Tag Archives: EPISD

Six EPISD students will share the stage with local and national leaders to share their ideas and present their platforms during the 2018 TEDxElPaso conference Saturday at the El Paso Museum of Art.

The six students, who earned their spot on the conference by presenting their ideas before a panel earlier in year, will share the stage with well-known speakers like Congressman Will Hurd, advertising executive Leslie Wingo and muralist Cimi Alvarado.

Representing EPISD at TEDxElPaso are:

• Abigail Carrasco, Dia Ganjegunte and Lilly Luttrell from Brown Middle School;
• Alyssa Quesada from Burges High School; and
• Mia Milliorn and Kiyoshi Ito from Coldwell Elementary School.

The students are part of EPISD’s emerging TED Ed Clubs, which help prepare students to become public speakers and present ideas in the style of the world-famous TED Talks.

“Our objective for TEDxElPaso is not only to contribute to the global clearinghouse of free knowledge, but also to inspire you to make a dent in the universe and leave your own unique footprint,” said curator David Michael Jerome, who called the event a day that is devoted to ideas.

On Saturday, EPISD students will speak on a range of topics that include the role bees play in our environment, the importance of listening to children and happiness in our lives.

“My TED Talk is going to be about how I feel about the disadvantages and advantages about me personally being the middle child,” Coldwell’s Kiyoshi Ito said. “So it’s sort of like I’m interviewing myself and I’m telling it to other people. I learned how to be a more fluent speaker.  Being in TED Ed has also helped me to get over stage fright and be able to talk in front of a big crowd.”

The TED Talk Club also taught his classmate, Mia, how to project her voice and become a better speaker.

“I’m going to be talking about the voice of the young and how politicians or even your mom or dad should be listening to what you have to say because we are part of this world for a reason,” said Mia, also a Connections student at Coldwell.

Her talk required some research and practice to ensure her voice could be heard.

“When I got into it I didn’t really know much about it so I watched the news and I looked at websites,” she said. “I was really shy and I would talk like really whispery. To practice, they had the class stand in the back of the room so I had to be louder and show my voice because my TED Talk is about my voice.”

Mia and Kiyoshi’s teacher Christina Mier has seen how much the students have grown from participating in TED Talks.

“The program provides them a platform. These students have stories to tell and it is amazing how they really do want their voices to be heard,” Mier said. “Programs like TED Talks develop their presentation literacy and gives them that opportunity to just organize themselves, improve their skills and really just put it all on the stage.”

EPISD started the TED Ed Clubs in 2016. In 2017, 13 campuses from elementary through high school participated in the program with the eventual goal of establishing a club at every EPISD campus.

“The TED Ed Club curriculum matches components of the Active Learning Framework and New Tech,” said Esther Hughes, a facilitator for innovation who also coordinates the clubs. “It inspires members to work together to discuss and celebrate creative ideas.”

Last May, the students in the clubs presented their TED-style talk in front of a crowd and were rated on a variety of categories including delivery, idea, enthusiasm and audience awareness by representatives from TEDxElPaso. The top presentations were selected for this week’s talks.

“We are so grateful to TEDxElPaso for this partnership,” Hughes said. “Students who are selected to present are given coaching opportunities on how to present their talks.  They are exposed to influential civic- and business-minded leaders in the community who, in turn, always express what amazing students we have here at EPISD.”

On Wednesday, high school students and eighth-graders throughout EPISD will participate in SAT School Day, a District initiative to create more pathways to college.

“The SAT School Day initiative is vital to our students in grades 8 through 12 because it allows them to practice and maximize their score on exams that can help open up a world of collegiate and financial aid opportunities,” said Richard Couder, College Readiness facilitator.

All seniors will be taking the SAT while students in the eighth-grade, freshmen, sophomores and juniors will take the PSAT. All testing will happen at the students’ home campuses.

“This year, our superintendent challenged all of our high school students to spend a minimum of eight hours practicing on Khan Academy prior to the SAT School Day,” Couder said. “Research shows that just eight hours of practice can raise student scores by 90 points on average. ”

The test for eighth graders and freshman (PSAT 8/9) differs from that of the sophomores and juniors. While the test itself for 10^th and 11^th are the same, the juniors’ test is the PSAT/NMSQT (National Merit Scholar Qualifying Test) to determine National Merit Scholars.

Students have been preparing for the exam by logging on to the Khan Academy for tips and practice questions.

For those taking the test on Wednesday, EPISD provides the following tips to prepare for the test, courtesy of Khan Academy:

The Night Before:

• Relax!There are a lot of good reasons NOT to study the night before Test Day. Marathoners don’t go for a run before Race Day, and mental marathoners like you shouldn’t study for more than an hour on the day before you take the SAT. Your brain needs to rest in order to do its best. Read a book or hang out with a friend or two.
• Avoid screen time.You’re going to need to get a good night’s sleep, and bright screens (televisions, phones, movies) will wake up your brain and make it more difficult to drift off at an early hour.
• Have a healthy dinner.Drink lots of water and load up with complex carbohydrates, just like marathon runners do: potatoes, pasta and rice are good choices here, as well as protein and vegetables.
• Organize your bag for Test Day.The night before is the time to put your ID, admission ticket, pencils, calculator, batteries and other gear in a bag by the door.

Test Morning:

• Wake up early and have a healthy breakfast. Here are a few good choices: eggs, toast, cereal, bagel, fruit, juice, cheese, milk.
• If you drink coffee or tea, then stick to your routine. If you don’t drink a caffeinated beverage every day, though, Test Day isn’t the time to start. You need calm, slow-burning, consistent energy today.

The EPISD Fine Arts Department presented the K-12 Student Art Exhibit “Dream a Little Dream” Surrealist Expressions, opening Thursday night at the International Art Museum. The opening was attended by hundreds of people.

All EPISD students were encouraged to participate in this art show and share their surrealist stories and dream-like imagery with their peers and with our community.

The art show currently displays close to 300 pieces in all mediums and categories: drawings, paintings, sculptures, prints and collage.

In addition to the student art exhibit, our young artists who attended the opening reception received the opportunity to enter an art supply raffle where many of them won color pencils, acrylic paints, drawing pencil sets, paper tablets, pastels and much more.

“The Surrealist exhibition is one of our most popular events due to the fact that student get a chance to “dream” and produce magical artwork to share with our community. Surrealist expressions went beyond the walls of the art museum the day of the opening,” said Fine Arts Visual Arts facilitator Rosa Aguilar.

Teachers, students and staff attended the opening reception dressed in their dream like or surrealist attire to support the young artists.

“The art exhibit shows a chronological order from elementary to high school level work. The audience is able to view the growth not only in technique and skill but also in the complex storytelling and concept of surrealism. I encourage all of our community to stop by and view the incredible creativity of our students, the quality and craftsmanship of this art show has set the tone for the rest of our EPISD art exhibits,” Aguilar said.

The exhibit will be on display from October 4-27, 2018 at the International Art Museum, located at 1211 Montana Avenue.

For Chick-fil-A, it’s not all about cooking chicken. The fast food franchise has teamed up with area high schools to serve up some nuggets of wisdom through its Leader Academy.

The nationwide Chick-fil-A Leader Academy engages students in monthly Leader Labs with a focus on important leadership skills that they will use to create student-led community impact projects.

Franchise owners throughout El Paso have adopted neighboring campuses to offer the Leader Academy. Burges, Silva Health Magnet, Coronado, Franklin, El Paso, Chapin and Andress are among the high schools sponsored by an area Chick-fil-A in EPISD.

“Our vision at Chick-fil-A is to make a positive impact on the lives of others and so we believe that our youth are tomorrow’s leaders,” said Joy Martinez, who owns the Airway location with her husband Anthony Martinez. “It is important to invest our time and energy so that we can give them the tools that they will need to be better equipped for the world tomorrow.”

The Martinez’s kicked off the 2018-19 Leader Academy at Burges High School on Friday with 30 students at an orientation for the year-long program. The day began with some ice breakers, an introduction to the curriculum, a boxed lunch with the famous Chick-fil-A sandwiches and a visit from Cow, the restaurant’s mascot.

The curriculum taught in the academy focuses on servant leadership – a style deeply rooted in the Chick-fil-A organization and modeled by its founder, the late S. Truett Cathy.

“Our servant-leader spirit, in which we put others first, really comes from a sense of mission to serve others with compassion dignity and respect,” Joy Martinez said. “The same compassion dignity and respect that we would want others to offer us. We want to encourage all Chick-fil-A Leader Academy students and help them in any way that we can because Anthony and I had many mentors, family members, friends who encouraged us and believed in us and helped us in our journey.”

Last year, Burges’ project created a more inclusive environment for special education students in the Community Readiness Classroom (CRC), nicknaming them “the cool kids.”

“I think this year we will just make a larger impact and keep growing the relationships we already have,” said senior Lailani Chehedeh. “I’m really excited to see the way the new students start and the way they end. Last year, even for myself, just being able to see the way I grew and began understanding different types of people and just growing relationships was really a unique experience.”

Student Activities Manager Ruth Bohlin saw the leader academy as a great opportunity for Burges students to develop virtue and civic responsibility.

“While we have our leader academy kids go through the curriculum, they also have an opportunity to build relationships with our CRC kids,” Bohlin said. “And that in itself was a wonderful opportunity for each of them – both enriching for the CRC kids and the leader academy kids.”

Joy Martinez saw first-hand how successful the program was at Burges last year.

“What I noticed was that the energy, the spirit and enthusiasm was just remarkable – truly remarkable,” she said. “Seeing the cool kids just have so much fun and feel the love was just so heartwarming. You saw all these students come together and bring a ray of sunshine to the lives of kids.”

This week, El Paso ISD’s Rivera Elementary was named one of America’s Healthiest Schools by the Alliance for Healthier Generation in recognition of the campus’ commitment to student well-being.

Not only was Rivera one of only 461 schools in all of the United States that were selected to the list, the elementary is the only El Paso County school to be named to the list.

“Serving the children of our community goes beyond providing quality teaching and learning in the classroom,” Principal Cindy Contreras said. “Rivera has made health a priority for every student because we know that a successful student is one that thrives academically and in life through healthful choices.”

The honor was based on a rigorous set of criteria that includes the availability of nutritious foods and access to quality and innovative physical-education opportunities.

Rivera was recognized for the following criteria:

• Meeting or exceeding federal nutrition standards for school meals and snacks.
• Offering daily breakfast.
• Implementing district wellness policies and updating progress annually; and
• Providing students with at least 60 minutes of physical education per week to ensure physical activity throughout the school day.

“The Healthy Schools Program has served over 42,000 schools. Each one recognizes the academic, social and behavioral benefits of prioritizing student health,” said Brian Weaver, Chief Programming Officer at the Alliance for Healthier Generation. “We are proud to recognize the exceptional efforts of Rivera Elementary School for serving as a best-in-class example of what it means to create healthier environments for both students and staff.”

Rivera is one of more than 40,000 schools in the United States that participates in the Healthy Generation’s Healthy Schools Program.  The no-cost service provides training, resources and technical assistance to schools that wish to have a positive impact on their students’ health.

Three of the four National Merit Scholarship Program semifinalists in El Paso County announced this week are EPISD seniors.

“The National Merit Scholarship Program has for decades exemplified academic excellence and college readiness among high-school students,” said EPISD Superintendent Juan E. Cabrera. “We are proud that Melchor, Malcolm and David are continuing the long-standing tradition of excellence EPISD has had in producing semifinalists and scholars in this very selective program.”

The National Merit Scholarship organization, which manages this prestigious and sought-after program, said around 16,000 students throughout the country were named semifinalists and are vying for more than $31 million in college funding.

The EPISD seniors who were named finalists this week are:

• Melchor Herrera from Franklin High School
• Malcolm Lyn from Coronado High School
• David Mullings from El Paso High School.

To qualify for this honor, students must score in the top 1 percent of students in their state on the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which measures a person’s abilities in critical reading, math problem solving and writing rather than their existing knowledge.

More than 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.