District in Pictures

On Thursday evening, Memorial Stadium was packed full of future Leopards as Legacy High School held their first school-wide Sign the Banner event. Students had a chance to meet the staff members and coaches and booster clubs representatives took the opportunity to sign up new members. Local merchants were also on hand to make sure everybody had a chance to get their Legacy spirit wear! And, of course, students and staff had the opportunity to sign the commemorative banner that will hang in Legacy High School for years to come!

This past weekend, fans had the opportunity to witness one final showdown between Rider High School and Wichita Falls High School as both teams battled for victory at Hoskins Field. In the end, the Raiders came away with a 12-2 win. Pictured below are the players, coaches and umpires who participated in the last game along with the Rider Baseball Class of 24.

The students of Old High theater, under the guidance of director Leisha Thornton, have made significant progress in their One Act Play and were the only high school in WFISD to advance to bi-district with their performance of And a Child Shall Lead by Michael Slade. This is the first time in nearly a decade that WFHS Theatre has advanced in the UIL One Act Play Contest. Students began rehearsing in January and invested countless hours after school to perfect their remarkable performance. Congratulations!

Fowler first graders got to go to The King's Good Vineyard and Berry Farm last Friday. Students got to learn how strawberries grow, take a farm tour, eat ice cream with strawberries and pick a pint of strawberries to take home. "Having our students experience the growing process of one of their favorite fruits was such a treat," said Fowler assistant principal Amanda Awtrey. The trip to The King's Good Vineyard and Berry Farm was interactive, engaging, informative, and everyone got to take strawberries home to share with their families. It was definitely a fun day to be a Fowler first grader!

Southern Hills 3rd grader, Ian Banda, will be traveling to Paris, France for soccer training. "Ian was recruited to participate in such a prestigious program and we are extremely proud of this Panther leader," said Southern Hills principal Amanda Garcia.

This week, Milam Elementary 3rd graders got to experience the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. "They had a blast exploring the four floors of the museum," said Milam counselor Jodi Camp.

Rider High School AP Chemistry students participated in the ACS National Chemical Olympiad first round exams conducted by Wichita Falls-Duncan Section of the American Chemical Society. High Scorers from Rider High were: 1st Place Evan Liang (Jr.), 2nd Place Zara Farooq (Sr.), and 3rd Place Anh Tran (Jr.). Students were awarded cash prizes from ACS for their achievement and qualified to participate in the second round of testing at Midwestern State University on April 13. Evan Liang and Ahn Tran will be participating in the second round of tests.

Juan Magana, WFHS senior, was recently recognized in a ceremony where he received a $185,000 scholarship to attend Texas Southern University, where upon graduation he will be a commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps. The scholarship was presented by Sargent Gabriel Glinn and Captain William Krieghbaum. During the ceremony, which was led by WFHS's JROTC instructor Sgt. Major Salvador Montez, Juan was also presented with a military scarf and flag and he was joined by his family and close friends on stage. To close the event, Juan and his mother, Maria Magana, cut a cake with a military sword. Congratulations, Juan.

The Southern Hills family truly bands together and cheers each other on. "Our thoughtful custodian, Casey, took the time to write notes of encouragement to our 5th graders on Science STAAR day on all of our magnetic letter boards throughout our hallways," said Southern Hills counselor Jennifer Ferguson. "We sure do love Ms. Casey!"

Show what you know and glow! On Tuesday, Burgess 5th graders in Renae Dickens' science class reviewed for the STAAR test with a glow party. Students at Burgess took the science STAAR test on Wednesday and we are certain they shined!

College & Career Advisors, Jessica Dixon (Legacy) and Kaitie Nolan (Memorial) presented dual credit information to a full house at the CEC. Parents of students interested in taking dual credit in 24-25 were required to attend 1 of 2 informational meetings to ensure they had important information related to dual credit requirements, deadlines, and expectations in order to help their kids be successful. Parents are often surprised to learn that colleges do not communicate with parents in matters regarding their students, including dual credit students. "Our College & Career Advisors spend countless hours preparing students for the experience and helping them succeed in dual credit," said Dr. Shonna Norton, Director of Social and Emotional Services.

On April 11, the Rider Baseball Team showed their gratitude for their former teachers on Teacher Appreciation Night. In all, 19 dedicated teachers were honored at the game. Teachers were asked to take the field with their student and received a plaque recognizing them.

A'Mariana Alvarado, a 3rd grade student who receives Homebound instruction, was recently surprised with a trip to Walt Disney World through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. A'Mariana, who has been on Homebound instruction throughout her educational career, suffers from VATER syndrome, which is an acronym for the organs and systems it affects. Before leaving for her trip on April 16, A'Mariana was surprised with cupcakes from her Homebound teacher, Janet Slack. "I don't know of a more deserving child than my precious student, A'Mariana Alvarado," said Ms. Slack.

The Franklin Lion Leaders created an affirmation board where students can take 'pawsitivity' when they need it! Each Lion Leader wrote positive self affirmation statements on index cards and put them in pockets on the board. Franklin students can easily take a note whenever they need a positive pick up! The board also has self affirmation coloring sheets for students to take and decorate. The Lion Leaders hope this will help spread positivity and encouragement to all Franklin students!

The staff at Denver enjoyed a delicious pop-up breakfast this week sponsored by Grand Canyon University.

Please congratulate our Hirschi High School’s UIL Academic Team (Class 4A). Our team led by Senior Ann James did a fantastic Job. The team placed in all events it took part in and placed first in several Team and Individual events. The team was accompanied by academic coaches: Christina Beard, Brandon Malone, Elizabeth McBroom, Henri Naylor, David Sayers and Donnell Thomas.

Results are listed below:

Calculator Applications: Individual results: 1st Ann James, 4th Clarissa Peterson, 7th Carlos Balcorta, 9th Jarjis Sheikh)

Team result: 1st- Advances to Regionals

Computer Science. Individual results: 1st Giorgio Toffoli, 4th Clarissa Peterson.

Giorgio- Advances to Regionals

Team Result: did not have minimum 3 students to form a team

Current Events. Individual results: 1st Myles Thomas, 2nd Benjamin Esquibel, 5th Ngoc Le, 6th Isabella (Toby) Snowden

Team result: 1st - Advances to Regionals

Literary Criticism. Individual results: 2nd Anna San Miguel,

Team result: 3rd.

Anna San Miguel -Advances to Regionals

Mathematics. Individual results: 2nd Ann, 5th Clarissa, 7th Giorgio - Advances to Regionals

Team result - 1st - Advances to Regionals

Number Sense. Individual results: 1st Ann James, 2nd Clarissa Peterson, 3rd Allen James, 14th Jarjis Sheikh- Advances to Regionals

Team result: 1st -Advances to Regionals

Ready Writing. Individual results only: 4th place Elizabeth King, 5th place Cordell Hargrow, 9th place Kimi Schnobbe- Alternate to Regionals. Elizabeth King advances to regionals due to one of the top 3 individual performers dropping out.

Science. Individual results :2nd Ann James, 3rd Myles Thomas, 5th Toby Snowden, 6th Elizabeth King, 7th Giorgio Toffoli, 9th Clarissa Peterson,

Top scorer in Biology- Toby Snowden, Top scorer in Chemistry -Ann James

Team Result: 1st -Advances to Regionals

Social Studies. Individual results: 1st Toby Snowden, 2nd Libby Martinez, 3rd Anna San Miguel

Team Result: 1st -Advances to Regionals

Spelling: Individual results: 3rd Kimi Schnobbe, 4th Cordell Hargrow

Team result- Did not have a team

Kimi: advances to regionals

Overall school sweepstakes: Hirschi placed 3rd overall even though they did not compete in events like accounting, debate, prose, journalism, etc.

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.