these young leaders to grow in their school and beyond,” Akins said. “I myself was part of student council when I was in school, and it made a great impact in my life.”

Author: EPISD