FBLA student takes first place in Nationals!

Congratulations to Nicole Tranchita, who won FIRST place in the Future Business of America Nationals Competition. Nicole competed in the Impromptu Speaking category in Nashville over the summer. We are so proud of your accomplishment, Nicole!

Students selected to participate in High School Aerospace Scholars Program

Two Cypress Creek High School students have been selected from among 260 Texas high school juniors to participate in the one-week summer internship program, High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS), at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC).



Jacob English

Cypress Creek juniors Jacob English and Harland Ashby were nominated by their state legislator to participate in the 15th anniversary of the program. English is currently taking part in the June 15-20 session, while Ashby will attend HAS later in the summer. The students completed eight web-based assignments during the school year to prepare for the program, and will apply their learning while they work as part of a team to design a mission to Mars. The weeklong experience at JSC includes a tour of facilities and briefings by noted NASA employees. These students and teammates will conclude their experience by presenting their proposal at a brunch to their parents, members of the Texas Legislature, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Rotary NASA and JSC senior management.



Harland Ashby

“Cypress Creek is very proud to be represented by these fine young adults,” said principal Sandy Trujillo. “As an academy school, we encourage our STEM students to actively seek out opportunities to connect their learning to future career choices. This is a perfect example of school and business partnerships that engage our future leaders in a meaningful way.” The state of Texas partnered with JSC and the Texas educational community to develop HAS in 1999 to encourage more students to pursue studies and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). More than 7,700 students from across Texas have participated in the program since its inception 15 years ago

Cypress Creek READ 180 students celebrate achievements

Cypress Creek READ 180 students celebrate achievements
To reward the hard work of her 46 READ 180 students in 2013-2014, Cypress Creek High School READ 180 teacher Andrea Barnes hosted a year-end open house celebration in her classroom throughout the day on May 30.

Several guests attended the event—including Dr. Mark Henry, superintendent of schools; and Tom Jackson, Board of Trustees vice president—which featured reading performances by students as well as presentation of awards voted on by classmates.

“The students like to award their classmates for their hard work. It helps them feel like they have accomplished their goals,” said Barnes, a six-year READ 180 teacher. “The students are able to make positive shout-outs to their classmates and teacher. It is a fantastic way to end a hard year of working and accomplishing goals.”

CFISD launched READ 180, a Scholastic reading intervention program, in 2007-2008. The program uses Lexile Framework to measure reading progress—a system that uses a common metric to evaluate both reading ability and text difficulty.

The program’s 90-minute class model begins with 20 minutes of teacher-student instruction and skill warm-ups. The students then break up into three different 20-minute rotations: small-group textbook work, instructional software and independent reading with READ 180 libraries.

Currently, 1,282 middle school and 670 high school students are participating in CFISD’s READ 180 program. Secondary students read 301 million words for a yearly average Lexile gain of more than 110 points.

“The READ 180 program is the most amazing Reading program I have ever been a part of in all of my years of teaching,” Barnes said. “The students’ results are phenomenal on the Scholastic Reading Inventory, the STAAR/EOC scores, and most importantly, the students beliefs in themselves. Students feel confident about reading and find the love of reading.”

Congratulations to our Top Graduates

Valedictorian: Joshua Vandervort, age 17

Attending: Texas A & M University

Career Field:  Engineering

Scholarships accepted:President's Endowed Scholarship, Texas A & M University, $12,000

Opportunity Award, Texas A & M University, $4,000.

Valedictorian Exemption Scholarship, Texas Education Agency $8,506.00

Phi Beta Kappa Scholarship, Phi Beta Kappa of Greater Houston - $3,000.

 

Salutatorian: Benjamin Siegert, age 17

Attending: University of Texas

Career Field:  Engineering

Scholarships accepted:

Engineering Honors Scholarship, University of Texas, $40,000.

National Merit Scholarship, National Merit Scholarship Corporation, $2,500.

Billy W. Tinsley Memorial Scholarship, Billy W. Tinsley Lodge, $1,000