Little Elm High School
Weekly Newsletter -January 14, 2018
College is not just a Dream It's a Plan
Program Spotlight - AVID
AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the achievement gap by preparing all students for college and other postsecondary opportunities. AVID is not just another program… at its heart, AVID is a philosophy – Hold students accountable to the highest standards, provide academic and social support, and they will rise to the challenge. AVID trains educators to use proven best practices in order to prepare students for success in high school, college, and a career, especially students traditionally underrepresented in higher education. AVID is a voluntary elective that targets students in the academic middle with the desire to go to college and the willingness to work hard. These are students who are capable of completing rigorous curriculum but are falling short of their potential. AVID students choose to take challenging courses (taking advanced courses such as pre-AP, Advanced Placement, CTE Advanced courses and Dual Credit is a requirement of the program) that place them on the college track. To support them in the rigorous coursework, AVID students learn organization and study skills, develop critical thinking, learn to ask probing questions, receive academic help from peers and college tutors, and participate in enrichment and motivational activities to make their college dreams a reality. The AVID course is designed to empower students to become conscious of their own learning through the implementation of WICOR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization and Reading) strategies. The AVID curriculum fosters critical thinking, responsibility of one’s own academic success and an acceptance of instructional support. Click here to watch a short video that gives an overview of AVID through the eyes of a student, teacher, and tutor.
One of our district and campus values is "Embracing All of Our Kids as All of Our Kids where we value and encourage every student." AVID instructional strategies are not exclusive to the AVID classroom or only for AVID students. At Little Elm High School, we have a campus goal this year of increasing literacy strategies throughout all classrooms by using AVID strategies. To accomplish this goal our AVID site team made up of classroom teachers have trained their fellow teachers on how to use the strategies in every content area and then invited all teachers to come and see first hand the strategies being used in their own classrooms. We are currently building a video library of the strategies in action for teachers to refer to as they plan their instruction. The benefits of AVID are impacting all students whether they are in the AVID elective class or not. Mrs. Stacey Eby is our campus AVID Site Team Coordinator. Please email her at seby@littleelmisd.net with questions about AVID or how to enroll in the program for next year.
LEISD offers the AVID program at Hackberry Elementary, Brent Elementary, Collin Powell Sixth Grade Center, Lakeside Middle Schoo (AVID Highly Certified Site)l, GOALS at Zellars and Little Elm High School. AVID strategies are used in classrooms across the district because of the positive impact they have shown on student growth and achievement. AVID is truly a program that can turn things around for students who know there is more to school but they don’t know how to advocate for themselves. Please take a few minutes to see how AVID turned things around for these students. (Click here)
Renee Pentecost
Principal
Little Elm High School
Join HOSA in Creating Awareness for Health Issues
Next week is HOSA week. It is a week dedicated to bringing awareness to common and rare health issues.
Please join us Tuesday by wearing RED. The abuse of controlled substances is a big problem in todays society and many teens have suffered,even died from it leaving their loved ones behind. Please wear red to spread awareness that this is an issue!
Wear your scrubs on Wednesday to support the nurses that surround and improve our lives. Stop by the HOSA table at lunch to have the HOSA members check your blood pressure!
Wear Pink to support MSD ( multiple sulfatase (sul-fa-tase) deficiency) awareness. It is a condition that effects your lysosomes in the cells, mainly in the brain, skin and skeleton. It slowly shuts down a persons body's organs and shortens their lifespan. Help us spread awareness by wearing pink on Thursday to show your support.
Millions of American’s lives are impacted daily by mental health conditions. Wear green on Friday to show your support about building our understanding of depression.
Home for the Holidays
The alumni who participated this year are:
Michael Walker
Kayla Hoyle
Sydney McClinton
Nabihah Shah
Chase Dabliz
James Robinson
Josiah Spencer
Sainabou John
Reed Hull
Daniel Larin
Trevor Jackson
Tinashe Gandhle
Steven Guereca
Denise Licea
Cameron Walters
Kiara Kesler
Tyler Seifert
Brooke Tamayo
L.E.A.D. (Law Enforcement Appreciation Day)
Thank a School Board Member!
January is School Board Recognition Month and Little Elm ISD is joining other districts across the state to thank these community volunteers for their commitment and contributions to our public schools. Preparing today’s students to be productive citizens and the leaders of tomorrow is a tremendous task. As elected officials, school board members are the voice of their communities, serving first and foremost in the best interest of our schoolchildren. We proudly salute these education advocates as they provide vision and leadership for student achievement, academic programs, district funding, and school facilities. Their service ensures that decisions about local public schools are made by those most familiar with the needs of our community’s children and families.Great leadership always begins with a willing heart, a positive attitude, and a desire to make a difference. Please join us as we applaud these local leaders for helping our kids soar to success!
Thank you -
Melissa Myers, Board President
David Montemayor, Board Vice President
Jason Olson, Board Secretary
Dan Blackwood, Trustee
DeLeon English, Trustee
Alex Flores, Trustee
LeAnna Harding, Trustee
LEHS salutes you!
LEHS will provide a FREE SAT® during the school day on March 7th for Juniors
For the first time ever, we will be offering the SAT® to all juniors at Little Elm High School on a school day. Students typically have to sign up for a Saturday test date on their own, but we will be registering all of the juniors to take it on Wednesday, March 7th – free of charge! We think this will allow ALL of our juniors the opportunity to show colleges that they’re ready.
Each student will be allowed to send their scores to up to four colleges, universities, or scholarship programs for free, so students need to begin thinking about where they’d like to send their scores. They will have an opportunity to mark their four choices on their answer document when they take the test.
Students should have received an email from College Board with instructions on how to access their PSAT/NMSQT® scores from October, and on how to set up a College Board account. Please check your school email account if you missed it and set up your College Board account. Once you’ve set it up, you’ll be able to link it to a Khan Academy® account and take advantage of free SAT test prep. Khan Academy will give you a personalized study plan based on your PSAT/NMSQT scores.
Why practice?? A study of 250,000 seniors from the class of 2017 found that 20 hours on Khan Academy helped students increase their scores by an average of 115 points from the PSAT to the SAT. Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy helps students work on the areas they need it most. Khan Academy has 8 full-length tests written by College Board, video lessons, and thousands of practice questions – all online so students can practice whenever and wherever they’d like. And it’s free! Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy can be found at satpractice.org.
Questions about the SAT day opportunity see Mrs. Heller in Room 2100.
Questions about signing up or accessing your College Board account see Mrs. Keisha Brown in the library.
Report Harmful, Harassing, and Bullying Behavior
LEISD has an on-line tool called "Anonymous Alerts" that students, parents, and teachers can use to report harmful, harassing, and bullying type behaviors. Anonymous Alerts bullying reporting mobile app helps combat bullying and other negative activity in schools by empowering students to speak up. Social and peer pressures are some of the hardest obstacles for students to overcome. Anonymous Alerts encourages students, parents and staff to quickly, easily, and anonymously report bullying, cyber-bullying, gang-related issues, and other sensitive topics through private messages to school officials by building. All reports remain completely anonymous even during a two-way email conversation, although submitters have the option to reveal their identity if they prefer to have a person-to-person discussion.
To send a report from the Web/Internet go to: www.anonymousalerts.com/littleelmisd/
To send a report from your phone:
- Download the Anonymous Alerts® app for free from the Apple Store, Google Play store, and the Chrome store
- Start the App, enter login: leisd and password: leisd
- Send important reports to school officials
- Add a screen shot or photo about the incident
Scholarship Opportunities
New Scholarship Search Site - Provided by College Board
Letters About Literature is a reading and writing contest for students in grades 4-12. Students are asked to read a book, poem or speech and write to the author (living or dead) about how the book affected them personally. Letters are judged on state and national levels. Tens of thousands of students from across the country enter Letters About Literature each year. If you are in grades 4-12, you are eligible to enter the Letters About Literature reading and writing contest.
The 2017-18 Letters About Literature contest for young readers is made possible by a generous grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, with additional support from gifts to the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, which promotes the contest through its affiliate Centers for the Book, state libraries and other organizations.
Download the informational flyer and application at the link below.
College Covered
While you are there, check out the website College Covered. Do you want to know what you need in a winning college essay, what college entrance test score you need, or what makes a top notch college application? Get what you need to help get into the college of your dreams with the help of College Covered.
An App Matches Students with College Scholarships They Can Use
National Honor Society Scholarship
2017–18 Program Timeline
October 6—Application available.
January 30—Deadline for student applications.
February 5—Deadline for adviser and principal recommendations and certification. One other faculty recommendation is also due.
Early May—Recipients and their schools will be notified by letter and email.
Late May—Nonrecipients will be notified by email.
June—List of 2017-18 NHS Scholarship recipients posted on the NHS website.
July 1—Deadline to accept, decline, or defer award.
Early August—Scholarship checks mailed to recipients’ home addresses, made payable to the recipient's designated college or university.
2017–18 Award Distribution
475 national semifinalists - $2,850 scholarship
24 national finalists - $5,150 scholarship
1 national winner - $22,650 scholarship
Additional Scholarship Opportunities
All NHS members also have access to NHS Scholar Dollars, a scholarship search tool powered by College Board. This tool expedites the scholarship search process, offering filtered results based on the four pillars of NHS: scholarship, service, leadership, and character. Use the tool at www.nhs.us/scholardollars.
BETTIE DOROTHY REMEMBRANCE SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION
This scholarship is to honor Bettie Gonzalez, mother of six, who lost her battle with cancer at the age of 38. The scholarship is available to any college bound girl who is motherless for any reason. We believe that every young woman should have a chance at achieving her goals and fulfilling her dreams. We would like to be a part of empowering her on that journey toward her education goals. We are looking for that young woman who is motivated to do all she can to achieve her dreams!
Amount
The $1,000 Scholarship will be divided equally between semesters in the first year. Mentoring will also be provided if desired.
Payment
Funds will be released upon proof of enrollment. It is the responsibility of the recipient to send documentation confirming enrollment for each semester. The check will be made out jointly to the recipient and junior college, college, or university of the student’s choice.
Eligibility
- U.S. citizen or legal, permanent resident with a permanent resident card
- Graduating high school senior
- Motherless daughter who is motivated to achieve her dreams
Application Process
Applications are available Nov. 1, 2016 and may be downloaded from www.BDGhope.org
To be considered, applicants must send or email completed application by March 15th , 2017 to: Bettie D. Gonzalez Foundation of Hope 1472 Sandstone Dr. Frisco, TX 75034 Or email to: scholarhip@BDGhope.org
Application can be downloaded from here.
Students whose parents or family are on the Bettie D. Gonzalez Foundation Board of Directors are not eligible for this scholarship. For questions, please contact: info@BDGhope.org
The School of Health Professions at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center would like to announce that we are accepting applications Dec. 1, 2017 – Jan. 19, 2018 for the Summer Program June 4 – July 20, 2018.
For more information visit our web page (http://bit.ly/SHP-HS-Summer). We are looking for students interested in the allied health professions that could benefit from our 7-week educational experience. Our faculty and staff will provide them with lectures and laboratory activities to showcase our undergraduate programs, to demonstrate to the students how each field relates to the fight to end cancer, and to make the students aware of career opportunities in healthcare.
Students will receive a scholarship to help defray living expenses during the program. Participants living outside a 20-mile radius from our campus will have the choice to stay at a Rice University college (residence hall).
No new applications will be taken after January 19. We hope to choose the students by early April.
Whether through essays or multimedia, you've used your voices to share visions for a better world. So here's your chance to put them to action! Submit a proposal for how you'll better your community. Because this will be a much more rigorous process with multiple rounds, we're also raising the bar for tuition awards: from five $1,000 tuition awards to five $10,000 tuition awards! We will also fund the top project up to $5,000.
The PROCESS:We will be breaking the process into 3 rounds, using the principles of design thinking:
- Read the Rules and Terms & Conditions (below)
- Design and submit your ROUND 1 proposal:
- First 3 stages of design thinking Launch cycle
- Students submit overall proposal based on the Ford Institute community building principles
- We select applications based on their completion, seriousness, and viability, offering feedback for those approved to move on to round 2.
- Deadline: February 11, 2018, 11:59 MST
- Design and submit your ROUND 2 artifact:
- Next 3 phases of design thinking launch cycle (all but the final launch)
- Students submit an artifact representing their progress and learning
- We give additional feedback
- Deadline: March 18, 2018, 11:59 MST
- Design and submit your ROUND 3 reflection:
- LAUNCH phase of design thinking launch cycle.
- Students submit a final reflection that shares how their project is doing one of the following: 1) increasing connections, 2)building capacity, or 3) taking community-led action. They also share their ideas for acquiring further funding, in addition to the $5,000 from HGU if selected as the top finalist.
- Include a video of yourself working on your project
- Deadline: April 15, 2018 at 11:59 MST.
- We select 5 winners to receive $10,000 tuition scholarships to their colleges, with the top one receiving $5,000 funding to launch their project into the design thinking cycle once more during the summer of 2018 to maximize impact.
CLICK HERE for more details and FAQs on each round.
Are You Planning on being a Civil Engineer? Then check out this grant.
The Texas Dept. of Transportation offers a Conditional Grant Program to eligible students pursuing a degree in civil engineering or a department-approved operational business discipline. The Conditional Grant Program will consider both Texas public and private four-year institutions.
Students accepted into the program receive up to $3,000 per semester or $6,000 per academic year for tuition, based on financial need.
The application may be downloaded at: http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/hrd/cgp-application.pdf , completed and mailed to the address below.
Mail application packets to: Texas Department of Transportation
HRD/Employment Opportunities/CGP
125 East 11th Street
Austin, TX 78701-2483
Applications to the Conditional Grant Program must be post marked prior to March 1st.
Little Elm High School
Chris Reza - Associate Principal (creza@littleelmisd.net)
Alen Palislamovic - White House Principal A - D (apalislamovic@littleelmisd.net)
Ruben Molinar - Grey House Principal E - K (rmolinar@littleelmisd.net)
Kyle Heller - Blue House Principal L - Ra (kheller@littleelmisd.net)
Terilyn Thomas-Monday - Gold House Principal Re - Z (tthomas-monday@littleelmisd.net)
Website: http://www.littleelmisd.net/Domain/9
Location: 1900 Walker Lane, Little Elm, TX, United States
Phone: (972) 947-9443
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Elm-High-School/736775073135970?notif_t=page_fan
Twitter: @LittleElmHS