Verizon presented the first of five $1,000 contributions -- one for each of the Pasadena ISD's high-school athletic programs -- to Memorial High during halftime of the school's homecoming game against Sam Rayburn on Thursday night.

  Each of the district's four other schools will receive a $1,000 check from Verizon at one of their games later in the season.

  Bobby Hernandez, retail manager for the Verizon store on Fairmont Parkway and a 1996 Rayburn grad, presented Memorial's check to Principal Dr. Angela Stallings (below).