District in Pictures

We want to take a moment to thank our incredible school board members for their dedication, leadership, and commitment to our students, staff, and community. Their hard work ensures that every student has access to quality education and opportunities to succeed.

Current Board of Trustees include:

• Mark Lukert, President
• Susan Grisel, Vice President
• Sandy Camp, Treasurer
• John Barnard
• Jim Johnson
• Katherine McGregor
• Diann Scroggins

The community is invited a reception honoring our board members on Tuesday, January 21 at 5:30 pm. Join us in celebrating and thanking our school board members for all they do!

Congratulations to the January Teacher Spotlight Award winner, Drew Skeeler. This monthly award is sponsored by First Bank and News Channel 6 KAUZ and recognizes a teacher who goes above and beyond in the classroom. Mr. Skeeler is a 6th grade social studies teacher at Barwise Middle School. Thank you to our PIE partners River Bend Nature Center, Star Brite Cleaners, Frank & Joe's Coffee House, DK/Alon and Market Street United for providing gifts to our monthly winners!

We are excited to announce that the Hirschi Middle School library will now be known as The Diann Taylor Library of Excellence. In 2020, the library at Kirby Middle School was dedicated to Mrs. Diann Taylor, a former principal who dedicated more than 40 years of service to WFISD and our community. After Kirby Middle School closed last year, we made the decision to honor Mrs. Taylor’s incredible legacy by renaming the library at the new Hirschi Middle School in her honor. The original signage from Kirby has been moved and proudly installed outside the Hirschi library. Mrs. Taylor served as principal at Kirby from 1992 to 2004, and continued her devoted work with WFISD until her retirement in 2015. Even now, she remains an invaluable resource, sharing her expertise and support with our district. Congratulations, Mrs. Taylor, and thank you for your years of service and continued impact!

This past Tuesday was a fun night as spectators filled the Legacy High School gym for the #CrosstownShowdown varsity basketball games! The energy, the excitement, and the support from everyone made it a night to remember. The Legacy Varsity Boys came out victorious with 60-35 win. The Memorial Varsity Girls took the win with a final score of 45-38. We are already looking forward to the next showdown!!

We want to give a big shoutout to Karina Rodriguez-Contreras in the WFISD Print Shop for receiving a WFISD Culture Coin! Last week, Karina received praise from the WFISD Swim Team Booster Club for going the extra mile and providing excellent customer service.

Swim Team Booster Club parent, Tonya Genewick, had the following to say about Karina:

Karina has been a wonderful partner for our swim team, always helpful and quick, but this week she went ABOVE and BEYOND. Despite a last-minute request for swim program covers, and unexpected school closures, Karina worked late to get the programs printed and even took them home to ensure I had them in time for our Senior Night swim meet. Her dedication, kindness, and willingness to go the extra mile left me in tears.

Thank you, Karina, for your exceptional service and genuine care for the people you help. You are truly appreciated! #teamWFISD

We are so excited to announce that Allie Calvert has made Memorial High School history by earning 2nd chair in the Texas All-State Mixed Choir and becoming the school's first State Choir member! This process started with over 14,000 singers and narrowed down to around 250, and Allie is a part of that number! She will be singing for thousands of people at TMEA this February and also has the opportunity to sing at the American Choral Director’s Association in March! Congratulations, Allie!

Law Enforcement Appreciation Day was January 9, but the snow put a delay on recognizing Southern Hills' very own Officer Myracle. They would like to extend their gratitude to Officer Myracle and Sergeant Banda. Their unwavering dedication and commitment to keeping the Panther community safe does not go unnoticed. "Southern Hills is incredibly fortunate to work alongside such dedicated individuals that ensure the safety of the students, staff, and families every single day," said Southern Hills principal, Amanda Garcia.

Fowler assistant principal, Chavaz Jackson, had the opportunity to speak on Transformative Leadership at Region 9's SparkEd, a future educator conference this week. His message was filled with inspiration and hope, giving our future educators the drive to chase their dreams. "He represents our campus so well and shines so bright," said Fowler Elementary principal, Amanda Awtrey.

What do you wonder? Recently, 4th grade TAG students had the chance to dive deep into a topic they wondered about, whether it was art, coding, science, or anything else that sparked their curiosity. Then, they presented their findings to their peers. "We had students create podcasts, STEM builds, teach us dance choreography, and research deep space," said Shasta Smith, Gifted & Talented teacher. "It has been amazing to see the love of learning our students had during this unit and to see their creativity shine."

The Career Education Center proudly welcomed 80 new members into the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS) this week. These students exemplify excellence in skill, service, knowledge, and responsibility within career technical education. The NTHS motto, “Excellence in America’s workforce begins with excellence in workforce education,” reflects the dedication and achievements of these students.

Monday was National Rubber Ducky Day. To celebrate, 200 mini ducks were hidden throughout Southern Hills Elementary. During the day, staff would collect ducks and turn them in for a running count. The top 3 individuals with the most ducks won a prize at the end of the day. If staff found at least 180 ducks, they would be rewarded with a jeans day! They found all the ducks!

What an exciting week for Scotland Park! A brand-new playground has been installed, bringing joy and adventure to the students. With the sun shining and the weather just right, the children eagerly explored the new equipment, climbing, swinging, and sliding with big smiles on their faces. Laughter and excitement filled the air as they made the most of their first day on the playground. This new addition is sure to provide endless fun and active play for years to come!

Memorial High School visual arts student, Parker Deal, built and welded a wedging table for the ceramics class. A wedging table is used to knead the wet clay into a usable consistent texture to build sculptures with or use on a wheel. It is a thick bed of plaster on a metal frame with wheels, a tool shelf, a towel rack, a wire trimmer, and hooks for hanging tools. Thank you, Parker, for all our hard work you put into making this valuable piece of equipment.

Dr. Robert Forrester, Dillard Distinguished Professor of Energy Finance at Midwestern State University, recently spoke to students from Legacy and Memorial High Schools during his session, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Dr. Forrester shared practical advice on investing young, the power of compound interest, and funding options like angel investors and start-up resources. He provided actionable steps for students from all backgrounds to achieve financial success and pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. Dillard College of Business is proud to connect with the local community and inspire young minds through events like this. For more information on their programs, visit https://msutexas.edu/

Mrs. Davis's 2nd grade class at Franklin Elementary just wrapped up an exciting unit on the Westward Expansion! The students worked hard to create beautiful informational quilts, each square showcasing a different part of their learning journey. From the Oregon Trail to pioneers and Native American cultures, the quilts are a vibrant reflection of all they discovered!

Scotland Park proudly takes this opportunity to recognize and appreciate their dedicated school police officers on Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. These hardworking officers play a vital role in ensuring the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and school community. Their commitment, vigilance, and service provide a secure and supportive environment where learning can thrive. We are incredibly grateful for their efforts in protecting our school each day. Thank you for all that you do!

The Memorial High School Fine Arts teachers began 2025 with a potluck lunch! They enjoyed the opportunity to get to know each other better over a great meal! This new team is very happy to be together this year!

Southern Hills kicked off the new semester with vibrant creativity! They hosted a black light art day called "Glowing into 2025"! It lit up the art room with color and energy! Happy back to school!

Before the break started, the CIS site coordinator at Hirschi Middle School teamed up with local churches - Trinity United Methodist Church and Life Church - and their school's health teacher to come together and set students up with hygiene bags. These churches gathered shampoo and conditioners, body washes, toothbrushes, feminine items, and body lotions to give to students and teach the importance of hygiene as well as set some students up with basic needs!

Scotland Park extends a huge thank you to the Wichita Falls Rotary Club North for their generosity and support in making their Perfect Attendance Party a memorable celebration. Their thoughtful contribution of goodies brought smiles to the students' faces, and their willingness to chaperone ensured that everyone had a fantastic time. We truly appreciate their dedication to our school community and their commitment to recognizing and rewarding our students' achievements. Thank you for making this event so special!

Fifth grade Gifted & Talented students applied the Engineering Design Process (EDP) in their latest collaborative effort to design and build marble roller coasters out of recyclable materials. They created detailed plans focused on specific roller coaster features: drops, loops, banked turns, hills, and some even included hidden features. As a team, they determined the theme, the roller coaster's name, and other special details. Students applied the principles of force & motion, and used their knowledge of friction, momentum, and angles to build functioning tracks. "This is one of our favorite projects to do with our 5th grade TAG students," said Alison Colemere, Gifted & Talented Teacher. "We get the opportunity to see their creativity and perseverance in a new way. For example, when choosing building & connecting supplies, teams had to consider the fact that they only attend TAG once a week. The factors of humidity, time, and gravity impacted their build process and teams had to adapt and improve each week when they returned. One of the most exciting moments for us was watching a team figure out how to create a roller coaster ending under their base and creating angles that gave the marble enough momentum to completely make it through the track.”

Memorial High School would like to congratulate Mrs. Carlye Bindel on being named December "Teacher of the Month." She was nominated by her colleagues because she engages the most difficult students in creativity and gives all kids the chance to shine, is always really encouraging, thinks outside of the box to bring joy and excitement to our building, and is always smiling. Great job, Mrs. Bindel!

Band students from across WFISD participated in the Wichita Falls annual TubaChristmas at First Baptist Church on Saturday, December 21. Brass instrument players including baritones, euphoniums, sousaphones, and tubas from all over the area gathered to perform Christmas carols in “heavy metal” fashion. Out of the 81 total participants, WFISD was represented by 12 students from Barwise, Legacy, and Memorial. Everybody had a blast and are looking forward to going back next year!

The Memorial High School admin team and staff were extra excited to show their holiday spirit as they participated in "Favorite Holiday Shirt, ""Celebrity Elf," and "Favorite Holiday Movie" dress up days in December.

District in Pictures is a weekly publication developed by the WFISD Community Relations department. If you have events, recognitions or classroom activities taking place on your campus that you would like us to feature, please let us know by completing the form at the following link: www.wfisd.net/dip. We would love to include you in our weekly district news.