Our amazing Counselor, Ms. Smith, received the highest award given by the Texas Counseling Association on November the 15th. The award is the William E. Truax Founders Award, which is the most prestigious award made by the Texas Counseling Association. The Truax Award recognizes exemplary service to both the TCA, and to the profession of counseling as a whole. The purpose of the award is "to recognize the significant contributions of an individual TCA member who has demonstrated over a long period of time a global vision and significant impact on the counseling profession on a national, regional and/or statewide basis." The TCA is the only professional association for professional counselors in all settings in Texas, and awardees are chosen from amongst all these groups, which makes this a high honor indeed. Ms. Valerie Smith is a two-time former president of the TCA, as well as prior recipient of the TCA Outstanding Counselor of the Year Award amongst many others. The William E. Truax Founders Award is a very prestigious award from the Texas Counseling Association, and was presented to Ms. Smith at the 62nd Annual TCA Professional Growth Conference held at the Sheraton Dallas, on the 14th-16th of November, 2018. We are very lucky to have such a highly regarded counselor working with us here at Gooch Elementary.

The SMU School of Education and Human Development and Project Connect donated SMU shirts to all of 2C, our SMU class as a part of their College and Career initiative. The donation recognizes Gooch's strong commitment to making our students college and career ready. Congratulations to Ms. Correa and SMU to representing Gooch so well!

The Gooch Gators PTSA has been busy in the past month supporting the school and raising money. We have supporting teacher morale with a coffee cart delivering delicious treats to the classroom.

The Fun Run was a fun fundraiser, contributing $796 to our fund to pay for Bloomz, our great communication app. Our total goal to fundraise for Bloomz is $3006, so we are on our way! A huge congratulations to Aliza Peterson 4A who raised the most money during the Fun Run.

We are planning for our winter celebrations on December 19th - save the date! There will be the Penguin Patch, a winter performance, and many crafts and fun activities with Holidays Around the World.

Click here for the PTSA store to purchase T-Shirts or join the PTSA.

12/7/2018, Coffee with the Principal, 8:30 AM

12/7/2018, Parent Workshop Holiday Science, 9:00 AM

12/11/2018, SBDM, 4:00-5:00 PM

12/11/2018, Spelling Bee

12/12/2018, ACPs Begin (end date- 12.19.18) *No Volunteers in School

12/19/2018, Winter Celebration, including 4th grade performance & Penguin Patch, 5:00-7:00 PM

12/20/2018, First Day of Winter Break