South Houston High students enrolled in the Harris County Department of Education's Cooperative for After-School Enrichment program (CASE) performed onstage at the Hobby Center during the Kid's Day celebration on June 30.
  Students Juan Torres, Tony Cortez, Andres Cortez and Lucio Vasquez provided a laser art film featuring the four students directed by local artist Che Rickman.
  The summer event showcased dancing, puppetry, theater, music, poetry and more from local elementary through high school students and provided opportunites for students to meet and interact with various artists. Event photo follows.

South Houston High students demonstrate
their laser art works during Kids' Day celebration
at the Hobby Center.

The Trojan faculty softball team finished second to Queens Intermediate during a recent district team game.

South Houston graduates toss their caps into the air at the conclusion of their commencement ceremony.

Kenneth Fuentes, South Houston's valedictorian, prepares to lead the Class of 2011 down the tunnel and into Hofheinz Pavilion.

The South Houston NJROTC provides a salute to seniors as they hit the floor at Hofheinz.

South Houston senior Cierra Ramirez, a Top 10 graduate.

Senior Lisa Guidino takes part in the processional. 

Seniors Mariela Garcia and Karla Garcia enter Hofheinz Pavilion.

Senior Valeria Martinez walks to her chair.

Dr. Steve Fullen, South Houston's principal, delivers the introduction of guests.

Senior Anessa Rios delivers the commencement address.

South Houston's Class of 2011 lines up to receive diplomas.

Seniors Stephanie Zendejo, Esmeralda Soriano and Viviana Salinas, all members of Homeroom 12-01, take a deep breath after receiving their diplomas.

Senior Ignacio Barcena smiles as he leaves the stage, diploma in hand.

Senior Marcos Elizondo crosses the stage.

Dr. Steve Fullen, South Houston's principal, congratulates Kelsey Smith, the school's salutatorian.

South Houston graduate Andres Rangel flashes the No. 1 sign as he celebrates with classmate Roel Ramirez.

Senior Charles Fairchild receives his diploma from Dr. Steve Fullen.

Senior Dayra Gonzalez walks up the steps to the stage to receive her diploma.

Seniors Francisca Ruiz and Monica Sanchez move forward to receive their diplomas.

  The top 10 South Houston High School seniors from the Class of 2011, honored at the Shining Stars Gala on Tuesday night. Presenters in each photo are (left) Jeanne Newberry and (right) Melissa Buell and Bill Barmore. Newberry and Buell are representatives of Dell Computers. Barmore serves as president of the Pasadena ISD Education Foundation.
  Each senior is in the middle of the photo with the distinquished educator chosen by that student standing second from the left.

Senior Mary Finan and South Houston High choir director David Patterson

Senior Kenneth Fuentes and South Houston High calculus teacher Motee Abunima

Senior Stephanie Guei (could not attend) and South Houston High English teacher Susan DeWolfe

Senior Michael Ijeh and South Houston High DECA sponsor Charlotte Spencer

Senior Heladio Mendez and South Houston High English teacher Elizabeth Alaniz (could not attend)

Senior Ada Morales and South Houston High government teacher Donald Wood

Senior Juliana Munoz and South Houston High family development teacher Kellye Hollins

Senior Cierra Ramirez and South Houston High physics teacher Christopher Stewart

Senior Kelsey Smith and South Houston High math teacher Jerry Gullick

  Efforts by the South Houston High dance team to raise money for summer camp will receive a major boost on Saturday from a face familiar to both Trojan alumni and to pop music fans.
  Susan Cobb Duff, a 1971 South Houston graduate and the mother of entertainment stars Hilary and Haylie Duff, will take part in a giant garage sale this Saturday in the front parking lot of the high school.
  Proceeds from the sale will help the school's Jannette dance team attend the Showmakers Dance Camp at Blinn College in Brenham, which begins on Sunday.
  The sale starts at 6 a.m. and is scheduled to conclude at noon.
  Duff, herself a former Jannette, has enlisted the help of friends in the business community to donate hundreds of items for the sale.
  "I'm coming in to sweat with the Jannettes," Duff said. "We're going to help these girls get to camp."
  "Our kids are overjoyed," said Saranya Taylor, South Houston's dance team director. "You know she has such a busy life, and for her to come all the way across the country and give up her time, it's just a real honor for us."
  Duff grew up in Freeway Manor and in an apartment complex just three blocks from the school. In addition to drill, she contributed to the newspaper staff her junior and senior years.
  In March, she was included in a group of inaugural inductees named to the school's Hall of Honor. She attended the ceremony, spoke to student leaders and was told of the dance team's need to raise funds for camp.
  She immediately pledged her help to the garage sale effort.
  Duff raised her daughters in Houston and San Antonio. While both were still young girls, the family relocated to Hollywood to allow the girls to train and audition for roles on TV and in motion pictures.
  Hilary won an audition for the Disney-produced "Lizzie McGuire" show and quickly blossomed into an internationally known acting and recording star. Haylie also landed several TV and movie roles, including a spot in the surprise hit "Napoleon Dynamite." 
  Together, the Duff girls have starred in several movies and participated in several joint productions.
  Susan Duff served as manager and a co-producer for many of the girls' early projects.

  Three South Houston High seniors last week participated in the Energy City of the Future/2050 competition, an event organized by Harris County Department of Education's Cooperative for After-School Enrichment. 
  Students created a scale model of an energy-efficient city of Houston and also a PowerPoint presentation to market their design. 
  The competition was sponsored by Consumer Energy Alliance and supported with in-kind contributions from Houston Community College, Northeast Campus Energy Institute and the Greater Houston Partnership. 
  (Below) South Houston participants Roel Ramirez, Eusebio Romero and Liz Luna; after-school coordinator Lee Ann Aluotto and science teacher Dan Waddell.

South Houston senior Getzani Mogul, a member of the school's NJROTC, prepares to deliver a bouquet of roses to one of the family members representing a SHHS graduate killed in the line of duty. Seated to the right are family members of fallen graduates and other members of the first class of inductees to the school's new Hall of Honor. All photos on this page by Candace Ahlfinger, Britta Gamino and Alex Gladney-Lemon.

'Acknowledging Our Legacy,' Trojans Pause to Pay Tribute

LINK TO VIDEO REPLAY 

LINK TO PLAQUE DISPLAY

  John Hartman, a 1970 South Houston High School graduate, wasn't able to attend his alma mater's Hall of Honor dedication at the school on Thursday night. Confined to a wheelchair, Hartman watched the ceremony at his Pasadena home on his computer via a live Internet feed.
  As the names of 55 esteemed South Houston graduates were called, Hartman was inspired to write a poem about his school. He shared it with friends and old schoolmates on Facebook. His final verse read:
  Most of us did,
     as we were expected to do,
  Graduating after four, 
     without much of a clue,
  Each going separate ways, 
     to try something new.
  For in each of us, 
     Crimson and Gray flows through… Trojans Forever!
  Thursday night, those "separate ways" converged for scores of South Houston grads in a ceremony that was at times joyful, poignant and solemn -- and altogether innovative. 
  Just four hours before the event, South Houston video tech teacher Scott Cundiff and campus technology guru Paul Hartweck completed work on an Internet hookup that allowed other alumni, such as Hartman, to view the ceremony live.
  An estimated 450 people turned out to watch as 55 graduates -- most from the 1960s and 1970s -- were inducted into the school's new Hall of Honor. Even on short notice, at least 50 others logged on to watch the event via the Internet.
  With Pasadena ISD Superintendent Dr. Kirk Lewis and five school board members in attendance, the Trojans paid tribute to a starry cast of honored doctors, lawyers, educators, judges, reporters, religious leaders and former athletes, and several others who have excelled in other areas.
  "This night," said South Houston principal Dr. Steve Fullen," is about acknowledging our legacy."
  Bob Fawcett, a former South Houston High assistant principal who served as emcee for the event, said the Hall of Honor represents an "unbroken chain of men and women who provided a past worth celebrating, and an inspiration for the future of this school."
  Thirty-six of the 47 living inductees attended the event. Several others were represented by family members.
  Emotions spilled over at the end of the reading of the roll of inducted graduates when the names of six fallen soldiers were read, all former South Houston students who were killed in action while serving in the military. Four of the six were represented by family members.
  Rose bouquets were presented by cadets from the South Houston NJROTC to Cleotilde Soriano and Gwynn French, both mothers of fallen soldiers. Mrs. Soriano's son, Armando Soriano, was killed in 2004 while serving in the army in Iraq. Mrs. French's son, Douglas French, was killed in Vietnam in 1966 while serving in the Marine Corps.
  Douglas French's brother Randy also attended. 
  Two sets of sisters also received roses. Edgar Page, killed in 1968 while serving in the army in Vietnam, was represented by his sisters, Alma Page Calk and Betty Page White. 
  Austin Haverkamp, who died in Vietnam in 1968 while serving in the army, was represented by two sisters, Suzanne Londenberg and Janet Suarez, as well as a brother, Eugene Haverkamp. 
  Those on stage and in the audience gave the family members a standing ovation after all were introduced.
  Inductees and guests later moved to the hallway adjacent to the school's Reinartz Center for the formal unveiling of the 30-foot wall featuring plaques of all the honored grads.
  As NJROTC cadets removed the curtain covering the wall, the South Houston choir song both verses of the school's alma mater. The second verse, apparently dropped sometime in the late 1970's, was sung in public for the first time in over 30 years.
  Cadets then rang the school's Victory Bell in a final, one-minute tribute.
  Dr. Fullen earlier offered the main address.
  "Tonight we set aside a portion of this building to remind us of where we have been," Dr. Fullen said. "In so doing, it is my hope that current students, and generations of students to come, will walk down that Hall of Honor and have a stronger sense of where they are going."
  A response on behalf of the honorees was offered by Emory Gadd, inducted as a Hallof Honor member from the Class of 1965.
  "We, on this stage, are just a few representatives of the hundreds of graduates who went before some of us and the hundreds and thousands of those who have followed after us," said Gadd, now the youth minister at Sagemont Church. 
  "As we have considered this distinction, each of us have thought about many of our classmates who were just as deserving and in many cases more deserving, in our eyes, of this honor."
  Said Gadd: "The inductees tonight thank you for remembering us and knowing our names... As each of us here continues to do life, let the Victory Bell ring in our heart -- and continue to ring the sound of victories, value, and purpose."
  The school also formally opened its new Class Gallery at the far end of the Hall of Honors. Panorama photos dating back to the school's first graduating class in 1959 were recently retrieved from storage and mounted on several wall sections. Photos from all but two classes from 1959 to 1999 were on display Thursday night.
  School officials are still trying to locate a photo from the Class of 1989, the only one needed to complete the collection. Seventeen photos were missing when the project began. Alumni helped fill in the gaps by donating photos or loaning them for reproduction.
  Selections to the Hall of Honor were made by the school's baccalaureate committee, which is assigned the task of adding at least one, and no more than five, additional inductees each year. The committee will soon begin taking nominations for inductees to be added in May.
  Fawcett, now the director of student services for the Pasadena ISD, said this first group of inductees will now fill a role as important as any they have taken on in the past.
  "There are generations of future students we will never know by name or by face," Fawcett said. "They will enter the doors of this campus, walk these hallways, and they will learn in these classrooms. They will - as they look at the pictures and read the stories of these graduates in the Hall of Honor - they will know us."
  At his home in Pasadena, as the names of his former schoolmates were being read, John Hartman put a title on his poem. He called it "One and All."
  It begins:
  Classmates one, 
     classmates all.
  We stand together,
     forever tall.

Hall of Honor inductees rise in a standing ovation for family members of four South Houston graduates killed in military service. Family members (left to right) are Gwynn and Randy French, the mother and brother of Douglas French; Cleotilde and Enrique Soriano, the parents of Armando Soriano; Suzanne Londenberg, Eugene Haverkamp and Janet Suarez; siblings of Austin Haverkamp; and Alma Page Calk and Betty Page White, sisters of Edgar Page.

Cleotilde Soriano, the mother of Armando Soriano, and Betty Page White, the sister of Edgar Page, get their first view of memorial plaques to fallen service personnel.

(Left) Mary Zanowiak, mother of Hall of Honor inductee Paul Zanowiak, Class of 1965, accepts a bouquet of roses in memory of her late son, while her granddaughter, Zanowiak's daughter Kendall Antonelli looks on; (middle) members of the NJROTC present colors while Randy French, brother of fallen hero Douglas French, and Cleotilde and Enrique Soriano, parents of fallen hero Armando Soriano, rise to attention in the background; (right) Don Meador, Class of 1959, rises as his name is first to be called.

Ceremony emcee Bob Fawcett introduces Karen Sherman Dorris, Class of 1969, for the invocation.  

(Left) Noted attorney Joel Swanson, Class of 1963, answers to the roll call; (right) Karen Sherman Dorris, Class of 1969, offers the invocation. 

Inductees answer to the call of names: Cheryl Williams Bolen, Class of 1964; Bob Allen and Emory Gadd, both from the Class of 1965.

Herman Williams, Class of 1964, listens as a summary of his career achievements and contributions to the community is read aloud.

Is there a lawyer in the house? Legal eagle inductees included retired State District Court Judge Suzanne Covington, Class of 1967; former Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Richard Willard, Class of 1965; Southern California intellectual properties attorney Mike Lindsey, Class of 1969; and U.S. District Bankrupcy Court Judge Marvin Isgur, Class of 1970.

  More inductees from the 1960's: Class of 1968 scholarship director Herman Munster III; UH-Downtown professor Jane Hickerson Thielemann-Downs, Class of 1968; Pasadena community leader Terry Brotherton, Class of 1969; and The Rev. Karen Sherman Dorris, Class of 1969.

(Left) San Jacinto College coaching and administration icon Ron Rucker, Class of 1960; (right) noted Air Force and Boeing test pilot Wayne Lutz, Class of 1968. 

Moving into the 1970's: former college basketball coach Gary Moss, Class of 1970; nursing researcher Lupita Palos, Class of 1971; semiconductor innovator and company start-up specialist James Carter Hall, Class of 1976.

Channel 13 reporter Cynthia Cisneros, Class of 1978; noted estate attorney Ken Vanway, Class of 1970; and Susan Cobb Duff, the mother/manager of actress/singers Haylie and Hilary Duff, Class of 1971. 

Former Pasadena City Councilwoman and community leader Dana Johnson Philibert, Class of 1985. 

Two NJROTC cadets present roses to Suzanne Londenberg and Janet Suarez, sisters of Austin Haverkamp, one of the fallen soldiers inducted into the Hall of Honor.

Randy French comforts his mother, Gwynn French, as inductees and audience members pause in silence to honor her son, Douglas French, killed in Vietnam in 1966. 

John O. Harris, Class of 1978, with Jean Harris, a proud mom. 

South Houston orchestra director George Crandall leads a reception performance for arriving guests. 

Guests gather in the Reinartz Center before the start of the Hall of Honor dedication ceremony. 

Susan Cobb Duff, Class of 1971 and a Hall of Honor inductee, poses with South Houston student helpers. 

South Houston senior Janeth Cervantes helps a guest browse through a Palladium yearbook. Each year's Palladium was on display in the Reinartz Center.  

Portions of the Hall of Honor, just beyond the main entrance at South Houston High School.

(Left) Judge Suzanne Covington, Class of 1967, receives a red-carpet escort from the NJROTC; (right) visitors examine photos in the new class panorama section of the Hall of Honor. 

(Left) SHHS faculty member Danette Jolliff, Class of 1985 (third from left) joins students at the sign-in table; (right) cadet sentries stand guard in the Hall of Honor prior to the unveiling.  

(Left) Emcee Bob Fawcett and (right) Dr. Steve Fullen, SHHS principal, at the podium.

(Left) Guests get their first view of the Hall of Honor; (right) guests gather in the Reinartz Center.

Guests crowd into the Hall of Honor after the unveiling. 

  A former assistant attorney general of the United States, a renowned physicist, a Himalayan adventurer, an opera singer and a major-league catcher are among a group of 55 esteemed South Houston High School alumni who will be inducted into the school's new Hall of Honor in a campus ceremony set for tonight (March 3).

SOUTH HOUSTON HIGH SCHOOL
HALL OF HONOR INDUCTEES
(Graduation class in parentheses)
1959-69
  Donald Meador (1959): Senior pastor, John Wesley Methodist Church, Houston; Leadership Council, Texas United Methodist Church Conference. 
  Dr. Ron Rucker (1960): National championship basketball coach and vice-chancellor, San Jacinto College; past chairman, Pasadena Chamber of Commerce. 
  James R. Smith (1960): Pasadena ISD teacher, principal and administrator; Pasadena ISD Distinguished Alumnus for 2008. 
  Larry Crow (1962): Former police chief and mayor of the City of La Marque. 
  Dr. Harriet Durr Romo (1962): Sociology professor and researcher, University of Texas-San Antonio; director, UTSA's Mexico Center; wife of Ricardo Romo, UTSA president. 
  Genia Long Ripley (1962): Manager, Pasadena ISD Police Department operations. 
  Timothy Shaunty (1962): Agricultural researcher and economics teacher, Texas A&M and South Houston High School; president, Texas Council on Economic Education. 
  Norton White (1962): Businessman; South Houston High School Scholarship Executor for the Class of 1962. 
  R. Joel Swanson (1963): Senior partner, Baker Botts, Houston; listed among Texas Super Lawyers. 
  Dr. Nathan Isgur (1964): Renowned theoretical physicist; winner of the 2001 Sakurai Prize in physics; member, the Royal Society of Canada; honored posthumously. 
  Cheryl Williams Bolen (1964): Journalist and author of historical romance novels. 
  Herman Williams (1964): Real estate investor and businessman; co-owner of Rountree Williams Mens Wear; past chairman, Pasadena Chamber of Commerce; member, Pasadena ISD Education Foundation; Pasadena ISD Distinguished Citizen for 2007. 
  Bob Allen (1965): College football standout, Texas Tech University; businessman and South Houston High School benefactor. 
  Emory Gadd (1965): Youth minister and community counselor, Sagemont Church; Pasadena ISD volunteer; Pasadena ISD Distinguished Citizen (2005). 
  Richard Willard (1965): Assistant attorney general of the U.S. from 1983-88 under President Reagan; Chief of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice; currently a law partner, Steptoe & Johnson, Washington. 
  Dr. Paul Zanowiak (1965): Dentist, humanitarian and Himalayan adventurer; founder, The Smile Store; established free dental clinics in Third-World areas; Pasadena ISD Distinguished Alumnus (2004); honored posthumously. 
  Cynthia Bryant (1966): Professor, University of Texas Law School; child and family advocate; task force member, Texas Supreme Court. 
  Lois Williams (1966): Director of oil and gas lease management, Amoco Corp. 
  Wayne Adams (1967): Former principal, Pasadena High School; member, Pasadena ISD Education Foundation. 
  Suzanne Covington (1967): State District Court Judge, Austin. 
  Dr. Darrell Harris (1967): Minister, affiliated with the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies in Orlando, Fla.; founder of Star Song Communications, a prominent Christian music recording company in Nashville, later acquired by music giant EMI. 
  Dr. Janie Hickerson Thielemann-Downs (1968): Professor, author, consultant for teaching training, University of Houston-Downtown. 
  Wayne Lutz (1968): Lt. Colonel, U.S. Air Force (retired); former chief test pilot, Boeing; aerospace faculty, Texas A&M. 
  Herman Munster III (1968): Scholarship executor for South Houston High School, Class of 1968; chairman, Greater Houston Youth For Christ. 
  Dr. Marvin Baza (1969): Optometrist; founder and director of the Pasadena Eye Center. 
  Terry Brotherton (1969): Real estate investor; member, Pasadena ISD Education Foundation; past chairman, Pasadena Chamber of Commerce; Pasadena ISD Distinguished Citizen (2009). 
  Michael Lindsey (1969): Partner, corporate development, Paul Hastings Law Firm, Los Angeles; Authority on anti-trust and intellectual properties issues. 
  Dr. Karen Sherman Dorris (1969): Senior pastor, Faith United Methodist Church, Richmond; Director, Texas United Methodist Church Conference. 
  Deborah Wrigley (1969): Reporter, KTRK-TV, Channel 13, Houston.
1970-79
  Donella Coffey (1970): Production assistant, TV and movie projects, Los Angeles.
Marvin Isgur (1970): Federal Bankruptcy Court Judge, Houston. 
  Dr. Mary Lund (1970): Author, lecturer and specialist in family counseling and dispute resolution matters, Los Angeles. 
  Gary Moss (1970): College basketball coach and high-school principal; member, Sam Houston State University Athletics Hall of Honor. 
  Ken Vanway (1970): Authority on estate and corporate planning; the Vanway Law Firm, Austin. 
  Susan Cobb Duff (1971): Motion picture producer; mother and manager of singer/actresses Haylie and Hilary Duff. 
  Dr. Lupita Palos (1971): Assistant professor and researcher, M.D. Anderson Center, Houston. 
  Dr. Gregory Fuller (1972): Professor of pathology, chief of neuropathology, M.D. Anderson Hospital, Houston. 
  Susan Spurlock Keiser (1972): Global head of trust and securities, LaSalle Bank Corp., a division of Bank of America; president, LaSalle National Trust of Delaware; board chairman for ABN AMRO Trustees Ltd. for both London and Dublin. 
  James Carter Hall (1976): Innovator and patent-holder in semiconductor systems; company start-up specialist. 
  Wes Hubert (1976): College football standout, All-Southwest Conference center, University of Texas; named to the school's All-Decade Football Team. 
  Cynthia Cisneros (1978): Reporter, KTRK-TV, Channel 13, Houston. 
  John Davis (1978): Member, Texas House of Representatives, District 129. 
  John O. Harris (1978): Real estate developer and entrepreneur; owner, John O. Harris Properties, Pasadena.
1980-89
  Dr. Ann Lutz Pearson (1981): Author and editor; English professor, San Jacinto College. 
  Dana Johnson Philibert (1985): Businesswoman, Philibert Allstate Insurance Agency; former Pasadena City Councilwoman; member, Pasadena ISD Education Foundation; current chairman, Pasadena Chamber of Commerce. 
  Chris Tremie (1988): Major league baseball player; catcher for the Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros.
1990-99
  Mary Bowen (1991): Internationally known mezzo soprano, New York City Opera and other companies. 
  Jason Jolliff (1992): Major, U.S. Marines, F-18 fighter pilot; decorated Iraqi theater veteran. 
  Dr. Justin Regner (1993): Surgeon, professor of surgery, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; innovator in medical devices and procedures.
THE FALLEN
  Edgar D. Page (1961): Specialist, U.S. Army, killed in action, Vietnam, April 28, 1968.
  Austin William Haverkamp (1962): Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, killed in action, Vietnam, Sept. 28, 1968. 
  Douglas Robert French (1965): Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, killed in action, Vietnam, July 21, 1966. 
  Gerald Edward Blalock (1969): Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, killed in action, Vietnam, May 17, 1968. 
  Zarian Andre Wood (1999): Petty Officer, U.S. Navy, killed in action, Afghanistan, May 16, 2010. 
  Armando Soriano (2002): Private First Class, U.S. Army, killed in action, Iraq, Feb. 1, 2004.

Fallen service members to be inducted into the South Houston High School Hall of Honor: Edgar Page, Class of 1961; Austin Haverkamp, Class of 1962; Douglas French, Class of 1965; Gerald Blalock, Class of 1969; Zarian Wood, Class of 1999; and Armando Soriano, Class of 2002.

South Houston's boys basketball team rolled to the Bronze Division title in the Alvin Lions Holiday Classic. The Trojans lost both pool play games, falling to Friendswood 62-50 and Willowridge 69-55. Placed in the Bronze Bracket, South Houston defeated La Porte 57-54 and Spring Woods 74-68 to reach the championship game against Fort Bend Foster. the Trojans cruised to a 66-39 victory to raise their season record to 16-7, the school's best in two years. (Below) The Trojan show off their championship hardward.

Trojan Pride spread far and wide this week as faculty from South Houston's feeder schools met with the high-school faculty to discuss joint education goals. (Below) Vertical Team No. 14: Jessie Mullen, South Houston High; Lucy Burch, Schneider Middle School; Claudia Perez (Matthys Elementary); Diana Shields (Matthys Elementary); Myrna Montes (Pearl Hall Elementary) and Emily Basset (Milstead Middle School).

Faculty members were seen in ghostly costumes roaming the hallways of South Houston on Friday (Oct. 29). Of course, the idea was to blend Halloween with historical themes. (Below) Tim Laza in Amish garb, Christine Muir as Rosie the Riverter and Chelsey Hernandez as a Civil War-era Southern belle.

The South Houston High Janettes dance team will host a dance clinic on Nov. 13 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cost of the clinic is $30 and will include juice, snack, T-shirt and the opportunity to perform in the auditorium immediately after the clinic. The clinic is open to boys and girls from age 3 through the ninth grade. Participants will be grouped according to age. For registration information, contact Saranya Taylor at 713-740-0350, Ext. 03175, or email staylor@pasadenaisd.org.

State Rep. Carol Alvarado talks about life and politics with South Houston High students on Wednesday. 

Eleven choir students from South Houston High earned district honors and advanced to region competition at the end of October. Advancing were Crystal Anaya, Ivy Cantu, Maricarmen Delgado, Mary Finan, Emily Gomez, Ashley Martinez, Viridiana Martinez, Juliana Muñoz, Brenda Perez, James Rodriguez and Gilbert Rosales.

South Houston High volleyball Coach Deana Garza and her crew of student fix-up specialists were recognized by the Pasadena ISD Board of Trustees at the board meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 28.

Garza received an award from Fred Williams, president of Salient Trust and co-chairman of Rebuilding Together-Houston, the largest organization in the nation providing free home repairs for elderly and low-income homeowners.

Williams praised the efforts of Pasadena ISD students, faculty and coordinators who have made the district's Seniors Helping Seniors program a huge success the past two years. As part of the program, students from district high schools spend one day in May scraping and painting the exteriors of houses belonging to financially-strapped homeowners.

Sarah Wrobleski, director of the district's L.P. Card Career and Technical Center, briefed the board on the success of the program.

District high-school crews have accounted for 56 home repair projects in just the past two years.

Garza's crew was cited for "going above and beyond" in their efforts. The South Houston students helped repair the home of an elderly former district employee and also arranged for donations of furniture and for major interior repairs that amounted to a complete makeover of the home.

South Houston volleyball Coach Deana Garza
receives an award of appreciation from Fred
Williams, co-chairman of Rebuilding
Together-Houston.

      
 
Coach Garza's crew after being lauded by the Board of Trustees: Bottom row: Jenny Perez
(No. 2), Yoddy Vigil, Perla Preza, Dee Reyes, Kristen Ojeda, Mrs. Melissa Lopez. Top row: Jayne
McFarland, Teresa Jones, Eliseo Vigil, Dolores Garza, Fred Williams, Deana Garza, Crystal
Gonzalez, Selena Reyna, Tracie Dubose, Estela Torres and Adrianna Tamayo.  

The South Houston High School GEAR-UP program will play an active role in various functions and events over the next few weeks. The school is set to host Open House on Sept. 23. During the event, GEAR-UP will stage its University Expo for the juniors and their parents in the main hallway from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

In advance of PSAT exams at the school, set for Oct. 13, GEAR-UP has put together a Prep Boot Camp for juniors at San Jacinto College Central on four consecutive Saturdays, beginning Sept. 18.

GEAR-UP will also partner with AVID IV students to provide monthly Higher Education Advisory Lessons to juniors during advisory periods.