April, 2016

The Slate

Anahuac

Independent School

District

Inside this issue

of The Slate: AMS Honor Roll

Pg. 3

Heart Art

Pg. 4

STEM Day

Pg. 7

Voters will have the opportunity to vote on a Board of Trustees seat as well as the $15 million bond election when Early Voting begins April 25.

The board position currently held by incumbent Kenneth McGraw is being challenged by Les Hankamer.

Anahuac ISD Board of Trustees has called a bond election for the construction of a high school field house and new football/soccer field. The new field will located on the site of the existing track on the corner of Stowell Street and Texas Avenue.

The bond issue also calls for the construction of baseball and softball fields, and several other maintenance and technology projects. The maintenance and technology projects include but are not limited to: replacement of chillers on two campuses, preventive maintenance on the elementary roof, computer servers that will be used to bring all three campuses into a virtualized network, and band instruments.

Early Voting begins April 25 at AISD Administration Building. Voting will also take place at the Administration Building in Election Day May 7.

Early Voting Begins April 25

Two Anahuac High School students participated March 4-6 in the National NASA Space Settlement and Design Competition and are heading to interna-tional competition.

Students Austin Hodges and Madalyn Orozco are members of the Anahuac En-gineering Program and were invited to participate in this year's competition at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC).

The competition is organized by the NASA Alumni League and supported by the AIAA and the Clear Lake Council of Technical Societies.

This year's competition was attended by 208 students, grades 10 through 12, from Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota.

Additionally, 27 local JSC, and Boeing employees and contributors participated as volunteer mentors.

The students were formed into four companies to compete for the award of a large contract from a fictitious organization called The Foundation Society. The com-pany that Austin and Madalyn were in - “Vulture Aviation” - had a total of 53 stu-dents from both Texas and Iowa.

The companies were also divided into sub departments such as Marketing, Structural Engineering, Automations Engi-neering, Humanitarian Engineering, and Operations Engineering.

Austin was the Director of Structural Engineering while Madalyn was a part of the Structural Engineering department.

The competition scenario was set in the year 2076, 60 years in the future. The design challenge for 2016 was to put to-gether a formal request for proposal and present it to The Foundation Society. Aus-tin presented all of Structural Engineer-ing’s part of the proposal for space vehicle Cassandras to a panel of judges.

During the competition, none of the students had any sleep, so many of the students, including Austin and Madalyn, had been awake for more than 50 hours straight working on their proposals due to time limitations.

Judging of the four student company proposals was carried out by a distin-guished panel of JSC and contractor sen-ior engineers and managers.

JSC generously enabled the students and chaperone to spend the night at the Space Center Houston, an entertaining and inspirational environment.

The team that Austin and Madalyn were on won 1st place and will be competing in the International Competition in late July at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Only 12 people of the 53 in the group were chosen to compete in Florida. Austin was one of those 12 being the third person chosen. Madalyn was chosen as a part of the alternate 12 and the second person chosen within the alternates.

In July, Austin and the other 11 stu-dents will fly out of Hobby Airport to KSC in Florida.

They will be joined by students from the

other National competitions in the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe (Romania), Asia (India, Pakistan, China and South Korea), Australia, and South America (Argentina and Uruguay), as well as by students se-lected from around the world who compet-ed in the online event to select a World Champion Team.

AHS Student To Compete Internationally

Austin is shown above presenting information

on the Cassandras space vehicle. Madalyn is

shown below working on research material.

Page 2 The Slate

Anahuac ISD board members got a good look March 8 at the projects proposed under the $15 million bond issue. Rich-ard Crump from Claycomb Associates showed renditions of where the new football/soccer field, related facilities, and new baseball and softball fields would be constructed if voters ap-prove the measure May 7.

Other projects in the $15 million bond proposal include new computer servers, Anahuac Elementary roof repair, new band instruments and HVAC chillers.

On a related note, AISD Band Director told the board that he has 91 students in the AHS Band and that some of the band instruments are nearly 30 years old.

The board approved a Memorandum of Understanding and First Amendment with Lee College. The agreement is to allow AISD to participate in Lee College’s new South Liberty County Dual Credit Institute in Liberty.

AHS Principal Eric Humphrey, said the program is begin-ning with courses in auto CAD, electrical and process technol-ogy, but is looking to expand.

AISD, as one of the member districts, will pay $41,556.21 for the purchase of the property and 16 percent of the facility’s operating costs, expected to be $16,448.

In other matters, the board approved the 2016-17 school calendar. The first day of school is August 22 and the last day is May 26, 2017.

Superintendent James Hopper reminded the board that Texas students must now have 75,600 minutes of instruction per school year. He added that that amounted to 171 school days. The 2016-17 calendar has 1,350 additional minutes, or about three additional student days added in to perhaps be used in case of bad weather. Supt. Hopper told the board that staff members have 187 work days, so additional staff devel-opment days and a teacher/parent conference day October 10 are scheduled.

AES Principal Mitzi Higginbotham reported that enrollment on her campus is now at 649 students. She added that she began the year with 622 students.

AMS Principal Tammy Duhon said that scheduling was under way for eighth graders going to high school next year

as well as scheduling for next year’s seventh and eighth grad-ers.

AHS Principal Eric Humphrey reported that the campus will hold a Shattered Dreams program April 6 and 7. The program that includes many other agencies such as Chambers County Sheriff’s Department, is a two-day program that educates youth by dramatizing the problems associated with drinking and driving.

AMS teacher Loy Garvey was recognized by the board March 8. Garvey was named Educator of the Year by Ana-huac Area Chamber of Commerce.

The resignations of staff members Kay Zieschang and Laura Burke were announced, as well as the retirement of Joanna Schimek and Jeannie Smart. Teacher contracts were also renewed.

Board Views Bond Issue Project Renditions

Loy Garvey is shown with board member Chris Jircik and

AMS Principal Tammy Duhon.

Powerlifting

Wrap-up

From

Coach

Chase

Copeland

Girls Six AHS girl powerlifters qualified for Regional competition — Ashlee Brinkley, Madalyn Orozco, Joyclyne Landry, Qatarrah Mayes, Jordan Wilson and Brittany McDaniel. For the girls to make it to Regionals, they had to finish in the Top 10 in the region in their weight class (This is not an easy thing to do). Only the top two from each region can qualify for state. Alt-hough none of our students qualified for state, they competed and represented Anahuac well. Boys Caesar Molina finished 1st at the Regional meet and is the first person from Anahuac in a long while to earn a spot at the State meet with a total weight of 1330 pounds — a lot of weight for someone who weighs 190 pounds. Five AHS boy powerlifters qualified for Regional competition — Deon Mayes, Caesar Molina, Dylan Lugo, Daren Lugo, and Hunter Johnson. For our boys to make it to Regionals, they had to finish in the top 12 in the re-gion in their weight class.

Page 3 The Slate Anahuac Middle School Honor Roll

Sixth Grade A Emma Burns, Lillian Edwards, Phoe-

be Hampton, Jarelis Hernandez, Alyssa Jackson, Conner Jones, Hannah Kelley and Halley Moor.

Sixth Grade A-B Haley Alfred, Marshall Allen, Alvin

Avalos, Jared Bess, Eli Burns, Shelby Daugherty, Juanita Diaz, Sage Drinkard, Caylee Garcia, Valerie Gar-cia, Caden Hampton, Thang Huynh, Diego Mares, Jack Markham, Kyler McKenzie, Diana Miranda, Mariana Moreno, Sidney Otto, Ryleigh Richards, Angela Rodriguez, Courtney Salyer, Christian Sanchez, Grace Sharp, Ma-son Totzer and Leandrya Wilson.

Seventh Grade A Brady Bertrand, Anna Cao, Jewell

English, Sandra Hernandez, Chase Herrington, Zoe Key, Eric Martinez, Preslie Moor, Reagan Richard and Ow-en Stephenson.

Seventh Grade A-B Megan Alfred, Alejandra Amaya,

Cody Anderson, Graci Berry, Aldon Brinkley, Jessenia Cabrera, Roselin Cabrera, Mathew Chavez, Queristan Coates, Sebastian Contreras, Mason Cook, Ethan Corbitt, Cade Dye, Ja-celynn Ford, Conner Garcia, Wyatt Gates, Becca Henicke, Kari Hernandez, Destiny Husband, Sanaa Kingsberry Joseph Legg, Breighana Lino, Logan Lotz, Natalya Martinez, Mylik Oppenhei-mer, Alex Sanchez, Carson Shaw and

Mailey Sherman. Eighth Grade A

Yael Andujar, Sydney Bertrand, Jose Cabrera, Jackson Hampton, Demonta Lewis, Tracy Ly and Brandon Winbush.

Eighth Grade A-B Bree’anna Anderson, Reagan Artis-Briggs, Megan Barfield, Ashley Bennett, Maci Bennett, Logan Borne, Ana Chavez, Cecilia DelaCruz, Jessica Gon-zalez, Sara Graves, Mikayla Griffith, James Henry, Kimberly Innerarity, Fos-ter Kreuzer, Donald Langham, Cydney Lassetter, Emily Magana, Joanna McGregor, Crystal Moreno, Cecelia Palacios, Jose Sanchez, Madison Sher-man, Jessey Staner, Ngan Tran, Bryan Vargas, Christian Vargas and David Wood.

The Anahuac High School Academic Team traveled to Sabine

Pass March 5 for the last practice meet before District. The

team consisted of 21 students who competed in a variety of

academic events.

The Current Events team started the day off with senior Carlos

Chavez earning a 2nd place medal. Chavez has medaled in all

practice meets and scores high in the Virtual Challenge Compe-

tition. He has earned his way to state in this event the last

couple of years, and plans to make a final trip this year and a

bid for State Champion. Chavez’s teammates include senior

Luciano Palacios and sophomore Tia Cormier.

In the Ready Writing Event, senior Addison Hemphill finished in

3rd place. Jaden Blue and Imani Wooding also competed in the

event. Kodi Abshier competed in Science.

The District meet will be held on April 4 and April 5.

“Thanks to all the students who participate and all the spon-

sors for their hard work and dedication to these students and

their success,” said Coach Vicki Vardell.

Academic Team Competes

Shown at left is medal winner Carlos

Chavez.

Above are participants Jaden Blue,

Kodi Abshier and Imani Wooding.

SAT/ACT Preparation Class A preparation class for upcoming SAT/ACT testing will be held April 13 from 4-6 p.m. in the AHS library. Students in 8th-12th grade can attend and are to regis-ter through the AHS Counselor’s office.

SPEED Day 2016

Coming Up The 9th annual Speed Day is set for May 19, 9 a.m.-2

p.m. at Anahuac High School. The word S.P.E.E.D. is an

acronym for “Special People Excelling Every Day.”

Students and teachers from Anahuac, Barbers Hill,

Bob Hope School , East Chambers, Huffman, Hull-

Daisetta, Kountze, Liberty, Lumberton, Nederland, and

Tarkington will participate in activities designed to meet

the athletic, academic, and social needs of students with

disabilities.

Page 4 The Slate The Anahuac High School Anatomy and

Physiology class recently took learning the

heart outside.

Students drew large hearts on the sidewalk

with chalk, and they had to label the parts

of the heart. They also illustrated the pathway of which blood flows.

This activity was conducted in an effort to prepare the students for an exam

of the heart anatomy and physiology.

Each group was successful in describing

the flow of blood as well as the structures

of the heart.

“Students were able to take ownership of

their learning and were proud of their

work,” said teacher Rebecca Green.

Sidewalk

Heart

Anahuac Elementary Honor Society students hosted the staff

at AES to two days of a "Sweet Treats" Valentine's Day celebra-tion February 11 and 12. Students provided cookies, cakes,

donuts, pie, and brownies in the Library Coffee Bar. Members decorated and presented a giant Valentine's card to the AES

librarian Gladys Ann Glass.

On February 12, NEHS students Viktorya Muniz and Alyssa Lino read their original poem to the teachers during morning

announcements. It is shown below:

Valentine’s is when people share love

And give each other hugs.

Valentine’s is where action comes to life,

And buzzes like a hive.

Valentines of pink and red,

Special words of kindness,

And small surprises,

funny jokes, paper hearts,

and friendly notes.

The best part of this happy day

Is that I got the chance

To say today, and for the whole year,

I’m glad I have a teacher like you.

Thank you,

Viktorya Muniz & Alyssa Lino

Sweet Treats @ AES

Alyssa Lino and Viktorya Muniz are shown above with AEHS advisor Mary Coward.

Page 5 The Slate Twenty AHS students recently attend-

ed an Information Technology event at

Lee College. Students attended sessions

on networking, hardware, graphics, and

game development.

The students had the opportunity to

interact with women who are currently

employed in the IT industry. They also

disassembled and reassembled a PC,

used Adobe products to create anima-

tions and special effects, used Ga-

meMaker to create a video game, and

looked at the wiring of a networked com-

puter lab.

The students were accompanied by

AHS staff members Ramona Dearing,

Glenda Emenhiser and Leslie Todd.

AHS Students Experience Information Technology Activities @ Lee

Who said you can’t have fun in math and eat your cake too? AHS calculus students have a

blast learning in Veronica Rosillo’s calculus class about the six trigonometric functions and

their derivatives.

At left, senior Madalyn Orozco is shown explaining to the class why the derivative of Sine is

Cosine. She goes into detail explaining the amplitude, period and the transformations in-

volved between each

function.

After the lesson,

Madalyn Orozco’s

baked goodie was

enjoyed by all in the

class.

Math Can Be Delicious ...

Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo News

Several AISD students competed in Houston Live-

stock Show & Rodeo events:

Kaitlyn Bennett, Katrina Swope, Cale Swope Collin

Willcox, Cara Hooper, Maci Bennett, Ashley Bennett,

James Henry and Jack Hampton participated in Live-

stock Judging. The junior team finished 38th out of

146 teams and the senior team finished 44th out of

321 teams. Kaitlyn Bennett won 5th place individual

out of 1,011 participants.

Collin Willcox, Maci Bennett, Ashley Bennett, Kaitlyn

Bennett, Katrina Swope and Cale Swope participated

in the Heifer show. Katrina finished second in her

class in the scramble show. Ashley finished second

in her class and reserved her division.

The Anahuac FFA poultry judging team of Brianna

Humphrey, Zack Rose, Armando Netro, and Keely

Salyers competed at the HLSR poultry contest. The

team placed 39th out of 110 teams. Also, calf

scrambler Mitchell Shaw caught a calf.

HLSR Horse Judging contest took place Monday,

March 7.

The Horse Judging team of Jenna Turner, Anne-Marie

Henry, Destiny Stephenson, Cheyenne Crew and

Lindsey Hendrix competed in the Horse Judging con-

test and placed 22nd out of 187 teams.

Emma Swonke placed 2nd in her bull class at the

Open Show at HLSR.

Page 6 The Slate

More Livestock Show

News ...

Collin Wilcox, Dawsyn Harmon, David Wood, and Katrina Swope participating at the San Antonio Live-stock Show. Dawsyn placed 4th in her class and Katrina finished up as Reserve Champion over all with her Heifer in the ORB breed division. The senior Livestock Judging team of Katrina Swope, Collin Wilcox, Kaitlyn Bennett, and Cara Hooper fin-ished 56th out of 280. The Junior team of Ashley Ben-nett, Maci Bennett, Jack Hampton and James Henry finished 12 out of 126. The Horse Judging teams Anne Henry, Jenna Turner, Kailee Richey, Cheyanne Crews, Lindsey Hendrix, and Destiny Stephenson also participated. Anahuac #1 with Anne-Marie Henry, Jenna Turner, Kailee Rich-ey, Cheyanne Crews placed 18th out of 174.

The Lady Panther track team traveled to

Hull Daisetta March 24 to compete in the

Bobcat relays. The Lady Panthers came

home with a first place win of 129 points,

beating out Hardin, West Hardin, Spurger,

Liberty, Hull Daisetta, Kountze, Sabine

Pass, Goodrich, and Evadale.

“I am so proud of these girls and their

dedication and hard work so far this sea-

son,” said Coach Ashley Skinner.

“We have two more meets before the

District meet and so far we have just be-

come better and better as the season has

progressed. I truly believe this is our sea-

son to win that District Championship!”

Coach Skinner added.

3200 meter run:

Addison Hemphill 2nd place 13:38; and Ana

Gonzalez 4th place 13:50.

800 meter run:

Keeli Meyer 2nd place 2:48; Maricela Her-

nandez 2nd place 2:51; and Araceli

Chavez 4th place 3:03.

4 by 200 meter relay:

Alasia Lewis, Martina Cadoree, Krystal Wil-

liams, and Ja’laia Landry 1st place 1:53.

300 meter hurdles:

Ivy Herrera 5th place 1:03.

1600 meter run:

Addison Hemphill 2nd place 6:19; Ana Gon-

zalez 3rd place 6:29; and Maricela Hernan-

dez 5th place 6:39.

4 by 100 meter relay:

Alasia Lewis, Martina Cadoree, Krystal Wil-

liams and Ja’laia Landry 1st place 52.92.

100 meter dash:

Krystal Williams 2nd place 12.68; and

Ja’laia Landry 4th place 12.86.

400 meter dash:

Maya Holmes, 3rd. place.

200 meter dash:

Martina Cadoree 1st place 27.61; and Kaila

Thomas 2nd place 27.73

Ladies Bring Home First Place Win

Page 7 The Slate

Approximately 40 students Anahuac High School students par-

ticipated in Lee College’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineer-

ing & Math) Day March 4. Students got to choose three sessions

from seventeen that were offered and included pacemaker sys-

tems of the heart, science skills used in criminal investigation,

code to program BB-8 (the new Star Wars film Robot) and build-

ing of a 3D figure.

The students got hands on experience in each session and were

exposed to new career paths and job opportunities in the STEM

field. The students were very excited and involved in the ses-

sions and they truly seemed to enjoy the day,” said AHS instruc-

tor Glenda Emenhiser.

The students were accompanied by Ms. Emenhiser and other

AHS instructors Ramona Dearing and Kirk Moore.

Students Participate in STEM Sessions

AFFA Booster Club Holds

Prospect Show

The Anahuac FFA Booster Club held its first Pro-spect Show March 5 at White’s Park. Participants came from all over Texas and Louisiana. “It was very successful and our FFA kiddos were successful, too,” said Ag Science teacher Hilary Otto. Below are the results: Lambs Reagan Richard placed 3rd in her class. Goats Maggie Stephenson placed 1st in her class and won Grand Champion of the Goat Show. She also won Junior Reserve Champion Showman-ship. Sidney Otto placed 2nd in her class and won Re-serve Champion of the Goat Show. Reagan Richard placed 1st in her class. Heifer Grand Champions Beefmaster – Cara Hooper Shorthorn Plus – Maggie Stephenson Overall British – Maggie Stephenson Heifer Reserve Champions Brahman – Madison Killen, Maci Bennett

The 8th grade girls’ team started the season strong. They traveled to Deweyville on February 29. With only two weeks for tryouts and prepa-ration for this season, the girls walked away with seven 1st place rib-bons, 11 2nd place ribbons, three 3rd place ribbons, two 4th place rib-bons, three 5th place ribbons, and five 6 th place ribbons. The 1st place events were our 4x2 which consisted of Maci Bennett, Sydney Ber-trand, Ashley Bennett, and Bree’anna Anderson, Karissa Jircik in the 400M dash, Cecilia Palacios in the 100M dash, and Ashley Bennett in the 100M Hurdles. On March 7, the girls ran here in Anahuac. Many came out to see the girls win their total of five 1st place ribbons, four 2nd place ribbons, sev-en 3rd place ribbons, eight 4 th place ribbons, one 5 th place ribbon, and five 6th place ribbons. The 1st place events and runners went to Syd-ney Bertrand in the 100M Hurdles. She finished with a time of 18.17 seconds. Karissa Jircik ran a fantastic 800 and won 1st place with a time of 2:50. Morgan Rose won 1st in the 300M Hurdles with a time of 1 mi-nute flat. Maci Bennett also won 1

st place in her heat of 100M Hurdlers

with a time of 19.9 seconds. And finally Cecilia Palacios won 1st place in the 100M dash with a time of 14.01 seconds. Listed below are the AMS Girls’ Track team mem-bers: Bree'anna Anderson, Ciara Arredondo, Reagan Artis Briggs, Ashley Bennett, Maci Bennett, Syd-ney Bertrand, Cecilia Delacruz, Brylie Dillard, Jes-sica Gonzalez, Kimberly Innerarity, Karissa Jircik, Emily Magana, JoAnna McGregor, Christa Morris, Cecilia Palacios, Jessey Staner, Morgan Rose and Emily Till.

AMS Girls’ Track Team Going Strong

The Slate

Important AISD Dates To Remember: April 11: Pre-K and Kindergarten Round-up and registra-tion begins. April 12: AISD board meeting, 6 p.m. in the Administration Building. Public welcome to attend.

April 15: End of fifth six weeks grading period. April 25: Early voting begins for May 7 election — 8 a.m. – 4 p.m., AISD Admin Office 804 Mikhael Ricks Drive.

Anahuac ISD Administration Office

804 Mikhael Ricks Drive

Anahuac High School

201 S. Kansas Street

Anahuac Middle School

706 Mikhael Ricks Drive

Anahuac Elementary

905 Ross Sterling

District Phone: 409-267-3600

Anahuac ISD does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, nation-al origin, gender, sex, or disability in providing education services, activities, and programs, including vocational programs, in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amend-ed; Title IX of the Educational Amend-ments of 1972; and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.

The following district staff members have been designated to coordinate compliance with these legal require-ments:

· Title IX Coordinator, for concerns regarding discrimination on the basis of sex: James Hopper 409-267-2001.

· Section 504 Coordinator, for con-

cerns regarding discrimination on the basis of disability: Cindy Bertrand 409-267-2017.

The Slate is published by

Anahuac Independent School District

P. O. Box 369 Anahuac, Tx. 77514

Superintendent

James Hopper

Board of Trustees

Ken McGraw …………...…....…. President

Kate Hampton ….……..…. Vice President

Chris Jircik ……………………...…. Secretary

Calvin Hill Dr. John Redman

Lane Bertrand Cris Stephenson

Sue Hawthorne, Editor, The Slate

Reagan Places in

Speaking Contest

Anahuac Middle School 7th grade student

Reagan Richard competed in the Prepared

Public Speaking Contest at Houston Live-

stock Show and Rodeo.

Reagan made top ten finals and placed

9th overall out of 70 juniors. Her speech

was titled “The Plight of the Honeybee.”

Reagan is shown at right with an HLS&R

representative.

Varsity Softball Off To a Good Start The Varsity softball team picked up three wins over Spring Break to jump to 4-0 in the district

standings.

In the four contests, the Lady Panthers were led on offense by Maegan Oler with 13 hits, six

RBI’s, four stolen bases and eight runs scored. Bethany Brown had 10 hits and eight RBI’s, Ty

Bergeron had eight hits and eight RBI’s and also led the team with 13 Quality At Bats. Ashley

Gates had six hits, Kaylie Villemez and Sabrina Trahan each had five hits, Hailey McDaniel had

three, Ivette Rivas with two and Haegan Ullrich and Victoria Magana each had one hit.

On defense, Bethany Brown has racked up 20 strikeouts and has an ERA or 0.368 in the

district play. Hailey McDaniel is leading in assists with nine along with two put outs at short

stop, Brown had eight assists and two put outs, Kaylie Villemez has eight assists and four put

outs at second base, and Sabrina Trahan is holding down third base with six assists and two put

outs.