Week of Feb. 20 – Mar. 1

We celebrated Read Across America Week during February 26-March 1. The week featured dress up days, including crazy hats, crazy socks, and twin day. We also celebrated with read-alongs, family literacy nights, and vocabulary parades. Thank you to our Rattlers for showing off their love of reading!

During Read Across America Week, Travis Elementary hosted AVID Family Literacy Night. Our Texans took part in Dr. Seuss activities, where they built their own Loraxes, counted red fish and blue fish, and heard stories from the Cat in the Hat on Thursday, February 29.

Our Crockett Superstars celebrated Read Across America Week with a Vocabulary Parade on Friday, March 1. Students and staff dressed as their favorite vocabulary words, featuring words such as scholar, meteorologist, handyman and many more!

On Tuesday, February 20, Mayor Jane Hughson formally declared the month of February as Career & Technical Education Month. Six outstanding San Marcos CISD CTE students attended the proclamation ceremony at City Hall and received certificates for their achievements!

CTE students who received Mayor Awards are as follows (left to right):
Dylan Nunez, Agricultural Science; Jessica DeLeon, Public Service; Jason Gaddy, Technology; Hailey Angel, Manufacturing; Michelle Rodriguez, Health Science; Breanna Mendoza, Family Consumer Science.

Hernandez fifth graders toured the CTE programs at San Marcos High School on Friday, February 23. Our Heroes were able to learn about courses available to take at SMHS and possible careers in robotics, cosmetology, health services, criminal justice, veterinary sciences, culinary arts, automotive, and many more during their visit. Hernandez students wrapped up their CTE tour by hearing from current SMHS students taking part in our CTE programs.

Congratulations to our Crockett Elementary Theatre Program for their production of High School Musical Jr.! These superstar thespians are destined for greatness from acting to costume design, technical theatre and beyond!

Bowie Champion students, staff and families came together on Thursday, February 22 to celebrate Black History Month. All Bowie students prepared projects specific to their grade-level and were on display for the event. Some students even dressed up as their historical figure of choice and created a live museum! Way to Champions!

San Marcos High School's TAFE Chapter competed at the TAFE Teach Tomorrow Summit during the week of February 26. Nine students qualified and competed with three students advancing to the National Conference, Educators Rising, in Washington D.C. this summer. Please congratulate the following students for their success!

STATE COMPETITORS

• Children's Literature K-3 Spanish — Camila Palmillas Garcia
• Educators Rising Moment — Colten Hill
• Ethical Dilemma Junior Varsity — Xzavian Herrera, Maebry Kraatz, Juliette Recio, and Sam Salmi
• Teacher Create Materials Middle/High School — Eleanor Hiner

NATIONAL QUALIFIERS

• Ethical Dilemma Varsity — Lila Lingner and Georgia Recio
• Lesson Planning & Delivery STEM — Eleanor Hiner

The Kindergarten Strikers of Mendez Elementary learned about the importance of exercising their civic responsibility by participating in a grade level Presidential election. Candidates were nominated by their peers to represent their specific classroom. The votes are in and your Mendez Striker 2023-2024 class president is Aliyah Fillman(Grimes will send us the final results and Aliyah Fillman's picture will go in the right box).

Congratulations to our Rattler Special Olympians for medaling at their basketball competition on Saturday, February 24! The Rattler purple team earned the gold, and the Rattler white team received bronze medals!

Bonham Pre-K hosted Jueganoches on Thursday, February 22 – a fun family night in collaboration with Texas State University. Our Bonham Bears took part in an evening full of interactive play and inquiry activities, where they were able to paint, build using recyclables and play with sandboxes.

During CTE Month in February, we recognized our 21 CTE programs of study offered at San Marcos High School. In our cosmetology program, our Rattlers take three courses in the Venom Salon, where they learn to work with hair, skin, and nails to earn their Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) Cosmetology Operator's License by the time they graduate! To learn more about our CTE programs visit: https://www.smcisd.net/cte.

The San Marcos Special Education Department partnered with Texas Wildlife Parks & Recreation to host a district-side field trip at the San Marcos Old Fish Hatchery. This annual partnership offers our Rattlers the opportunity to bait, catch and release the fish. Thank you to the Texas State Bobcats who volunteered to teach our students all about fishing safety.

San Marcos CISD HOSA-Future Health Professionals hosted their spring Blood Drive in partnership with We Are Blood on Thursday, February 22. We Are Blood has been collecting blood in Central Texas since 1951. Thank you to all of our SMHS students and staff who chose to donate during the event!

Our Miller Dancing Diamonds competed in the Diamond Showcase at SMHS on Saturday, February 24, where they had successful showcase. Congratulations to Coach Lauren Macnary and the following Dancing Diamonds:

Soloists

Vivian Olson – Runner Up

Josslyna Alonso – Runner Up

Duets

Miley Graves and Samiya Jolivette – Runner Up

Officer Awards

Officer Jazz – 1st Place

Officer Lyrical – 1st Place

Officer Novelty – 1st Place

Grand Champions Officers

Team Awards

Team Jazz – 1st Place

Team Hip Hop – 1st Place

Team Pom – 1st Runner Up

Team Lyrical – 1st Runner Up

Champions Circle Team

The Dancing Diamonds also received sweepstakes and judges awards in all team and officer dances!

Our Goodnight Dancing Stars had a successful outing at the HTE New Braunfels Dance Competition on Saturday, February 17, sweeping the contest! Congratulations to the following dancers and teams:

Soloists

Adriana Ortega - Champion

Camila Murillo - 3rd place

Officer Awards

Officer Contemporary - 1st place

Officer Jazz - 1st place

Officer Lyrical - 1st place

Sweepstakes

Judges' Awards for Technique, Choreography, Precision, Showmanship

Best in Class Champion

GRAND CHAMPION Officer Line

Team Awards

Team Contemporary - 1st place

Team Jazz - 1st place

Team Lyrical - 1st place

Team Pom - 1st place

Judges' Awards for Technique, Choreography, Precision, Showmanship and Entertainment

Super Sweepstakes (95+ in 3 or more routines)

Team Best in Class Champion

Team Jazz received Best in Style

Team Jazz received Crowd Pleaser Award

Team Pom received Best in Class in Style

Team Pom received Highest Scoring Routine with a 95.67

Team Best in Class Champion

GRAND CHAMPION Team

A group of our San Marcos CISD dual language educators attended the 11th annual ¡Adelante! Conference for Bilingual & Dual Language Educators on Saturday, February 24. The annual event is a teacher-led conference, hosted by bilingual teachers, for bilingual teachers. The Austin Area Association for Bilingual Education (AAABE) brings together educators in the surrounding districts, covering topics such as biliteracy, strategies for dual language classrooms, equity and diversity, social justice and advocacy, and family & community engagement.

Our San Marcos High School Varsity Winterguard had two recent top two finishes at their Texas Color Guard Circuit competitions. The Varsity Winterguard finished in first place at the TCGC competition at Hays High School on Saturday, February 17, and earned second place at the TCGC competition at Davenport High School on Saturday, March 2.

In an effort to encourage and support reading, San Marcos CISD kindergartners took a field trip to visit Farmer Brown and his typewriting animals during a theater performance of Click, Clack Moo at San Marcos High School on Tuesday, February 20. Thank you to Main Street Theater for putting on the performance of an adaptation of Doreen Cronin's "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type."

Communities in Schools hosted its annual CIS Day on Tuesday, February 20. CIS promoted self-care and mindfulness, highlighted the organization's history, and provided staff with snacks and prizes during the school-day event. San Marcos CISD is thankful for all Communities in Schools does for our district!

GEARUP hosted Mastery Prep Family Night for juniors at San Marcos High School on Tuesday, February 20. Students and their families received information about upcoming GEAR UP college tours and summer camps from GEAR UP Coordinators Brittney Posey and Monica Miller. Dr. Keith Cunningham provided students with tips about searching for the right college for them and how to plan for visits. Roland Moore, of Mastery Prep, spoke to our SMHS juniors about the benefits of attending college, and provided free copies of "The College Playbook" to read and learn about the college application process, how to obtain scholarships, and how to prepare for the next steps in life. Thank you to GEARUP for providing a fun and informative night for our Rattlers!

Two Goodnight Middle School students won first and second place in the San Marcos Lions Club’s Peace Poster Contest! Congratulations to Janelle Facundo for receiving first place and Kaitlyn Flores for winning second place!

We celebrated our SMCISD bus drivers during School Bus Driver Appreciation Day on Thursday, February 22. We thank our transportation department for their dedication and hard work to ensure our Rattlers get to and from school safely every day!