“Invest in your future.”Volume 4Number 1 September 2011

We are off to another great start for the new school term. I am excited about the opportunities ahead of us. I want to welcome all of our new teachers and two new members to the department team of support staff. Shelley McKinley has joined the staff as Curriculum Manager, and

LaRue Ellis has joined the team as Curriculum Specialist Team Leader.

We are proud to recognize our outstanding teachers and the wonderful triumphs and accomplishments of our stu-dents. Career and Technical Education continues to pro-vide relevance and a strategic

advantage for students as they exit our care to find their way into college or directly into the workplace.

Rosena Garcia

Mariel RasconMOS Certification Page 2

Jessica Martinez ACE Mentor Pages 3

Back to School Marvin Smith III Pages 4

Automotive Students from Reagan High School Learn Perils of Texting While DrivingA lifesaving lesson for teens

Allstate and Houston ISD teamed up to teach teens about the dan-gers of driving while distracted.

The event was designed to help raise awareness of the problem. Students enrolled in CTE Automotive Tech-nology were asked to go through an obstacle course while texting, reaching for the IPod, talking on the phone, or having loud friends in the backseat and boy was it scary!

The professional driving instructors tested students on their reactive skills by asking them to shuffle through quarters and dimes with one hand, pull out change while driving, scan manually to their favorite radio sta-tions and remain focused despite an obnoxiously loud passenger.

It was all part of the Allstate Driver Challenge, which turned the parking lot of Reliant Park into a special road obstacle course.

“Driving in distraction like talk-ing on the cell phone, text messaging, using twitter, eating... it doesn’t mix with driving,” said Kristen Beaman, an Allstate Spokesperson.

The young participants say it was an eye opening experience.

“Before they take the course, the

teens think I can text message and drive all the time,” said Beaman. “When they go through the course and start mowing over the cones. The driving

instructor says that could have been a dog, that could have been a person and then they realize they are not so good at driving and texting at the same time.”

Studies show nearly 5,000 teens die in car crashes every year, and the pri-mary cause was not alcohol, but driver error.

“Car crashes are the number one killer of teens,” said Beaman. “We’re trying to drive home the message that distractions can be deadly. We’re out here trying to save lives today.”

Allstate also wants parents and teens to be aware of the Graduated Driver Licensing Laws, which prohibits driv-ers under the age of 18 to talk on a cell phone while driving. It also limits the number of teen passengers onboard. •

www.houstonisd.org/cte

Reagan Students in front seat: Juan Solis, Alejandro Reyes; rear seat: Jesus Ramirez,

2 CTEHonorRoll | September 2011

CTEHonorRoll

A newsletter of the Career and Technical Education

Departmentwww.houstonisd.org/CTEwww.twitter.com/HoustonCTE

www.facebook.com/HoustonCTE

Editor: Rufus ChaneyContact: 713-556-6994

email: rchaney1@houstonisd.org

Inside This Issue…

The HISD Board of Education officers for 2011 are (L-R): Assistant Secretary Michael Lunceford, Secretary Carol Mims Galloway, President Paula M. Harris, Second Vice President Anna Eastman, and First Vice President Manuel Rodríguez Jr. Board members not pictured are: Lawrence Marshall, Greg Meyers, Harvin C. Moore, and Juliet K. Stipeche.

2011 Board of EducationPaula M. Harris, President

Manuel Rodríguez Jr., First Vice PresidentAnna Eastman, Second Vice President

Carol Mims Galloway, SecretaryMichael L. Lunceford, Assistant Secretary

Lawrence MarshallGreg Meyers

Harvin C. MooreJuliet K. Stipeche

Terry B. Grier, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools

Table of Contents

Reagan Students in Allstate Driver Challenge

Page 1

Middle Microsoft Office Specialist Page 2

Success of Scarborough Alumna Page 3

Next Generation Pilots at Sterling - Successful Alumni

Page 4

Keeping It Real at DeBakey Page 6

DeBakey National HOSA Results Page 6

SkillUSA Leadership Camp Page 7

Back to School at Sterling Page 7

First Middle School Student to Become Certified Microsoft Office Specialist!Gretchen Matthews

Last year, Mariel Rascon, an 8th Grade student in Gretchen Mat-thews’ Principle of Information

Technology (PIT) Class at Burbank Middle School, was the first middle school student at Burbank to become a certified Microsoft Office Specialist in PowerPoint 2007. Principle of Infor-mation Technology (PIT) is the high school-level course that is offered to middle school students for high school credit. She scored far above the recom-mended passing rate!

Mariel, along with the rest of the class worked hard all semester to master the certification exams. This is a first in the Burbank Middle School history to offer and recognize a high school credit class with industry certification opportunities!

Now a freshman at North Houston Early College High School, Mariel will continue the process of learning and obtaining additional Microsoft Office 2007 industry certifications under the mentorship of Kenneth Ta. •

September 2011 | CTEHonorRoll 3

Christopher Salazar, now attending University of Texas at Austin and majoring in Architecture.

Jessica Martinez, now attending University of Houston and majoring in Architecture.

Mirna Ovalle, now attending Texas A&M and majoring in Architecture.

Alumna of Scarborough High School is an ACE Kristal Holmes

Jessica Martinez, a 2011 gradu-ate of Scarborough High School, received a $1,000.00 scholarship

from the ACE Mentor Program last spring. She joined the program as a junior and continued to go through-out her senior year. Because of her dedication and interest in the ACE Mentor Program, she also received an internship with Turner Construction Company, one of the top construc-tion companies in Texas and a partner with the ACE Mentor Program. She is now attending University of Houston and majoring in architecture. Turner Construction Company has agreed to reimburse her tuition and fees once she comes on board full-time with the company.

Jessica Martinez decided on attend-ing Scarborough High School mainly to be a part of the architectural magnet program, and it has truly paid off. She graduated number four in her class with a grade point average of 3.8 and she received several scholarships. She is looking forward to receiving her Bach-elor of Architecture from the Univer-sity of Houston.

In an previous newsletter we featured two other alumni of the Architectural Magnet Program, Christopher Sala-zar and Mirna Ovalle. Christopher is attending UT in Austin and major-ing in Architecture. Mirna is attend-ing Texas A&M and also majoring in Architecture.

The ACE Mentor Program has part-nered with HISD high schools to reach out to students whose interest is in architecture, construction, or engineer-ing. The ACE Mentor Program stands for Architecture, Construction and En-gineering. It is an after school mentor-ing program giving teams of students the opportunity to work closely with architects, construction managers, and engineers. Over the course of a school year, mentors show students how de-signers and builders think and work while students learn about career op-portunities in their respective fields.

Throughout the year, students and

mentors meet to learn and discuss the various aspects and components of the project and the decision making process behind those choices. The mis-sion of the ACE Mentor Program is to enlighten and increase the awareness of high school students to career opportu-nities in architecture, construction and engineering, as well as, related areas of the design and construction industries through mentoring. This program also provides scholarships opportunities for

students in an inclusive manner reflec-tive of the diverse school population. The program starts in October and ends in early May. •

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Jeremy Jenkins at Annapolis

Lisa Stillwell Williams and Alejandro Martinez

Lisa Stillwell Williams and Jeremy Jenkins

Training the Next Generation of Pilots and Aviation Professionals

Success Stories from Sterling High School’s Aviation Science Magnet Program

I had the chance to visit with Sterling High School on the first two days of teacher in-service returning from

summer break and got to witness an energized group jump start the school year. From the introductions, it ap-pears that many changes have hap-pened; and Sterling will be starting off the year with many new faces of both teachers and administrators.

Lisa Williams Stillwell has moved from her Career and Technical Edu-cation (CTE) teaching position to Campus Magnet Coordinator and she was able to share with me some of her goals for the coming year. The Avia-tion Program was established in the late 70s, and students have received first-hand experience of what it means to become a pilot since then.

In addition to the new appraisal system, the principal discussed the changing demographics of the campus and surrounding neighborhood and the importance and strength of diversity.

Included as a part of the week’s agenda were two recent graduates of the Magnet School of Aviation Sci-ence at Sterling. Sterling is one of a few high schools that offer students the opportunity to graduate with an F.A.A. Certification as a Private Air-plane Pilot. The flight instruction is provided as a part of their curriculum at no cost to the students. Obtaining the level of certification in the private sector would normally range in cost from $6000 - $10000.

Jeremy Jenkins, a 2008 graduate from Sterling, was the guest speaker on the first day. He obtained his air plane pilot license through the Magnet Program after two years of study that included ground school, flight train-ing, and passing a number of exams in order to meet federal licensing require-ments. He was legally able to fly all single engine airplanes before his senior year of high school. He received an Honorable Mention at the 2007-2008 Annual Board of Education Student Awards. He was nominated for the US Naval Academy at Annapolis by

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.Jeremy grew up near Hobby Air-

port and from an early age dreamed of becoming a pilot. He watched as the airplanes flew overhead and won-dered if it could be possible. Enter-ing Sterling as a freshman, he started taking flying lessons and began work-ing at the airport in various capaci-ties through the Career Preparation courses offered through the campus CTE Department.

Jeremy has chosen history as a major at the Academy. He is a very articulate and focused young man. He says that this was not always the case and credits his teachers for being able to pull it out of him. He also credits his Career Preparation courses and internships at Shell, TX DOTS, and others with providing invaluable work experience

and people skills. Jeremy says that the CTE Programs “brought focus and concentration” to his time at Sterling and a healthy head-start when he ar-rived at the Naval Academy.

Jeremy has taken on the role as Ster-ling advocate with his superior officers at the Naval Academy (some of who did not believe that they would find fertile ground for recruiting at such a campus).

One of four boys, Jeremy’s family has always been a supportive and positive influence. His mom works at the City of Houston Library and volunteers at Sterling. His father is a barber and always supportive of his son’s goals. Jeremy says that the constant support from teachers, parents, and preachers was a source of inspiration.

The guest speaker on the second day was Alejandro Martinez. Alejandro was also a 2008 graduate of the Ster-ling High School Aviation Science Magnet Program. Unlike Jeremy, Alejandro was unaware of the Avia-tion Program when he first started at Sterling. Alejandro said that it took his entire freshman year at Sterling to get focused. He credited the aviation teacher with sparking his interest in flying and aviation; by simply taking the time with him and making him aware of all the options available at Sterling through CTE. He started flying in 2005, did his first solo flight in 2006, and obtained his private airplane

September 2011 | CTEHonorRoll 5

Alejandro Martinez and Robert Smith III

Jeremy Jenkins

pilot certification license in 2007.Alejandro is currently studying at

Houston Community College (HCC) and majoring in business and account-ing. In addition to being a part of the Aviation Magnet Program, Ale-jandro was also enrolled in a coher-ent sequence of courses in Business Marketing while at Sterling. And like Jeremy, he was also enrolled in Career Preparation courses with Lisa Wil-liams Stillwell. Through the Career Prep courses, he worked at Circuit City, AT&T, and US Terminals. He said that the experience enabled him to easily find work with his current employer, Chase Bank. He does cash audits for Chase’s ATM and this allows him to pay for his college tuition.

Alejandro said that it’s important for students to understand that there are many options available at the school. Even though he was enrolled in the avi-ation program and was able to obtain his pilot license, he found greater in-terest in his marketing and business course work. While at Sterling, he was president of the student leadership organization DECA, while working on his F.A.A. Instruments License. DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe. After a turbulent first year, Alejandro began taking AP courses, Career Preparation courses, and Dual-Credits courses. The credits from his high school courses have also been ap-plied as college credits at HCC.

Alejandro is confident and articu-late; traits that he attributes to soft skills learned from his teachers and

marketing classes. The first in his family to go onto college with three older sisters and a younger brother, Alejandro says that his parents sup-port has also been critical. His father worked in the custodial department at Sterling and was always available to help re-focus his energies during his freshman year.

Both young men say that they ben-efitted greatly from the business part-nership between Sterling and the TSU Aviation Program. TSU offered after school pilot coaches and support from the Black Pilots of America and the Organization of Black Airline Pilots. The coaches assisted the students with additional instruction and tutoring for the F.A.A. Exams. The Sterling Avia-tion Magnet Program has been able to recruit their former tutor as instructor for the aviation course. Marvin Smith III is one of the new teachers at Ster-ling, but he is certainly not new to the program or the campus. In addition to his new teaching duties at Sterling, Mr. Smith is currently, Vice President of Black Pilots of America.

Jeremy and Alejandro are just two such success stories from Sterling High School. Both are eager to come back as alumni and offer support to the current students. •

SkillsUSA Leadership Conference

SkillsUSA held its Leadership Con-ference and Jobs Skills Fair at the Humble Civic Center Arena in

September. This was the first meeting of the club for the new school term. Business partners and post-secondary schools also attended and setup infor-mation exhibits for the attendees.

SkillsUSA advisors attending from Jordan High School were Kevin Mc-Donald, Alfred Lloyd, Carolyn Lewis, Tamela Porter and Robert Love. Advi-sors from Reagan High School includ-ed Alan Hughes, Cynthia Gatewood, and Leonard Preston.

Students had the opportunity to meet with peers from other schools and other programs. A number of CTE industry clusters were involved. •

Students from Jordan High School

Students from JReagan High School

6 CTEHonorRoll | September 2011

Student show at left and below are Michelle Ann Jimenez, Sally Hoang, Davis Kim, and Alfredo Muniz

Thank you “Stock Market Game” for “KEEPING IT REAL!”Nina Y. Jolivet, M.Ed

Students enrolled in Business In-formation Management at De-Bakey High School have found a

winning formula mastering Microsoft Office while practicing statistical skills. They use the Stock Market Game to learn advanced Excel, Access, and Word Skills.

During the ten-week stock market project, the students tracked various stocks and ‘mapped’ the stocks chang-es. Students used both the graphic calculator and Microosft Excel. At week 2.5, each student was required to use the graphing calculator to see how long it would take to produce the Least Square Regression (LSR) equation to determine the average stock price for their stock choices. They learned that it took them 10 – 20 minutes manipu-lating the keys on the graphic calcula-tor to arrive at an answer, which was not always correct. When using Excel for the same purpose, the equation and answer was produced in less than one minute with the “correct” answer.

Microsoft Excel skills were busy at work during the Stock Market Game. Each team in the “Stock Market Game” used Excel to predict what their stock would be between weeks using the LSR equation in Excel. Students cre-ated pivot tables and macros to help easily identify data and lessen their key strokes to predict answers for six different weeks. They learned how to “concatenate” cells, then convert the data into an Access database and then performed specific stock queries.

Students created “what-if ” analysis using “goal seek” to create an instruc-tion manual to determine during week three of the stock market game if team 04 had $101,841.13 and the A Day week

three average was $97,923.90, what would team 04’s value have to be if the A Day week average changed to $100,000?

You do not need to be a math whiz to see that math and Excel go hand in hand. Using Microsoft Office 2007 opens many doors in a myriad of areas so students can visualize how learning can “Keep it Real”! •

Outstanding Results for DeBakey at HOSA National Conference

Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) is a student

organization whose mission is to promote career oppor-tunities in health care and to

enhance the delivery of qual-ity health care to all people. Student from DeBakey High School have contin-ued to deliver outstanding performances.

Dan Donbosco 1st Medical Math; Anne Dinh 1st Dental Terminology; Chistopher Huynh 1st Nutrition; Kim Davis 2nd Human Growth & Development; Shiv Patel,

Ciarah Buitrago,Urvashi F i r o z i , S r i h a r s h a Kambala ,Xing Kai Li,Somtochi Okafor,Bolanie Soymobo,Lawrence Zhu placed 3rd. •

September 2011 | CTEHonorRoll 7

SkillsUSA Summer Leadership CampAntoinette Smith

Three students enrolled in Cosme-tology from Sterling High School were elected to serve as District 8

officers for SkillsUSA Texas. SkillsU-SA is a partnership of students, teach-ers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce.

During the Summer Leadership Camp, District 8 Advisor, Antoi-nette Smith along with District 8 Officers, Kenisha Nation(Sterling), Julie Mendoza (Sterling), Jennifer Truxillo(Aldine) and Diana Ponce (Aldine) were afforded the opportunity to attend the camp held at Mo Ranch in Hunt, TX.

Throughout a week of outdoor ac-tivities, professional development pro-grams, and team oriented workshops, students perform two of the main com-ponents to the SkillsUSA organization: networking and friendship. Students successfully completed the leadership requirements to be sworn in as officers, receive their Statesman Pin and an in-vitation to the Washington Leadership Training Institute (WLTI). The WLTI invitations are only extended to those completing the Summer Leadership Camps each year. Various competi-tions were held at the conclusion of the Leadership Campus and District 8 won 2nd place for Presentation of Fall Leadership. •

Donna Conner, Information Technology Cluster

Shirley Wilturner, Business Management

Antoinette Smith, Cosmetology

John Chilo, Automotive

Marvin Smith, III, Aviation

Lisa Stillwell Williams, Magnet Coordinator

SkillsUSA Advisor-Antoinette Smith, President- Kenisha Nation, Katarina Smith and Reporter- Patrice Taylor

Back to School at Sterling High SchoolJettie Greene

On August 22 and 23rd Ster-ling High School welcomed new and returning students to

school. Students were excited about the upcoming school year. The past 22 days of 100 degree weather and the dismal economic conditions of our country didn’t make the headlines for the students. There was a cheerful chatter as students greeted each other after having the summer break.

Principal Williams and the Career and Technical Education teachers start-ed the year off by providing an envi-ronment that was conducive for their educational success. The CTE team at Sterling covered classroom rules, teacher expectations as well as class-room routines with the new classes. The goal of the Career and Education Department is to challenge students academically and socially while guid-ing them to become independent thinkers and problem solvers.

There are a couple of changes in the CTE department. Lisa Williams, former CTE marketing teacher, is the new magnet coordinator of the avia-tion program. John Chilo, CTE au-tomotive teache,r brings his skills to the Raider team. •

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