Week of May 13

The San Marcos Education Foundation honored the 55 Distinguished Scholars and their chosen outstanding educator or mentor on Wednesday, May 15. Special thank you to SMHS Alum Class of 2015, Mr. Lucas Ruge-Jones, for serving as the keynote speaker. Thank you for imparting some words of wisdom on our students as they begin the next chapter of their young adult lives.

Congratulations to our San Marcos High School ACL seniors: Epi Kyle Quintana, Kayla Vasquez, Duong Nguyen, Colby Rohn-Penn, Magdalena Rosales, William Plomboy-Jones. and Esiah Contreras! Our Rattlers walked across the stage and moved their tassels during an ACL graduation ceremony on Thursday, May 16.

The Bears of Bonham Pre-Kindergarten celebrated their final full school week with a Water Day! The day included a three-lane water slide, bubbles, a foam pit and best of all, a chance to splash their teachers and parents!

Congratulations to San Marcos High School's Early College High School (ECHS) Class of 2024! Our Rattlers who completed the program walked across the stage at Coastal Bend College on Friday, May 10 with their Associate's Degrees. Soon, these outstanding students will earn their high school diploma and become Rattler alumni! The ECHS program allows students to participate in extracurricular activities, obtain CTE certifications, take Advanced Placement courses, and even participate in clubs and organizations all while pursuing their high school diploma and Associate's Degree.

This year, a local flower shop, “The Floral Studio”, hosted SMHS students, Mireya Acosta, Elliana Cervantez, and Jocelyn Garcia, for the San Marcos High School Floral Internship Program. This amazing opportunity allowed our students to put what they learned in the SMHS Floral Design classes into practice in a real-world setting. From processing flowers to creating beautiful bouquets, the floral interns did it all!

The SMHS Floral Internship Program ended the year with a Styled Wedding Photoshoot to show off the skills they gained throughout their internship experience, and the results are phenomenal!

Floral interns were tasked with creating a “mood board” to start the planning process, and Jocelyn Garcia’s “whimsical spring garden” design was selected for the project. Next, the interns set goals within a set budget and planned the floral designs, which included a large ceremony piece, bridal bouquet, groom’s boutonniere, rectangle table centerpiece, and “cake meadow” design.

With the help of many local vendors, which included the SMHS Culinary and Cosmetology Programs, and hours of teamwork on site at the venue that day, the Styled Wedding Photoshoot came to life! We appreciate the time and role that each person had in making this event a reality and look forward to continuing these partnerships in the future!

We are doing great things in SMCISD Career & Technology! Our students make us proud.

Venue: Dry Creek Reserve - Geronimo, Texas (owned by SMHS Culinary Teacher, Dan Reinhard)

Florist: SMHS Floral Internship Program & Kaylee Williams with The Floral Studio

Floral Materials: Southern Floral Wholesale – Austin, Texas

Linens & Rentals: Enchanted Events (owned by SMHS Mom, Wendy Melendez)

Cake & Tableware: SMHS Culinary Program

Bride & Groom: Alex & Zoe Brown (SMHS Co-Teacher)

Hair & Make-up: SMHS Cosmetology Program

Dress: The bride's mom's vintage dress (altered by Antonina Lozano at Shirley & Frida Seamstress - San Marcos, Texas)

Planning: Mindy Camp (SMHS Floral Internship Teacher) & Fallon Drennan (SMHS Floral Design Teacher)

Photography: SMCISD Communications

Forty-three San Marcos High School Emerging Bilingual students recently became published authors. Twenty-seven students in Mrs. Norma Ybarra’s English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) I class, and 16 students in Mrs. Alethea Cavin’s ESOL II course wrote children’s books. Through a grant from A+ Federal Credit Union, the SMHS students had their books published in hardback.

The Mendez Strikers celebrated a successful school year with their annual Water Day festivities on Tuesday, May 14 and Wednesday, May 15. Students were able to compete in various water stations like water dodgeball, water obstacle courses and much more!

Eleven San Marcos CISD students were recognized for their outstanding art work by the San Marcos Arts Commission during their monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 26. Our wonderful Rattler artists will soon have their art work featured on traffic boxes around San Marcos. Be on the lookout for their beautiful artwork. Congratulations to artists, Megan Faber, Teresa Medrano, Jaysus Cisneros, Kenzie Nichols, Jevon McNeice, Lael Edokpa, Xzena Alvar, Valeria Alvarado, Dulce Gonzalez, Emily Maldonado, Madelyn Dusek, and the Goodnight Art Club for this tremendous accomplishment!

Crockett Superstars caught a glimpse of future career paths during their Career Day on Wednesday, May 15. Our students took part in demonstrations from San Marcos/Hays County EMS, SMTX Utilities, Texas Disposal Systems and many more. Thank you to our volunteers for giving insights into the many careers to chose from in the future!

Congratulations to our 25 SMHS students who graduated from the EMT Academy on Friday, May 17. These students earned their course completion, thus allowing them to sit for their EMT Basic National Certification exam once they cross the stage on Friday, May 24. San Marcos CISD is incredibly proud of each and every student and we wish you all the best as you continue to prepare for your exam. We are certain and grateful to Mrs. Megan Bading for her efforts in preparing you all!

Our Bowie Champions began their end-of-year ceremonies on Thursday, May 16 by celebrating 3rd and 4th graders. Students were recognized for A-Honor Roll, A-B Honor Roll, Perfect Attendance, participation in the Regional Science Fair, and grade completion recognition. Congrats to our Champions, we're looking forward to seeing what you accomplish next academic year!

Summit K12 recently named one San Marcos High School student one of its 2023-2024 Top Texas ESL Students of the Year. Erick Morga-Tetetla was honored as one of the top students in Texas for the 9th-12th Grade Reading Domain. Summit K12’s award highlights students who demonstrate the highest usage of Summit K12 this school year. Erick ranked at the top of their Domain above more than 750,000 Texas students enrolled in Summit K12. Congratulations, Erick, SMCISD is proud of your achievement!

Our Hernandez Heroes had a foam-tastic Friday, jumping over hurdles, dodging pool noodles and having a blast racing through the Adventure Dash Fun Run obstacle course on May 17. Students took part in Dash Day after participating in Hernandez's spring fundraiser. Our Heroes have raised nearly $29,000!

De Zavala Elementary GT students presented their Hello World CS virtual reality work to San Marcos CISD leaders on Tuesday, May 14. District faculty were able to learn from our Diamonds and preview the software ahead of rollout to each elementary GT program next academic year!

San Marcos High School’s Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras took home trophies from the Richardson Performing Arts Center for American Classic's Buccaneer Classic Music Festival in Corpus Christi on Saturday, May 11. The Philharmonic Orchestra brought home a Superior Ratings trophy. The Chamber Orchestra swept the competition and took home the Superior Ratings, Outstanding Performance, and Best in Festival trophies, marking the second year in a row to do so with an American Classic Music Festival! Additionally, both Kaila Adams and Bubba Ward were awarded Outstanding Soloists medals for their fine performances. The Chamber Orchestra followed Saturday’s outing with a performance at Tobin Center in San Antonio to perform at the YOSA Invitational on Monday, May 13! Alongside their performances, Kaila Adams and Adigheji Ifowodo were named Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Texas Music Scholars Award honorees. We’re proud of our SMHS Orchestra and all our Rattlers' accomplishments!

Miller celebrated their 8th grade students with a carnival featuring ring toss games, football tosses, an inflatable slide, a dance party, good food and a great time with fellow classmates on Thursday, May 16. Thank you to our 8th graders for the great year they've had! We're grateful to the Miller PTO for organizing the event, and the volunteers, community members and staff for making the event possible!

We're grateful to local nonprofit, Books Are The Beginning, for providing books for our elementary campuses. The organization visited schools to give our students four books each to take home and read during their upcoming summer break. We're thankful for this great organization and their helpful volunteers for their wonderful donation!

Eight San Marcos CISD students were honored for their service on the Youth Task Force during Youth Task Force Recognition Night at the San Marcos Activity Center on Monday, May 13 hosted by Cristal Lopez, Community Action, Inc. Youth Services Director with the support of the Core Four Partnership. City councilmember Alyssa Garza, along with City of San Marcos Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation, Jessica Ramos, presented certificates of service to YTF members. SMCISD Director of Social Emotional Learning and Guidance, Adriana Guerrero, provided stoles to five graduating seniors for their participation. SMCISD's student representatives on the Youth Task Force included Ruby Wilford, President of Youth Task Force; Austin Ault, Treasurer; Briana Canahuati, Historian; Rosario Castro; Daniella Martínez- incoming officer for 2024-25 YTF Liaison; Khatin Raymond- member of the year 2023-24 & secretary; Haley Aguilar- incoming officer for 2024-25 President; and Sophia Robertson- incoming officer for 2024-25 Vice President.

Superintendent Dr. Michael Cardona hosted his final Superintendent Student Advisory Council meeting of the 2023-2024 school year on Tuesday, May 14. Current leaders at San Marcos High School came in and sat with a group of students on the council and talked about their personal leadership story. They worked together to create a poster explaining a characteristic of being a good teammate.

Twenty-one Students of the San Marcos HS Choral Department have been selected as Texas Music Scholars. They were nominated for this honor by their directors, Dawn Sheridan and Brigitte Smith, and the award is given by the Texas Educators Association, which sponsors the Texas All-State Bands, Orchestras, and Choirs. This award is given to students who have exhibited outstanding qualities in scholastic merit, musicianship, and citizenship in their school community during the 23-24 school year.

Congratulations to the following students:

Lukas Bauerkemper -11th Grade, Baritone

Daniel Cruz-10th Grade, Tenor

Alyssa Ensle-10th Grade, Soprano

Brynn Gardner, - 10th Grade, Soprano

Chandler Hammett - 10th Grade, Baritone

Keira Hinton - 10th Grade, Soprano

Jayden Jackson - 12th Grade, Bass

Cora LaCoss - 12th Grade, Soprano

Helena McConkey - 11th Grade, Alto

Annissa Ramirez - 10th Grade, Soprano

Molly Sivilay - 11th Grade, Soprano

Adrian Castanon - 12th Grade, Tenor

Thomas De La Cruz - 10th Grade, Tenor

Shaela Fletcher - 12th Grade, Alto

Mateo Garza - 11th Grade, Tenor

Emma Harbert - 11th Grade, Alto

Samantha Irvin - 12th Grade, Alto

Abigail LaCoss - 10th Grade, Soprano

Daniela Lopez - 10th Grade, Soprano

Addison Odam - 12th Grade, Alto

Anais Rivera - 12th Grade, Alto

May is Speech and Hearing Month, which aims to raise awareness about communication health. During this important awareness month, we want to take the opportunity to recognize and thank the members of our SLP team for all that they do to support the communication health of our students.

Speech-language pathologists are regulated health professionals who work to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders that result from a variety of medical conditions.

In the school setting, this looks like

• Helping students learn to pronounce sounds correctly (such as the R sound, or making sure the student says the final sounds in words)
• Increasing students’ vocabulary knowledge and usage
• Helping students learn what words to use in what order, and when to say them
• Helping students with limited verbal output find ways to communicate (such as by using a computerized device or a picture system)
• Helping students that stutter make their speech more fluent
• Helping students that have difficulty with comprehension or answering questions
• Helping students learn the unspoken social rules of communication
• Helping students that struggle with getting their thoughts out in a coherent fashion, whether verbally or in writing
• Helping students understand relationships between words and concepts (including such skills as comparing/contrasting, describing, defining, summarizing, etc.
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We adore our SLP team! Thank you for everything you do: Sara Julitz, Anna Mares Melendez, Daniela Garza, Paloma Rizo, Kathryn Markham, Cindy Schiurring-Hatt, Alexandria McStay, Nicole Peters, and Susanna Garcia