SINTON ISD STEM ACADEMY

Can you hear the applause? Hannah Carawan,  a EM Smith Middle School Future Problem Solver,  entered the “Scenario Writing Competition.”  Hannah won first place in her division and earned a spot at the State Bowl in April, where she will get to present a 90 second movie trailer of her story.  In addition, by being in that first place position, she has earned an invitation to the International Bowl later this year!

A huge thanks also goes to Rachael Caffey, 6th grade ELAR teacher at Smith Middle School, for mentoring this student!
Sinton ISD is proud of you both!

Our STEM Academy students excel in their elective classes, as well! We would like to thank our Teacher of Promise, Travis Cornett, for inspiring our students to do well. Great job to Mr. Cornett, and kudos to a phenomenal group of students!

Congratulations to Savannah Rodriguez and Dominga Olbera who have also qualified to compete at TFA State in Duet Acting! 

Qualifications to date:
1.) Abel Aguilar and Marcos Hernandez-Duet Acting
2.) Savannah Rodriguez and Dominga Olbera- Duet Acting
3.) Guillermo Lopez- Poetry

The State Meet is March 5th-8th at Cypress Creek High School in Houston.

Article and Pictures Updated January, 28th, 2014

On Friday, January 24th, Mr. Soliz, Mrs. Soliz, Mrs. Davis, and nine Smith Middle School students traveled to Galveston to compete in a Robotics Competition.  This was our first year competing in a robotics event.  Teams from all over central and south Texas came to test their engineering knowledge and skills against each other.   Traveling to Galveston were 8th grade Reed Saint, Louden Ramirez, and Cameron DeLaFuenta, 7th grade Jason Tang and Anthony Villasana, and 6th grade Jase Galbreath, Brian Deleon, Tjaden Handson, and Alex Loya.  To see more pictures, click here!

Kudos to Mr. Soliz for his contributions and positive impact with the robotics program at the middle school! He is an asset to the STEM Academy and an integral part of the team!

Byrom’s Class Celebrates Hard Work and Pride

 The Smith Middle School Math Department uses Think Through Math once a week in order to individualize interventions for every STEM Academy student.  Lidia Byrom’s class celebrates their points standing at the middle school. Right now, her students are in 1^st place in overall standings. Their hard work and pride shows! Think Through Math transitions students to the rigor of the Texas Standards (TEKS) and prepares them for Algebra and beyond.

The Challenge! Our Sinton High School Challenge Team will be going to KEDT studio in Corpus Christi for their first competition. This competition will be broadcast on Thursday, Wednesday, November 21. Check your local listings for the time. Please join us to celebrate an awesome group of students!

These are the members of this year’s KEDT Challenge! team:

Oscar Cantu
Hannah Curry
Gwyn Hartung
Joshua Lindeman
Riley Seago
Eliza Thomas

Kudos to Mary Conners for sponsoring this team!

Proudly presenting the Dual Credit travelers to Del Mar Campus for 2013!

Sinton High School STEM Academy is proud to present this semester’s “Fabulous Forty-One!”  Sinton High School junior and senior students are traveling by bus each day to  attend classes at  Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas again this year. The students have decided on “day three of campus life” that the road traveled each day will be the road to a very successful semester. 100% of our kids are setting personal goals to earn honor roll status on both campuses! 

I would like to send a heartfelt thanks to everyone lending support so that our STEM students receive opportunites for success on all levels, both  at SHS and at Del Mar College.
Mary Lankford,
STEM Project Director 

 SHS STEM Staff and English Teacher, Marty Garza,  ended the school year with her kids in a perfect way!  A former journalism colleague of Ms. Garza’s is currently in Uganda on a missionary trip providing dental and medical clinics.  The connection between two continents was made! 

Ms. Garza’s students researched Uganda and completed presentations about its culture, literacy rate, education system, orphanages, and history. To culminate the project, the students brought new gently-used stuffed animals to send to the orphan children. They also wrote letters and  attached them to each stuffed animal. The small items made a world of difference to so many orphans on the other side of the globe. 

Ms. Garza  told this blogger,  “We have such great kids here at Sinton High School and it was a privilege to see how the students opened up their hearts with this project.” And this blogger will end by saying, “We have such great teachers, too!”

The Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering in Kingsville has received a grant from the Texas Workforce Commission which will fund two free STEM camps this summer in Kingsville. The camps are suitable for students entering 9th to 12th grade. To be eligible, however, participants must be at least 14 (and no older than 21) by the first day of camp. Participants must also be enrolled in school for the fall semester.

First Camp: June 17^th-June 21^st : Young Engineers of South Texas (YesTexas)
Second Camp: June 24^th– June 28^th : GEMS: Girls in Engineering Math and Science

Please note the deadline for applications is May 13th.
2013 Javelina STEM Summer Program
http://www.tamuk.edu/engineering/student_resources/outreach/index.html

Sincerely,
Eusebio Torres
Outreach & Event Coordinator
Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
700 University Blvd., MSC 188
Kingsville,TX 78363
Phone: 361. 593.4971

At the Texas FPS State Bowl on Friday evening, Jensen Hunt read her state champion scenario to an audience of FPS-ers, parents, and coaches. Here are a couple of photos of her with the medal and plaque she received that evening. Jensen has received an invitation to attend the International Conference in June to compete in the on-site Scenario Writing Competition. Way to go, Jensen!

Congratulations also go out to Oscar Cantua and Gabe Urdiales, who brought home medals at the Texas Future Problem Solving State Bowl over the weekend.

Cantua Oscar placed second in the Senior Division Individual Global Issues competition, and has received an invitation to compete at the International Conference in Indiana in June.

Gabe Urdiales’s Senior Alternates team placed first. His team mates were alternate Problem Solvers from Prestonwood Christian Academy, Paris High School, and Beaumont High School.  Alternates are put together in teams on site and complete the Global Issues competition booklet just as regular teams do. Alternates do not advance to IC because of the nature of their teams (all from different schools).

Seventeen 6^th-8^th Grade girls from Smith Middle School recently attended the Girlstart 8th annual Girls In STEM Conference on April 6, 2013 at the University of Texas-Austin.  The day-long conference is designed for girls to learn about real-world careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).  Students attended sessions led by professional women in STEM fields that included hands-on experiments.  Students also were given the opportunity to tour the UT-Campus to get a feel for college life. 
“A huge thanks to Sarah Mahan and April Stonebreaker for sponsoring these girls! We would also like to thank Brie Vinson for helping chaperone the trip to Austin.” 

One of the sessions included a hands-on workshop in which girls were taught how to make custom-made splints from plaster by a medical doctor.