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Issue: 11
November 2011
In This Issue
STEM Conference
Broad Prize
MathCounts
Hong Kong
Gold Performance
District 4 Talent Show
Live Surgery
Heroes Honored
Leadership Forum
DISTCO 2012
Ro-Beaumont
Senator Van de Putte
Rep. Zerwas
Rep. Reynolds
Dallas News
Community Impact
Afreen Merchant
Red Cross
Food for Families
STEM Media
Brain Teaser
Correction
Follow-up Links

STEM Conference Concluded STEM in Session

Innovation in STEM Education Conference has successfully been concluded after series of breakout presentations, keynote speeches and interactive panel discussions at Harmony Public Schools Central Office building on November 14-15.

 

The first day of the Conference was crowned by the keynote speeches of Dr. Rod Paige, former Secretary of Education, and Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia.

   

Click here to read more and here to check out the pictures from the event.

Broad Prize Nomination broad prize small

On November 1, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation announced a new annual award to honor the public charter management organization that has demonstrated the most outstanding overall student performance and improvement among the country's largest urban charter management organizations in recent years while reducing achievement gaps for poor and minority students.

Cosmos Foundation (Harmony Public Schools) has become one of the nominees this year to be the award recipient. More information, including the full list of nominated charter schools, could be obtained on this link.

Harmony Dominates MathCounts

Harmony School of Excellence MATHCOUNTS Team, on November 5, participated in "San Antonio Mathletes in Action" Competition which was attended by a total 224 students from all around the state. Harmony School of Excellence was represented with 12 students (three teams). Harmony students dominated the competition by placing 1st through 6th and 10th.

 

Team A and Team C were placed 1st and 2nd respectively. Stephen P., 8th grader, was the highest ranked individual with a perfect score. Anthony N. became the top 6th grader by placing 6th overall.

Two Qualifications for Hong Kong 

po-leung-logo

On Wednesday, November 23, Texas Mathworks announced the top four students who will represent Texas at the Primary Math World Contest (PMWC) in Hong Kong in July 2012PMWC is an international math competition for middle school students.

Two of Harmony School of Excellence Math Team members (Stephen P. and Vivian L.) have earned places on the 2012 Mathworks team.

Click here to visit the competition website. 

Eight Gold Performance Awards

TEA Gold Performance

Harmony Science Academy EULESS has recently been notified by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) that the campus has been awarded 8 Gold Performance Acknowledgements (GPA) for academic achievement during the 2010-2011 school year.

As a whole, the campus earned GPA in every category including:

Commended Reading/English Language Arts (ELA)
Commended Writing
Commended Social Studies
Commended Mathematics
Commended Science
Comparable Improvement in Math
Comparable Improvement in Reading
Attendance

 

More information can be found on Harmony Euless website

Semifinalist in Siemens Competition

 

Harmony School of Advancement student Ding Z. was named one of the semifinalists of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. Ding was selected as one of the 38 students in Texas and 375 students representing 35 states across the nation. His project titled "Computing Spatio-temporal Data with Applications to Hurricane Analysis". 

  

To get detailed information about the competition, you can click here. To see the full list of the semifinalists, please click here    

Follow Live Surgery from Harmony!  

texas institute 

On December 1, 50 Harmony Science Academy High School students will observe a shoulder arthroscopy in "real time," from their school library. This event will be organized by StreamVenue Healthcare, together with HSA Dallas High School, and Texas Institute for Surgery At Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas. The operation will be performed by Robert Scheinberg, M.D. an orthopedic surgeon with Texas Institute for Surgery.  A spokesperson from each organization will be available for media interviews.  

 

This brief video provides information about the surgical use of live streaming video for classroom purposes. 

Houston Heroes Honored

Public Breakfast 1

On Wednesday, November 2, 2011, the Harmony School of Innovation (HSI) invited police officers, fire fighters, City of Houston Council Members, constables, teachers, staff and parents to join Harris County Sheriff Garcia in honoring those who selflessly work for the residents of Houston at the 1st Annual HSI Public Servant Appreciation Breakfast at Harmony Public Schools Central Office featured keynote remarks from the sheriff as well as an awards ceremony.  

 

Please check out the pictures from the event. 

Leadership Forum at HSSH

Leadership Forum HSS

On October 26, Harmony School of Science-High School was the home of Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce Leadership Forum. Nearly five dozen leaders of the local community, including business owners, politicians, and reporters spent the morning at HSS-High, receiving information about the school's mission, campus, and students.

   

Please see the photos from the event. 

DISTCO 2012 is Under Way

Distco 2012

The DISTCO 2012 is part of a series of "Digital Storytelling Contests (DISTCO)" hosted by North American College (NAC) and sponsored by Cosmos Foundation, University of Houston and University of Texas at San Antonio (Academy of Teacher Excellence).

 

The contest is open to all K-12 students and teachers at both national and international level. The DISTCO 2012 asks students and teachers to submit their digital stories in a certain time frame and manner for the contest. Please check the main homepage of the competition for more information. 

Ro-Beaumont Captures 2nd Place

Ro Beaumont

Harmony Science Academy Beaumont Robotics Team, Ro-Beaumont, got second place in BEST Robotics Competition on November 5, 2011 in Galveston - Houston. Congratulations to all Harmony Tigers.


Click here for the pictures.
Senator Van de Putte with Veterans

Senator Van de Putte

On November 11, 2011 Harmony School of Innovation San Antonio honored Veterans who have fought for our freedom and remembered those who are still fighting. The schools had a special movie for the Veterans as well as a presentation by the keynote speakers to commemorate the occasion. Senator Van De Putte honored the Veterans in her speech, Mr. San Miguel read one of his poems, and two veterans shared their memories with the audience.
Rep. Zerwas Visits Harmony W. Houston

Rep John Zerwas

Representative John Zerwas, House District 28 in the Texas House of Representatives, visited Harmony Science Academy West Houston on November 18. He was given a school tour by the school principal along with Cluster Superintendent Mr. Karan. Representative Zerwas did not hide his admiration to the school facility and the jobs well done by the students.  

  

Click here for the pictures of the event. 

 

Harmony Hosts Rep.ReynoldsRep Reynolds

The second Education in a Global Society Luncheon Series took place on October 20, 2011 at Harmony School of Science - High. District 21 House of Representatives member Ron Reynolds, acting as the keynote speaker, both entertained and engaged the audience with stories about his upbringing, current politics, and future goals.  

  

More is here.  

Charters Up for Broad Award
Dallas Morning News Small

Uplift, KIPP, Winfree, Cosmos and American CAN are among Texas charter school systems with schools in Dallas that are eligible for the first Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools, which was announced today. The charter prize is similar to The Broad Prize for Urban Education, which recognizes stellar traditional public school systems. Charter schools are public schools run by private organizations.

 

The winner of the new prize will be announced in June.

 

The story continues here.

New Education Choices Grow Locally

More than 360,000 Texas students attend a private school or a public charter school this year, compared to the nearly 5 million students enrolled at traditional school districts in Texas. However, public charter schools and private schools are expanding and finding a niche in growing communities such as Northwest Houston.


Click here to read more.

Faces of Harmony

   Afreen Merchant     

       Afreen Merchant

Afreen Merchant is with Harmony family since 2008 at Harmony School of Science Sugar Land. She is currently the Assistan Principal in high school department. 

 

How and when did your Harmony experience start? What positions have you assumed so far?

 

I started my journey with Harmony Public Schools in 2008 when Harmony School of Science Sugar Land  K-8th then and  K-5 now, opened it's doors to the community. I served as an English teacher, department chair, AR coordinator and now an administrator.


Read the rest of the interview here.

Harmony in the Community

Red Cross Visits Endeavor

red cross endeavor 

American Red Cross visited Harmony School of Excellence - Endeavor campus to receive the check for the money raised by the Harmony Endeavor students.

Food for Families  

Food for Families2
Harmony Science Academy-Waco students, parents and staff collected 2,781 pounds to donate to Channel 10's Food For Families food drive. Student Council, through several fundraisers, was able to donate $500 to Caritas. Mrs. Pharris' Kindergarten class wins free dress for a week by collecting the most cans at 150.

Pictures are here.

STEM Conference Media Links 

Dr. Paige Mr. Sakar 2Certificate of Appreciation given to Mr. Sakar by Dr. Paige.

Please check out these links to see more from the recent STEM Conference. 

 

Brain Teaser of the Month

 Two Numbers to Guess

brain teaser

Each month we ask a logic, math or science-related question in our newsletter and the first three respondents with the correct answer are awarded with a modest gift.  

 

This Month's Question:

 

What should be the next two pairs of letters?

JJ, AS, ON, DJ, ??, ??

Send your answers to
news@harmonytx.org

 

The Answer to the Last Issue:

1) 2505 + 6435 + 5795 = 14735 or 5305 + 2475 + 6595 = 14375

There are more combinations here.

 

2) 6271 + 6271 = 12542

 

October Winners: S.K.Alluru, S.Dursun, S.Andrei (Congratulations)    


Correction: In October issue, we accidentally put the title "State Representative" for Mr. Lawrance Allen Jr., who is actually one of the members (District 4) of the State Board of Edcuation. We apologize from Mr. Lawrance Allen Jr. and our readers for any confusion or misunderstanding.