Extra Credit

Fort Worth schools JROTC lead ceremonies to remember victims of 9-11 attacks

Update: The school district has posted photos from several 9-11 observance events at campus flag poles on Tuesday.

• Eastern Hills High here.
• Trimble Tech High here.
• Wedgwood Middle School here.

Original Post:

High school and university students across North Texas remembered those who died during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on Tuesday.

Many schools held flag pole ceremonies to mark the 11th anniversary. Students at Fort Worth's Daggett Middle School made signs for their ceremony (photo below).

Here's a Star-Telegram gallery of photos from Tuesday. And watch a video here, from Fort Worth ISD, on the observance at North Side High School. "The school's JROTC Honor Guard raised the flag, the National Anthem was sung by the North Side High School choir, and a wreath was laid by the principal and JROTC cadre," the school district said in a news release.

-Diane Smith

State grant dollars helped equip TCC's new downtown campus

 

TCC Nursing students train in a hospital setting.

 (Photo from Star-Telegram archives)

 

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs witnessed state grant dollars in action during a visit to the Trinity River East Campus. Nursing students train at the Learning In Virtual Environment - replicated hospital rooms with computerized manikins - purchased with the help of state dollars.

A $276,494 grant helped pay for some of the computerized "patients" that allow nurses to practice procedures. Among the manikins are some that replicate a mother, a newborn and a 5-year-old child.

The 148,000-square-foot center, at Belknap and Calhoun streets, is used by students concentrating on health professions such as nursing, physical therapy, respiratory care and radiology.

"Fantastic," Combs said of the TCC facility. "Absolutely, overwhelmingly fantastic."

The grant money is part of the state's Jobs and Education for Texans (JET) funds. That money aims to help fill the need for skilled workers in key area such as health care. In the last two years, $10 million in grants to fund training equipment have been awarded to 39 college districts.

To find out more: http://everychanceeverytexan.org

-Diane Smith

 

How would you balance Texas' budget?

So you have a few hours to waste and some generic word app keeps crashing. Why not tackle the state's budget woes? Texas is facing what some estimate to be a $27 billion shortfall over the next two years. The Texas Tribune has a new feature that allows you to pick and choose where to cut (early childhood education, college programs, arts education, child protective services, etc.) or options to make money (new taxes, higher fees, casinos, etc.). It's a great visual that really drives home how difficult a task lawmakers have before them. Go ahead and try. Share your proposed cuts here if you wish.

-Eva-Marie Ayala

Texas education leaders bracing for tough budget cuts

The first draft of the state's budget came out this week, and education leaders say it doesn't look good for them. Under the proposed plan, future college students couldn't tap state financial aid and four state community colleges would close as higher education would take a $1.7 billion hit.

But the hardest hit could be Texas public schools, which could lose $5 billion in funds. The Legislative Budget Board recommends eliminating funds that help pay for pre-kindergarten, arts education, teacher incentive pay and technology. School leaders fear that will also translate to job cuts. The plan could force a school finance reform show down as the LBB recommends cutting districts' funds by 14 percent and districts at the low end of "target revenue," such as Fort Worth and Crowley, have vowed to fight. (Target revenue is the per-pupil amount of state funding schools get that is different for each district.)

Fort Worth officials have said the recommended cuts would mean about a $75-80 million loss for the district, which could likely mean job cuts. Additionally, the cut in teacher incentives could drastically affect the district's PEAK program, which offers sign-on and performance bonuses aimed at getting the best teachers to the district's most struggling schools. Officials have credited dramatic gains at those schools to the PEAK program. But losing $4.8 million in state aid is a big hit, chief financial officer Hank Johnson said. He said Fort Worth could try using federal funds to make up for it, but those monies have different rules and standards attached that the district will have to research.

Keller recently opened a new early childhood center that serves 3- and 4-year-olds. Officials there said the loss of pre-kindergarten funds would not affect their program. However, other districts have said they may have to consider cutting back to half-day classes or reduce offerings if the LBB recommendations go through. Keller officials are worried what a loss of technology funds would mean to them.

-Eva-Marie Ayala

Around Campus

Change of plans. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former Maryland lieutenant governor, won't be speaking Friday at the University of North Texas’ doctoral commencement ceremonies. She had been the keynote speaker, but the death of her aunt, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, prompted her to change plans, UNT officials said. Townsend is also the daughter of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy.

Think you can sing? Well prove it. Weatherford College’s fine arts and communication department is preparing for the annual performance of Handel’s Messiah by the Parker County Community Choir. The performance is scheduled for the last Monday in November, and Rob Laney, who conducts the musical tradition, will hold auditions from 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 24 in the Alkek Fine Arts Center on the college’s main campus in Weatherford.
 The Parker County Community Choir typically numbers 45 to 50, and Laney said he is looking for all voice ranges.
 “We need singers who are familiar with the piece, preferably, and those who can devote the needed time for at least weekly rehearsals,” he said.
Rehearsals are 7:30 to 9 Monday nights at the Alkek. For information, call Laney at 817-598-6237 or e-mail him at laney@wc.edu.

They're making history. University of Texas at Arlington professors are working to boost student achievement by offering  workshops to middle and high school teachers on more effective ways to teach American history.
The project is funded through a $969,477 federal grant to the Dallas school district.
Under the grant, beginning this fall:
nThe UT-Arlington history faculty will work with Robert Edison, the Dallas district’s social studies director, to design curriculum.
nFifty selected Dallas teachers will participate in monthly workshops.
nThe sessions will focus on training teachers to deal with content, interpretation and methodology. 
nParticipants will be invited to attend summer institutes and field trips that will enable them to design curricula for their classes.

“Presence: René Francisco, Florencia Levy and Teresa Rafidi” will be the opening exhibit for the fall semester at the University of North Texas art gallery. The exhibit will run Aug. 25-Sept. 26 in UNT’s art building, one block west of Mulberry and Welch streets. Gallery hours are noon-8 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and noon-5 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The exhibit features the work of Cuban artist Francisco, Argentine artist Levy and U.S. artist Rafidi, who each convey the meaning of felt presence through photographs, video or paintings.  The artists’ works highlight the power of human influence — even when no one is present, like in an empty, still room that is interrupted by faraway voices. In seeing “Presence,” the audience is invited to think about how people influence others and are influenced. Admission is free. For information, call 940-565-4005 or visit www.gallery.unt.edu.

Got news? E-mail higher education reporter Gene Trainor at gtrainor@star-telegram.com

College students to share insights

Have a student headed to college? Want them to hear what it's really like? Hit Arlington's Central Library from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Aug. 3. 

Students from the University of Texas at Arlington, Vanderbilt University, Texas Christian University, Tarrant County College and others will share their insights during CollegeSpeak, an interactive panel discussion.

E-mail library teen intern Bennett Parsons with questions.

- Traci Shurley

Mansfield students triumph in national competition

Two Mansfield High School graduates took home the first place prize for radio/audio production at the national SkillsUSA competition in Kansas City.

Here's a blog post we wrote about the contest a little over a week ago:

Seven recent graduates from Mansfield high schools are competing in the national SkillsUSA competition in Kansas City this week and their teacher is blogging all the action.

SkillsUSA, formerly known as Vocational Industrial Clubs of America or VICA, is a competition for high schoolers and college students involved in technical and vocational education. The students from Mansfield were involved in various programs at the district's Ben Barber Career Tech Academy.

The blogger, Justin Dearing, teaches radio broadcasting/advertising design at Ben Barber. (At right is a picture from the blog.)

Here are the former students (they all graduated this spring) who are competing:

Construction Teamworks
Phillip Kriesman - Legacy HS
Francisco Rodriguez - Legacy HS
James Buford - Summit HS
Hugo Dominguez - Summit HS

Radio/Audio Production
Hileigh Armenta - Mansfield HS
Jonathan Solis - Mansfield HS

Technical Computer Applications
Alex Roman - Summit HS

- Traci Shurley

Area educators named Best of Texas for dropout prevention work

Two top area educators have been honored with Best of Texas awards from Communities in Schools.

Communities in Schools is a dropout prevention program administered by the Texas Education Agency.

Deborah Merki, principal of Roanoke Elementary School in Northwest school district is the program's principal of the year. The group said Merki emphasizes the value of parents, promoted college awareness and implemented a Latino Literacy Night to teach Spanish-speaking parents how to help their children learn to read by incorporating their culture.

Honored as staff member of the year is Leigh Ann Armendariz, who one year ago was tasked to develop a program at Tarrant County College. She previously worked at programs at North Side High School in Fort Worth and the KEYS Learning Center, an alternative high school in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford schools.

Jessamy Brown

Heading to college in the fall? Make your application stand out.

It might be winter break, but many high school seniors are working on college applications while classes are out. Katherine Cohen, an expert on college admissions, today offers this advise on filling them out. She also has application information on her Web site.

Top five most common application mistakes:

1. Not following directions.

2. Redundancy.

3. Sending an incomplete application.

4. Sending too many items.

5. Not applying on time.

Top five tips for a great personal statement:

1. Make sure to structure your essay correctly.

2. Have a catchy first sentence.

3. Avoid cliches!

4. Singular subjects require singular verbs. Plural subjects require plural verbs.

5. Proofread, proofread, proofread!

Common and worst essay topics:

1. Declarations of love for your boyfriend or girlfriend.

2. Sincerely held religious beliefs.

3. Your political views.

4. Sex.

5. Sparkling SAT scores.

6. Schemes for world peace.

Jessamy Brown

Reach higher than high school

Getting more students to graduate from high school is great! That's the goal of educators, businesses and educational researchers trying to stem the dropout crisis. But we need to do more to help workers continue their educations to meet the growing demands of the workplace. That's the conclusion of a just-released report by the National Commission on Adult Literacy being touted by the Southern Regional Education Board.

--Martha Deller