District in Pictures

The Wichita Falls Youth Symphony Orchestra awarded three WFISD high school students a $1,000 college scholarship titled The Gail Key Scholarship for Music Excellence. Rider’s Matthew Bitz (pictured far left), Hirschi’s Kofi Agyepong (pictured second from left), and Wichita Falls High School’s Robert Horvath (pictured third from left) were three of six seniors representing six area high schools who received the scholarship. The scholarship is given to graduating seniors who excel in music, academics and character, said Jean Hall, Wichita Falls Youth Symphony Orchestra executive director.

WFISD students qualified at the Wichita County Chapter Virtual TAME Meet to participate in the upcoming state competition. TAME, which stands for Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering, operates at all WFISD secondary campuses except Hirschi and the Career Education Center. In Math Test competition, Rider sophomore Maverick McKown placed first. Other students who placed in the Top 10 were Rider sophomore Prasi Desai (4th place), WFHS junior Julian Garcia (4th place), WFHS senior Robert Horvath (4th place), and McNiel sixth-grader Ty Gardner (5th place). In the Engineering Challenge, Wichita Falls High School’s Arianna Barker and Robert Horvath both placed first; McNiel’s Tiffany Sparks placed second. In the Science Test, Rider freshman Talan Parker placed sixth.

When Scotland Park Principal Laura Scott interviewed Socorro Valdez for the fast-paced position of Attendance Clerk, she recognized her as one of her former math students from 25 years ago at Sam Houston Elementary. Even as a little girl, Socorro was a conscientious, kind and respectful student. She was born in Mexico and moved with her family to America when she was 7, arriving at Sam Houston knowing very few English words. But all that has changed. Today Mrs. Valdez is a Wichita Falls High School graduate and married with four children who attend WFISD schools. Ms. Valdez says her job as Scotland Park’s attendance clerk is challenging and fulfilling. She was quick to learn the busy position and quickly became an indispensable asset to the school, said Mr. Clement. She also makes home visits with At-Risk Coordinator Joe Clement and assists with translation.

If you give a teacher a refrigerator box, what will she do with it? If she’s Missy Wallace, she will ask for scissors to cut it into the shape of a barn. Then she will ask for paint to make it red with a swatch of yellow hay. Her “barn” was a perfect backdrop for her classroom Farm Unit. As part of her lesson, she hid eggs all over her room. Students were asked to find the eggs, crack them open, and write the word that was tucked inside. She and her students read books about chickens and learned fun facts. Did you know a chicken can lay 300 eggs per year and may turn an egg in the nest 50 times a day? “We learned chickens can be trained to play a real tune on a piano for a treat,” said Ms. Wallace. “We looked it up on YouTube and found one performing on America’s Got Talent.” Students also enjoyed learning that chickens take a bath in dirt to keep the bugs away.

All three classes of Burgess first-graders helped write a book titled, The Truth About First Grade. The book was professionally copied and bound, then distributed to all the students to remember their days in first grade. The students of June Sindelar, Kalynn Jackson, and Kendelle Sanders created the book as a series of letters written to incoming 2021-2022 first-graders to let them know a few things about first grade. They also created the illustrations and gave their readers advice on how to succeed in first grade. “It’s a beautiful book full of great memories,” said Donna Slater, Burgess interventionist.

A sign the pandemic may be waning: Chartwells Executive Chef Carrie Richardson and registered dietitian Jada Rankin set up a Discovery Kitchen class at Cajun Fest this weekend. Their special training classes have been on hold throughout the COVID-19 shut-down. At this class, they showed participants how to use a cut-up pineapple to make a gator tail and how to use green fruits to make kabobs with a special dip.

The Wichita Falls Museum of Art at Midwestern State University hosted the WFISD Middle School Art Show April 23-24. Kirby student Lydia Wilkinson placed first; Barwise student Autumn Carrion placed second; Barwise student Melissa Ramirez placed third. The event was sponsored by the Museum and by Jacksboro National Bank.

Rider’s ACS Chemistry Club tried out some green chemistry in honor of Earth Day, which was April 22. Sponsor Stacie Martin recycled cooking oil to make biodiesel. “If you filter out debris from used cooking oil, it can react chemically with ethanol and sodium hydroxide to make biodiesel and glycerol,” said Ms. Martin. “The biodiesel is a fuel source that is non-toxic, biodegradable and, upon burning, does not produce harmful sulfur by-products like a fossil fuel would.”

Milam first-graders came to class to find their room transformed into a construction zone. Construction zone signs covered the walls, and students put on yellow hard hats. They moved around their construction zone classroom to complete 10 measurement challenges. “Kids are having a blast!” said Principal Dr. Gena Ayers. First-grade teachers turned construction managers are Kelsey Curts, Ronda Franklin, Patricia Robinson and Caili Knecht.

Would you rather pay $7 per placemat or make one on a Cricut Maker for the cost of a piece of paper? That’s the kind of budget question that Communications Officer Ashley Thomas wrestles with when purchasing supplies for events like the Teacher of the Year banquet. She solved it by purchasing a Cricut Maker cutting machine. The purchase is saving her office hundreds of dollars as she uses it to precision-cut placemats, décor, signs, and cards used to promote District events. The intricately cut placemats and signs used at the Teacher of the Year banquet, pictured here, were produced for pennies in her office on the Cricut.

For the past five years, science teacher Janet Hughes has turned to the Egg Drop science activity to bundle a variety of lessons into one. Students learn about force, motion and gravity and observe that an object with more mass that falls will hit with more force. They learn about adaptations, such as that an egg can be both fragile and strong. Then students design a container that can safely hold an egg that will be dropped from the roof of their school. “They could get as creative as they wanted,” said Ms. Hughes. On Thursday at 8 a.m., Associate Superintendent Dr. Peter Griffiths climbed on the Booker T. Washington school roof in light rain to assist in the egg drops. Pictured top right: Janet Hughes poses with the Egg Drop winner.

For fifth-graders at Franklin and around the District, Earth Day was busy with projects. Students made Earth Day bracelets, with the seven beads symbolizing resources found on the Earth. The Curriculum Resource Center, staffed by clerks Mica Smyth and Kelly Sewell, sent out enough materials to fifth-grade teachers across the District for 728 students to make bracelets. At Franklin, students also participated in an Earth Day Scavenger Hunt and some campus clean-up.

On Saturday, Fowler Elementary School’s Student Council hosted Lemonade Day, where students learned what it was like to “be the boss” by participating in the entrepreneurial activity of running a lemonade stand. The event was successful and fun. One student said he planned to work a two-hour shift but had so much fun he stayed the whole day.

Since parents haven’t been able to visit schools this year, the hosting of Lamar’s Parent Family Engagement Night was a highlight for families and Lamar staff. Paraprofessionals Destiny Petty, Ada Lee and Zenaido Guido helped prepare for the big day by stuffing books into bags, separating snacks and placing literacy items inside backpacks.

Construction students at the Career Education Center don’t limit themselves to projects like house-building or picnic tables. They handmade this 3’x4’ chicken coop with weather-proof material. The coop is on sale for $200, with all proceeds returning to the CEC Construction Program. Students work under the direction of teacher Scott Little.

Students competed indoors and out during West Foundation’s Field Week. Activities were held outdoors in the field, under the pavilion, on the basketball court and in the gym. And when rain soaked the city on Wednesday, they brought the snow cone machine inside the building for an indoor treat.

In every school, there are a few key people who hold everything together. At Booker T. Washington Elementary, those two people are administrative assistants Ramona Stegal and Jimmy Pipkin. On Administrative Professionals’ Day (April 21), it was a perfect time to celebrate them both.

As fourth-grade students at Zundy make academic progress, they earn points and move their “stars” up, up, up on the Galaxy Wall. The special display “in a galaxy far, far away” – actually located upstairs at the entrance to the Fourth Grade Hallway -- is a visual reminder of their academic success. Fourth-grade math teachers Tammy Kuehler and Brittany Broadhurst made the wall. Pictured: Zundy secretary Laci Medlinger shows off the display.

Pre-K bilingual teacher Demi Barron at Scotland Park Elementary can fit a lot of learning into her dramatic play centers. She changes them to include themes that will engage her students, expand their vocabularies and make learning fun through play. “It’s exciting to see them fully submerged in the pretend roles,” said Ms. Barron. “Inside the Sweet Shop I added ice cream, a tea set, different types of cookies, baking tools and appliances, pastries and baked goods. Cookies have numbers on them based on the toppings. Sensory cookies have different textures, and there are cookies categorized by their shapes. Numbers and letters are everywhere.”

The Wichita Falls Fire Department was on hand for Cunningham Elementary’s first school wide Egg Drop Contest, which involved students from pre-K 3s through fifth-graders. Students created contraptions designed to keep an egg from breaking when dropped from a fire truck’s bucket high in the air. “Students were creative and engineered many different designs,” said Jackie Bryant, fourth-grade teacher. “Cunningham thanks the Wichita Falls Fire Department for coming and helping us with this wonderful day of STEAM exploration!”

The Zundy Site-based Team worked together to come up with “The ABC Countdown,” a calendar with each day marked with something special. The countdown began April 21 and ends at summer break. For example, today is “Hat Day,” and everyone is wearing his or her favorite hat. Earlier in the week, students enjoyed Dance Party Day (Monday) with a dance party in the classroom, and Tuesday was Exercise Day. On Wednesday, students wore their favorite colors, and on Thursday “Garbage” Day, they served the school by picking up trash. Both students and teachers enjoy the calendar. “Our Site-based Team worked together to come up with days that covered a variety of interests, didn’t require parents to buy multiple things for students to participate, and included some acts of service, like Garbage Day,” said Madeline Eubanks, At-Risk coordinator.

Students in Madison Allen’s third-grade class celebrated Earth Day by reading aloud a book called One Plastic Bag, by Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia. Then they invented all sorts of ways to recycle their own plastic bag. “There were a lot of great ideas,” said Ms. Allen.

Why is Earth Day so important? Fourth-graders in Cristina Manzel’s class answered that question by making Earth bracelets made up of colored beads representing different aspects of the Earth – black for night, green for plants, blue for water, yellow for sun, red for fire, white for air, clear for UV. But Ms. Manzel expanded the project even more. “I had them pick three other colored beads that represent something in their lives and explain that to me,” she said. “We discussed why each of those beads is important to our life on Earth. We talked about what else we can do to keep our Earth healthy. After we did all this, we went outside and picked up trash around our building.”

Last week, Kirby students in the Young Men’s Club got to walk the Midwestern State University campus, exposing themselves to the excitement of college life. “Alonzo was the perfect tour guide for us. The guys loved him,” said Zach Davis. Students saw the entire campus, including the Health-Science building, the McCoy Engineering building and Dillard Business School. “They also got to meet some awesome people who will be great resources for them as they start to think about college, and everyone got a gift bag,” said Mr. Davis. “We had a great time. The boys were pretty bummed when we had to leave.” This week, Club members will learn how to change a tire. They will also learn some principles about cultivating healthy relationships with women.

The Wichita Falls High School JROTC brought some unique experiences to the school this week by bringing in the U.S. Army Special Operations Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Mobile Semi. JROTC student cadets got the chance to virtually experience being placed in a high altitude-low opening, called a HALO, jump parachute. They wore virtual eye goggles to simulate what soldiers experience when parachuting out of military aircrafts. Students were also placed in OH-58 Kiowa helicopter cockpits to experience what pilots experience when flying. “We coordinated this visit to complete the JROTC experiential learning application of knowledge and skills through STEM context,” said JROTC instructor Salvador Montez Jr. “We tried to focus on the learning outcome tied to college and career proficiencies.”

On Tuesday, Cathy Neilson and Tandy Roberts took students from the Career Education Center marketing classes and Hirschi Practicum in Human Services on a field trip. The group took a career exploration trip to the AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas, where they toured the stadium.

The rain that poured down across the city all night Tuesday continued into the morning hours on Wednesday as students headed into their school building. Students at Zundy received five-star service from Coach Carl Wiersema as he held out his umbrella and ushered them up the sidewalk to the school door to help them stay dry.

It’s an honor to win the WFISD 2021 Teacher of the Year title, but it’s lucrative, too, thanks to generous donors who give $2,500 in prize money to each winner and $1,000 to each finalist in the district contest. Echometer’s Jim and Vicki McCoy provided the monetary prizes given last week to Elementary Teacher of the Year Jayme Beckham and to Secondary Teacher of the Year Carl Bishop. Finalists each received $1,000 provided by American National Bank and Trust, First National Bank, Postel Family Credit Union, Texoma Community Credit Union and Wichita Falls Teachers Federal Credit Union. Elementary Teacher of the Year finalists are Kelli Doley from Franklin Elementary and Jenn Landers from Fowler Elementary; Secondary Teacher of the Year finalists are Clara “Phil” Mitchell, from Barwise Middle School, and Cindy Edwards from Wichita Falls High School.

The idea to create “The Den” at Franklin Elementary started with Tracy Little. She noticed that supplies to meet student needs were scattered all around the building. She wanted to make a user-friendly closet where anything a family might need could be stored. She won a grant from the Junior League of Wichita Falls to purchase clothes, school supplies and other necessities to fill the closet. Then, on April 23, fifth-grade English-as-Second-Language students participated in the city-wide Lemonade Day, serving treats at a lemonade stand to learn entrepreneurial skills and raise money for “The Den” supply closet. Former Franklin student and parent Walter Riddle gave the team $300 to buy cookies, lemonade, cups and napkins. All money raised – a total of $1,018 – was donated to “The Den,” pictured here.

If it took only a candy bar to brighten your students’ day, would you give it to them? Fain fourth-grade ELAR teacher Laura Wetzel would! She wanted to acknowledge her students for their hard work and perseverance. “We have been working hard to prepare for STAAR, MAP testing and – on top of that – we still are teaching based on the curriculum schedule,” said Ms. Wetzel. “They had a unit test where they all made a 100 percent on their unit exam. I wanted to award them with a special gift because my students are deserving.”

The Rider High School band resumed its Electronica performances for the first time in two years with a private showing to Lamar fifth-graders. “The students enjoyed the field trip and the talented students’ production,” said Kaycie Taylor, Lamar At-Risk Coordinator. Fifth-grade teachers Melissa Horn, Jeremiah Taylor, and Raquel Ramirez chaperoned the percussion event in the Rider auditorium. Public performances started Thursday and continue through Saturday. You can purchase tickets at riderElectronica.com. “We are glad to be back after having to miss last year,” said Rider Band Director Loy Studer. “Seats are limited due to COVID protocols.”

CEC Plumbing teacher Danny Cozby has been wanting to give his students the real-life experience of working with heavy equipment – the type of excavators they’d use if they were working on actual plumbing jobs. Pictured here: Students finally got behind the controls of an excavator to see what it feels like.

First-grade students at Fain are busy learning about sharks during Shark Week. They have researched different types of sharks. “We are studying their size, what they eat, where they live, how they move, what they look like and so much more,” said Terri Gunkel, first-grade teacher. Teachers created shark décor for their rooms. “The kids are fascinated with how big they really are,” she said. Students made journals to record all of their findings. “This is a unit the kids won’t soon forget,” said Ms. Gunkel.

Many students in Patricia Robinson and Caili Knecht’s Milam classroom received a special T-shirt to celebrate completing the Robinecht’s (the nickname for their classroom) March Reading Challenge. What did they have to do? They took home a Bingo sheet filled with 25 challenges, giving them options of reading in different places and ways throughout their houses. “If the students blacked the board out, they were given a T-shirt,” said Ms. Knecht. “I have a vinyl machine, so we made a design and put the shirts together for the kids.” It was a great way to motivate the kids to read outside of school hours, she said.

Staff members at Northwest Head Start came to work Friday to a surprise: Hot breakfast pizzas were being served outdoors under a pop-up tent, along with hot drinks. The surprise breakfast is WFISD’s way of thanking Northwest Head Start staff for their dedication to students during this pandemic year. First Bank sponsored the breakfast.

Early voting for the May 1 bond election ended Tuesday, April 27. The election is scheduled for Saturday. Polling locations will be open from 7 am - 7 pm. A complete list of locations can be found on the district's bond website at www.wfisd.net/bond2021. This $13,585,000 bond will provide outdoor practice facilities for athletics and fine arts at the two high schools that were voter-approved in the November 2020 election. The passing of this bond, which covers only recreational facilities, will result in a 1.5-cent tax increase. That will cost $11.25 per year for a home valued at $100,000 with a Homestead Exemption.

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 emailing Ashley Thomas at athomas@wfisd.net or Ann Work Goodrich at awork@wfisd.net. We would love to include you in our weekly district news.

Email: athomas@wfisd.net
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