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“Haha, stupid freshman,” the nightmare rings over and over again inside many incoming ninth graders’ minds. However, for freshmen who join Cypress Ranch Key Club, this is not the case. As part of the their “helping others” attitude, the club holds a Back-to-School Social each summer the week before school starts. This social is a reaching-out event, a chance for incoming freshman to come and meet the upperclassmen while participating in icebreakers.
“We like to have this social before school starts as a way to help the incoming freshman and new students become adjusted with our school and club. We feel that by including incoming students in events put on by our club, they will feel like they have a place to belong the first day they walk through the doors,” President Chloe Potemans said.
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Seventy-five staff members at Cypress Falls High School worked to make someone’s day better on Saturday, serving as Habitat for Humanity volunteers while building homes in a northwest Houston community.
Adhering to Cypress Falls’ 2010-2011 theme, “Make it Matter…Be a Hero,” principal Becky Denton reached out to her contact at Habitat for Humanity, offering her school staff and their families an opportunity to make a difference in the community.
The volunteers were dispersed among
five homes in the Hamill Ranch
community, located near Richey Road and Champion
Forest Drive.
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The fourth year of the CFISD Bus Buddies program was another successful partnership with Volunteers in Public Schools (VIPS) and the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce during the first three days of school, Aug. 23-25.
More than 350 volunteers in the community participated in Bus Buddies, riding school buses from 2:45 to 4:45 p.m. to ensure students were safely transported to their proper drop-off points.
“Bus Buddies is the perfect partnership because it brings together volunteers, community members, business partners, bus drivers, parents, administrators and staff all working together the first three days of school to do one thing—help our kids. In the course of helping our kids, it makes us a stronger community and a stronger district,” said Pam Scott, Partners in Education director.Cypress Creek High School will hold a Come-and-Go event for the general public on Tuesday, Sept. 7, to recognize the completion of SHW Group, LLC’s three-year project that resulted in extensive remodeling and additions to the school.
The Come-and-Go will coincide with Cypress Creek’s Homecoming week activities and will take place from 6 to 7 p.m., concluding with a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Cypress Creek will feature an additional presentation at 7 p.m. in the auditorium to explain the campus’ plan for small learning communities and career academies.
Jim Vangorder, senior project manager in the facilities and construction department, was named the director for construction. In his new role, Vangorder will supervise the district’s project managers and coordinators while managing district construction projects.
“Jim has been with the district for almost 10 years, successfully managing some of our most complex new construction and renovation projects—including the Berry Center, Cypress Ranch High School and Bleyl Middle School additions and renovations,” said Roy Sprague, assistant superintendent of facilities and construction. “He is well-respected by his co-workers as well as the construction community, and will do an excellent job working with our staff and contractors to construct quality projects that are finished on schedule.”
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Cheryl Henry, the director of instruction at Spillane Middle School, was named the new principal for Campbell Middle School, replacing Dr. Robert Hatcher.
Henry has 21 years of experience in education. She began her career as a social studies teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District and spent one year in San Diego prior to returning to LAUSD, where she was soon promoted to Dean of Students at Narbonne High School. She served four years before being promoted to assistant principal at King/Drew Magnet School in LAUSD, where she spent another four years. Henry moved to Texas to serve two years as an assistant principal at Klein Forest High School in Klein ISD before arriving in CFISD to serve in her current role with Spillane in 2007-2008.
