Extra Credit

Young chefs from Byron Nelson High win state contest, headed to nationals

A team of students from the Academy of Culinary Arts and Hospitality at Byron Nelson High School won the state title at the Texas ProStart Invitational and are headed to a national competition in April in Maryland, according to a news release.

The team prepared a three course meal in 60 minutes. Students were also judged on knife skills, chicken fabrication and safety and sanitation. 

The team includes Chef James Neel, Allison Bode and chef Steve DeShazo, LaKoda Sailer, Lyric Gibson, Trenton Shank, Nathan Young, Emily Baker. (R: Culinary team/Photo from NISD)

A second team from Byron Nelson High, a campus in Trophy Club that is part of the Northwest school district, took second place in the restaurant management competition. Those teams had to develop a restaurant proposal and give a presentation about it. Their concept was City Park Smoke House. A team from Rockwall High School placed first in that category.

A restaurant management team placed first at the national competition last year.

The state event was hosted by the Texas Restaurant Association Education Foundation. The competition is open to students enrolled in high school culinary arts programs that use the Texas ProStart program and curriculum.

Jessamy Brown

Pro cyclists teach lesson on health to students in Fort Worth

FORT WORTH -- Schoolchildren competing in an eight-week program to eat better and exercise more gave their four-week progress report to a trio of super fit athletes on Thursday.

Fifth-graders at M.L. Phillips Elementary School told the racing cyclists on the RadioShack Nissan Trek Team that they are eating more fruits and vegetables and have added two hours a week to their physical activity. 
The cyclists, who train up to 30 hours a week on their bikes, encouraged the children to continue to eat nutritious food, get a bit of exercise and always wear a helmet when bicycling. Photo gallery here.

"You don't have to eat little carrots like Bugs Bunny. Replace a piece of chocolate with an orange or a banana. It has more vitamins," said cyclist Jens Voigt, 41, of Berlin, who was on the nine-man team that raced in the Tour de France this summer. "Eating healthy makes you smarter and stronger. "

The visit by Voigt, Markel Irizar and Tiago Machado was part of the citywide Fit Worth campaign aimed at encouraging residents to improve their health through increased physical activity and healthy eating.

Read more here from today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

And here are some more facts about Jens Voigt: He has six kids and often spends free time maintaining their bikes. He got started into cycling at age 10 and won his first race. He likes fishing and recently bought a bow.

Asked if he'd ever met Lance Armstrong, Voigt told a student that the two men's birthdays are a day apart and they'd raced in the Tour de France together.

Here's another video that shows the pro athletes playing a noisy physical education game together.  

Jessamy Brown

New scholarship aims to help first-generation students at UT Arlington

First-generation college sophomores at the University of Texas at Arlington will be able to access a new scholarship thanks to the newly established Shirlee J. and Taylor Gandy First Generation Scholarship Program.

A new $1 million endowment was established with the help of a $500,000 gift committed by the Gandys. Their gift aims to provide scholarships to sophomores who excel academically and who are the first in their families to attend college.

UTA sophomores will be selected for the scholarship based on merit and financial need. The Gandy’s gift was doubled in value through the university’s Maverick Match program, which leverages UTA’s natural gas royalties to encourage new donations.

Shirlee Gandy, president of RPM Commercial in Fort Worth, earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from UTA in 1970. She also serves on the university’s development board.

“I was the first in my family to graduate college, and at the time I did not realize the tremendous impact it would forever have on my life,” Shirlee Gandy said in a press release. “...We wanted to make this financial commitment to help first generation students achieve their goals.” 

Gandy said students can apply for the scholarship for their sophomore year plus the junior and senior years.

 “It’s not a one time thing,” she said, adding that she and her husband want to ease the burden of student debt for these students.

Gandy said the rising cost of tuition, housing and books can result in painful student debt.

Georgina Martinez, a 21-year-old first-generation college student, said she juggles her studies with two jobs. She also relies on UTA academic aid programs through the Maverick Promise to pay for tuition. She said it is a major effort to continue to find scholarships to pay school bills, but investment in higher education is key to a better future.

"Education is the way to go," Martinez said.

-Diane Smith

 

Texas governor Rick Perry to attend first graduation at Westlake Academy

Heavy hitters are planning to come to the very first graduation for Westlake Academy on May 23. Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Education Commissioner Robert Scott are among the dignitaries scheduled to attend the event at the Marriott Solana, schools officials said.

Former Westlake mayor Scott Bradley and the first head of school Barbara Brizuela are also on the list.

Westlake Academy, which opened in 2003 and is the only municipally operated charter school in the state, expects to graduate a class of 24 seniors at the ceremony. 

Update: All of Westlake Academy's 24 seniors are headed to college and have been offered $3.7 million worth of college scholarships. They plan to attend various colleges, including Southern Methodist University, Texas Christian University, Brandeis University and University of Colorado, Boulder.

Also, Brizuela isn't going to make it to the ceremony after all.

Jessamy Brown

Juniors taking SAT, ACT can get discount on Kaplan online test prep cost

So now that the Texas Education Agency has arranged for Lone Star State teens to take the SAT and ACT college admissions tests for free, the folks at Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions are sweetening the deal.

Juniors at any Texas public high school who are registered for the May or June exams can take Kaplan's interactive online prep course for $45, a huge discount off the regular cost of $499. The cost covers program materials and shipping costs, Kaplan spokesman Russell Schaffer said in a news release.

Practice your math skills --that's nine percent of the normal cost.

Using Kaplan's Live Online platform, students can take the live video instructor-led class from anywhere they can access the Internet. Students can ask questions and interact with a teacher and classmates using audio, instant chat, whiteboard, polling and screen-sharing functions.

To enroll through May 1: www.kaptest.com/college. The promotion codes are TXSATPREP for the SAT and TXACTPREP for the ACT.

Jessamy Brown

Arlington's Sam Houston hosts life skills event

An event that showcased life skills for high schoolers and their families drew more than 100 parents, educators and students to Arlington's Sam Houston High School on Saturday.

The school district and the Arlington Coalition for Education organized the Leaders Inspiring Families for Excellence (LIFE) Academy. The coalition includes alumni chapters of several traditionally African-American sororities and fraternities and Phi Delta Kappa, an association of professional educators. The Arlington alumni chapter of sorority Delta Sigma Theta spearheaded the founding of the coalition last year.

The LIFE Academy was free and featured lessons on financing a college education, public speaking, how to help your child study, avoiding credit card abuse and several other topics. (Those are students from Martin High School at left. Thanks to the Arlington Coalition for the photo.)

A similar event is planned for February for junior high students.

- Traci Shurley

College admissions officers say applicants contact them on MySpace, Facebook

High schools students are apparently trying to cozy up to college admissions officers by contacting them over social networking Web sites.

 

More than 70 percent of undergraduate college admissions officers say that an applicant has sent a MySpace or Facebook “friend request” to them or another officer at the campus, according to a Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions annual survey.

 

Is this a helpful tool to turn seniors into college freshmen? Only about 1 in 10 admissions officers said they had looked at an applicant’s online profile. But more and more schools, 21 percent, are developing policies on handling social networking in the admissions process, up from 16 percent last year.

 

The numbers are even higher for graduate schools: 48 percent of law schools, 50 percent of business schools and 31 percent of medical schools admissions officials said an applicant has tried to “friend” them.

 

Jessamy Brown

College students having more trouble paying bills

U.S. News & World Report has a story about college registrars noticing an increase in the number of students unable to pay their semester bills. It gives some good advice about how to cut out costs, communicate with school officials and points out that it's not to late to apply for federal financial aid.

- Traci Shurley

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

Arlington's Gates Millennium Scholar shares her experiences

Michelle Oyeka, a Seguin High School graduate who won a scholarship funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, recently returned to her alma mater to talk to students at the Arlington school about college and how she got to where she is. You can watch her presentation here. (The picture at left is from Seguin's Website.)

Oyeka is in her second year at Duke University, with support from a $10,000 scholarship from the Gates Millennium Scholars Program. She was the second of the school’s graduates to win the prestigious award for minority students.

Part of the Gates Foundation program calls for scholars to return to their communities and inspire others to attend college, Oyeka said in a recent e-mail.

"I also want to inform the students of how paying for college doesn't have to be a huge financial burden and therefore should not be deterrent in attending higher education," she said.

- Traci Shurley