Tag Archives: EPISD

Freshmen at Bowie High School this year kicked off the start of a new era of education at the South Side school. The new Small Learning Community Academies will give students an edge in college and workforce readiness unlike any other in the region.

A $5-million grant from the Texas Education Agency helped EPISD set up the academies at Bowie which will focus on three high-demand areas of career preparation or instructional approaches: sports science, global industries and STEAM OSO New Tech project-based learning.

“Although all of our schools met academic standards, the Transformation Zone will support further improvements to high-quality teaching and learning,” said Adrian Bustillos, executive director of the Office of Transformation. “The programs that will be created will address specific needs at each impacted campus.”

Starting this school year with the 300 incoming freshmen, every student at Bowie will pick one of the three academies based on their career or academic goals.  Teachers and administrators will cater instruction at each academy in hopes of preparing students for college and the workforce.

“We designed these programs by hearing the voices of the students,” Bustillos said. “The small learning community fellows went down to Guillen and down to the elementary schools and heard their voices, their ideas, their vision.”

Principal Frank Ordaz sees the excitement in the eyes of his new students and is eager to see the program’s progress at his campus.

“The combination of tailor-made lessons plans, a focused academic path based on students’ high level of interest based on their chosen pathway, and teachers’ ability to affect a smaller number of students at a higher level will have a measured positive impact on all of our Bowie students now and in the future,” Ordaz said. “The best is yet to come for Bear Nation.”

The students are not just going to graduate with a diploma, but also have a certification and be able to jump into the job market or to help put themselves through college. Students will graduate with a minimum of 12 college credits through AP, dual credit or the UT OnRamps program.

While the freshman class is the first cohort of the academies, Bustillos said similar opportunities will be expanded all students.

“This way no one misses out on these opportunities, even though we’re starting with ninth grade,” he said. “All students that will be Bowie High School will have the same access to options as we go forward.”

The new global industry learning community will focus on building the skills and knowledge for successful careers as entrepreneurs in the fields of hotel hospitality, culinary arts, corrections, and agriculture options. This program will build on the former Bowie International Business School.

“Unlike other traditional high schools that wait until the junior or senior year to really start embedding them into their career and technology courses, we start immediately during their freshman year,” said Nuri Robles, administrator of the global industry program. “When we designed the small learning communities, we designed them so that 100 percent of our students would have the opportunity to get licensure or certified in their area of study. We want 100 percent of our students to have the opportunity to gain exposure to their future career.”

Sports science academy administrator Robert Padilla left a successful career as Bowie’s head football coach to help launch the Small Learning Communities at his alma mater.

The timing was perfect. He already achieved what he set to accomplish on the field – six trips to the playoffs, one bi-district title and a district title – and his son would be entering Bowie as a freshman. He expects his two younger children to follow suit.

“I’ve got a little bit more skin in this particular game,” he joked. “I started thinking about how I could help the school on a broader scale – do some of the same things that we did with our football program and apply it on a grander scale to try to help out with the school in general. And a just by coincidence, this program was being talked about.”

His cohort of students will focus on sports medicine, therapy services and medical coding.

“It’s three branches of the medical field that haven’t been explored very much,” the 1992 Bowie grad said. “We’re focusing on things that are a little bit more accessible right after high school.”

Freshman global industry student Kayla Olmos had initially transferred to another program in EPISD but was drawn back to Bowie because of the opportunities to embark on a career with the FBI.

“It’s like family here and I feel at home,” she said. “It’s exciting to experience that I’m going to be the first to graduate with a global industries type of certification.”

Jesse Gonzalez, a global industries student, isn’t quite sure what business he wants to launch but he’s certain to be a success after completing the program.

“I know it will help build me up and learn the stuff I don’t know to run a business,” he said. “It feels good to be one of the first to come through this program.”

Bowie is one of eight schools benefiting from the TEA’s Transformation Zone grant. The other campuses are: Andress and Chapin high schools, CCTA; Bassett and Richardson middle schools; and Hughey and Milam elementary schools. Plans for programming at those schools is underway.

Hundreds of students in dozens of classrooms throughout EPISD will have a Million Reasons to celebrate and share their gratitude with Applause, thanks to the generosity of pop megastar Lady Gaga.

The Bad Romance singer announced last week that she would fund projects at 125 classrooms in El Paso in response to the hateful attack to the Cielo Vista Walmart on August 3.

She said she would fund classrooms in Dayton, Ohio, and Gilroy, California, two communities that also were victimized by mass shootings.

“My heart goes out to those who were taken from us too soon and to their families, loved ones and communities who are left grieve,” Lady Gaga wrote on her official Facebook page. “In this moment, I want to channel my confusion, frustration, and fury into hope. Hope that we are there for each other and for ourselves.”

The funding will come from the singer’s Born This Way Foundation, which identified requests from teachers through the DonorsChoose.org website.  Educators have used the website to seek donations for classroom projects and other efforts that benefit students and schools.

In EPISD, the Born This Way Foundation funded at least 67 projects in as many as 26 different schools.

One of the projects includes one proposed by Dowell Elementary School third-grade teacher Kaitlin Hernandez, who wanted to furnish her classroom with chairs and a couch that invited students to learn in innovative and out-of-the-ordinary settings.

“My students have truly been blessed,” Hernandez said of the funding. “To know that there are people who are famous and have so much going for them, but still take the time to recognize the impact we can have as teachers … well, that means the world to me and to my students.”

Other schools who benefited from Lady Gaga’s funding include: Andress, Burges Coronado and El Paso high schools; Magoffin Middle School; and Bond, Cielo Vista, Coldwell, Crockett, Fannin, Herrera, Hillside, Kohlberg, Lee, Lundy, Milam, Moreno, Moye, Newman, Powell, Rusk, Stanton, Tippin, Tom Lea, Whitaker and Zach White elementary schools.

The projects fund requests that range from chairs and rugs to iPads and supplemental reading books.

Teachers and staff members from Mesita Elementary last week waited anxiously at the El Paso International Airport to welcome their newest co-worker: a Chinese exchange teacher who will provide Mandarin instruction to students in the Early Childhood Development Center throughout the 2019-20 school year.

After some unforeseen flight delays that moved her arrival for a day, teacher Yan Liang finally arrived in El Paso on Friday, Aug. 9. Mesita teachers greeted her with flowers, cheers and a big welcome sign.

“We are so excited to add Yan Liang to our staff for this year. With her help and guidance, our students are sure to have an invaluable experience learning, not just the Mandarin language, but also Chinese culture,” said Principal Laila Ferris. “We know that she will be a wonderful fit at Mesita and that she will help us meet the academic goals of our students.”

Mesita’s renown Connecting Worlds/Mundos Unidos dual-language program offers students instruction in both English and Spanish. But for several years, the school has added Mandarin Chinese to the curriculum to help students be ready for a 21st-century economy.

Yan is in El Paso as part of the Teachers of Critical Language Program, which placed 28 teachers in U.S. schools this academic year.

The program is designed to increase the study and acquisition of important world languages in U.S. schools. This program enables primary and secondary schools to strengthen their teaching of critical languages by bringing Chinese, Egyptian, and Moroccan teachers to the U.S. to teach their native Arabic and Chinese language for an academic year.

It is funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and implemented by the American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS, an international nonprofit organization that prepares individuals and institutions to succeed in an increasingly interconnected world.

Story by Gustavo Reveles  |  Photos by Leonel Monroy –  EPISD

Incoming MacArthur seventh-grader Elijah Priego is not your average 12-year-old boy.

Sure, he’s one of the Ponies that starting Monday will return to classes and work hard to reach his academic goals. But he also is a world-class athlete who has been selected to represent the United States in an international karate competition.

After outstanding performances at the local and regional level, the karateka has been selected to compete at the 2019 World Karate & Kickboxing Commission (WKC) World Championship this November in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

“I aspire to become a prominent member of the 2024 U.S. Olympic team so this is the first step to accomplishing that goal,” said Elijah, who has collected donations from community members to make the trip to New York. “Everyone’s donation will help me fulfill this amazing opportunity and assist me in representing not only our city and school district but the country as well.”

The WKC World Championships could help him get much-needed attention. The competition gathers martial artists from throughout the world to compete in disciplines like speed fighting (point and continuous sparring), kata (forms), and weapons.

To learn more about Elijah’s journey to the WKC World Championship, click here.

While most teenagers would rather take a summer trip to the beach or an amusement park destination, others like Silva Health Magnet’s Emely Muñoz chose instead to hone their leadership skills in the nation’s capital.

Muñoz was the only EPISD student selected to travel to Washington, D.C., to participate in the Bank of America Student Leaders Summit — a youth workforce development program that connects students with paid work opportunities in their communities and offers them leadership training for long-term sustainability.

“We recognize that building hard and soft job skills combined with access to jobs early in life creates positive outcomes for young peoples’ long-term success,” said El Paso Market President at Bank of America Kristi Marcum.

She added: “Investing in youth is part of Bank of America’s broader commitment to connect individuals to the training and jobs needed for success, ultimately strengthening our community by creating more widespread, sustainable economic mobility.”

Muñoz worked at the Opportunity Center for the Homeless throughout the summer and spent her time in Washington meeting peers and connecting with Congressional leaders.

The Young Women’s STEAM Research & Preparatory Academy — EPISD’s only all-girls school —  this week announced the appointment of its first high school-level coaches in campus history.

The school will begin enrolling ninth-graders starting this upcoming academic year.

The District announced the appointment of Laura Pacheco as head volleyball and softball coach and Jermaine Williams as head basketball coach.  Both coaches are expected to grow their teams into the varsity level with the addition of grades tenth through 12^th over the next four years.

“We are excited to welcome Coach Pacheco and Coach Williams to the Warrior Family,” said Principal Dr. Cynthia Ontiveros. “The Young Women’s STEAM Research & Preparatory Academy offers girls from throughout El Paso County a high-quality education, and that includes access to competitive athletic teams. We know these teams will make the school proud.”

Pacheco is a former El Paso Community College softball player and assistant coach. She has served as an assistant softball and volleyball coach at Chapin High School, where she helped lead those teams to numerous district, bi-district, regional and area championships.  Pacheco has served as president of the El Paso Coaches Association and is a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso.

Williams previously served as junior varsity and assistant varsity coach for the girls basketball team at Andress High School.  The Andress JV team won district championships three of the last four years under his leadership; and the varsity team has won district, bi-district and area championships.

Williams has served as assistant coach of the Greater El Paso Girls’ Coaches Association All-Star Game.

Two EPISD students are among the best Spanish spellers in the country.

Azul Morales from Lundy Elementary School and Marium Zahra from Mesita Elementary School competed in the National Spanish Spelling Bee earlier this month in Denver.

Both students made it deep into the final rounds of spelling.

Morales, this year’s EPISD Spanish Bee champion, spelled all the way to the 13^th and final round. She was unable to correctly spell circense, an adjective that describes a person or thing that is related to the circus.

Zahra, who took second place in the EPISD bee, was not too far behind Morales.  She made it to the 11^th round of spelling but unfortunately was not able to spell the Spanish word for a macaw: guacamaya.

“I’m excited to be here because my fourth language is Spanish and it’s important to know I can get this far,” said Marium, also speaks Urdu and Hijabi.

EPISD’s dual-language students compete annually at their individual campuses and 60 winners advanced to the districtwide Spanish Spelling Bee at Chapin in March.

Morales and Zahra qualified for the national Spanish bee based on their performance at the District bee.

Dozens of students from throughout the country participated in the national Spanish bee in Denver.  In the end, eight students were selected as winners.

“This event provides students the opportunity to showcase their Spanish language skills and to network with peers throughout the country,” said EPISD Connecting Languages Facilitator Ana Muñoz.

EPISD’s Fine Arts Department had its first-ever Summer Dance Camp recently at Bowie High School.

Dance teams from all 11 district high schools learned and engaged with visiting professional artists that included a cheerleader from the Dallas Mavericks, a Cuban dance master, a dance artist from the Austin Dance Company and professional dancer from Juárez.

Nearly 250 participating students also received instruction from local dancer and Broadway veteran Eddie Carrillo, as well as yoga guru Jen Ramos.

EPISD dance teachers had a chance to speak to the visiting artists one-on-one where they learned what their views are on choosing music and choreography, as well as movement interpretation.

The District hopes to make this dance camp an annual event for dancers in the District.

District photographer Leonel Monroy spent an afternoon following the dancers and capturing their day of learning.

EPISD’s Class of 2019 is now complete.

A total of 171 seniors from every high school in the El Paso Independent School District accepted their diplomas on Wednesday during the 2019 Summer Graduation Ceremonies at the Bowie High School auditorium.

The graduates completed all state graduation requirements during the summer and now join the 4,200 seniors who received their high-school diplomas during ceremonies in May.

“The fact that you are here today is a testament of the hard work and dedication you have demonstrated over the years,” said Dr. Carla Gonzales, EPISD’s Assistant Superintendent of High Schools.

“You have the skills you need to be successful in life. Go out and work toward reaching your goals. You can do whatever you want to make an impact in this world.”

Wednesday’s ceremonies were split in two to accommodate parents and graduates.

The morning ceremonies featured students from Andress, Austin, Burges, Chapin, Franklin, Irvin, Jefferson and Silva Health Magnet high schools, as well as the College, Career & Technology Academy.

The afternoon session featured students from Bowie, Coronado and El Paso high schools.