Austin's Joanna Santos Recognized for Having Kid Magic 

Austin Elementary School Kindergarten Teacher Joanna Santos was honored at the March 3 Board Meeting for having "Kid Magic."

Of Ms. Santos, one of her students said, "I miss my teacher when I go to my house after school."

Thanks, Ms. Santos for all you do for our children. 

 Project Graduation Committee to Meet on March 8 

The first Project Graduation Parent Meeting will be Tuesday, March 8, at 6:30 pm in Board Room B at the GPISD Administration Building.   

• Project Graduation will be at QuikTrip Park starting on June 4 at midnight and ending at 4:00 am on June 5.
• Admission will be $20 per graduate. 
• Each graduate will be able to bring one paying guest.
• Permission slips are required for anyone attending that is not 18 years of age. 

For more information, contact Rae Ann Forester at rforester@sbcglobal.net or Patti Bacsik at pcbacsik@sbcglobal.net.  

 Cinco De Mayo Celebration Info Now Online

Thanks to all who participate in the Cinco de Mayo festivities.

SGPHS Academic Decathlon 

This past weekend, our Academic Decathlon Team competed in the State Academic Decathlon Meet in El Paso.  We improved our score from Regionals by 3,000 points, topping 40,000 total points for the first time in many years.  The topic this year was "The Great Depression" with a case study in Super Quiz over the Dust Bowl and one of our musical selections was "So Long It's Been Good to Know You" by Woody Guthrie ... fittingly enough, we departed El Paso yesterday afternoon in the middle of a dust storm!!!

The students representing SGP at the State Meet: Mujhtuba Baksh, Stacy Philip, Lynda Truong, Jose Martinez, Brittany Cox, Samantha Gonzales, Silvano Uribe, Jessica Trentham, and Brittaney Manios.

Winning individual awards: Silvano Uribe - 3rd place Social Science, 3rd place Art, and 1st place Super Quiz. 

 GPHS Journalist's Story Chosen for National Edition

Congratulations to GPHS sophomore Nakadia Hackworth, Managing Editor for The Prairie Dog, who wrote a story on the school's Rachel's Challenge assembly. Her story, 'Change is Going to Come,' was selected for this week's National Edition.   

In addition to being a quarterly newspaper, The Prairie Dog is also a weekly online newspaper on the American Society of News Editors website. The organization has an edition, and selects news stories from high schools across the country, who are also published on the website, to place in their National Edition.  

Grand Prairie Retired School Personnel volunteered their time and talent to read to Zavala students in kindergarten through second grade.  Not only did they share their love of reading, they gave each student the books that were read to them.

Dubiski Students Qualify for International Conference

• Melanie Hilinworth & Michael Medina / Hospitality Services Team Decision Making (alternates)
• Kevin Huerta / Principles of Finance (finalist)

KDEA  is on the Air at Daniels Elementary Academy 

KDEA (Kids at Daniels Elementary Academy) is our morning news program .  All broadcasts are directed, written and produced by 4th and 5th grade students with some facilitation from staff.    

Each broadcast consists of various topics and subject matter ranging from current events to academic content that is relevant to the student body. 

Each KDEA personnel is selected via an application and interview process.  Those students that earn the privilege must maintain good academic  standing and demonstrate good character.

 Rachel's Challenge Presented to All GPISD Middle Schools

On Thursday, March 3, all GPISD middle schools heard the Rachel's Challenge presentation. 

Pictured above: GPISD Education Foundation President Jason Claybrook and Rachel's Challenge presenter Cody Hodges talk following the presentation at Arnold Middle School.

GPHS Band Announces State Solo and Ensemble Members

Mr. Camarillo and Mr. Denton would like to congratulate the following 24 band students for making a Division One at the Region Level Solo & Ensemble competition this past weekend.  This achievement qualifies these students to travel to Austin in May and proudly represent Grand Prairie High at the State Level. 

Sarah Hailey

Alicia Rivera

Taylor Smith

Geoffrey Cain

Roxey Cano

Sammy Gomez

Luis Gonzalez

Lymari Arzola

Courtney Ham

Noe Salazar

Enrique Grimaldo

Victoria Garza

Tim McGee

Adam Brown

Omar Soto

Marissa Gonzalez

Ysabel Gonzalez

Mariah Overstreet

Ventura Garcia

Caitlin Baggott

Rebecca Poteet

Jazmine Mendoza

Jennifer Ferretiz

Camisha Kibble

SGPHS Band Announces State Solo and Ensemble Members

Mr. Trewitt and Staff are excited to announce that the following 38 SGP Band members earned a Division One rating on either a solo and/or ensemble this past weekend!
 

These students have now advanced to the State Solo and Ensemble Contest which will be held in May at The University of Texas at Austin:

Alyssa Clark

Brian Oh

Josh Santacruz

Ashley Armenta

Karley McIntosh

Lauren Olegario

Sabina Anwar

Lindsey Foo

Vincent Geracci

Shea Smith

Raul Aleman

Sabrina Corsiga

Andre Watkins

Taylor Williams

Sarah Jackson

Christian McWilliam

Crystal Murillo

Marisa Swanson

Nehemiah Kimble

Braedon Montgomery

Izaiah McDowell

Julian Dunning

Ivan Valle

De'Evin Johnson

Kyle Mahler

Jesse Rajabi

Michael Faz

John Valles

Tony Armijo

Amaris Cardenas

Kristopher Coca

Joy Gartrell

James Lay

Zandrea Moore

Kyle Murray

Kyle Perkins

Jazmin Salinas

Cameron Sorrells

 New SGPHS Football Coach Selected

The Grand Prairie ISD introduced new South Grand Prairie High School football coach Brent Whitson this week.

Coach Whitson spent the last four seasons as the head coach at Richardson High School.  He has also coached at Shawnee, OK; Broken Arrow, OK; Ardmore, OK; and Weatherford. 

Coach Whitson is pictured above with Athletic Director Troy Mathieu.

Area 10 Special Olympics Basketball Tournament Results

Congratulations to our Special Olympics athletes who participated in the Area 10 Basketball competition last Friday and Saturday in Allen. Three teams represented GPISD: the Boys A & B teams and our first ever all-girls team. More than 100 teams participated at 14 different venues. GPISD athletes from all over the district have been attending after-school practices to display the skills and knowledge to participate in team competition.

A big thank you goes out to our peer partners who have been leading the practices and displayed their coaching skills while at the competition. (Alexa Mata, Viana Ngoluorarath-Dubiski HS, Viviana Faz-Jackson MS, Halla Congress-SGPHS, Michael Javalera-GPHS, Lee Cullivan-SGPHS-9)

Congratulations to our young ladies for earning the bronze medal:

Monjola Anafi-Truman MS

Tatiana Smith-Truman MS

Alexis Coronado-Kennedy MS

Ambra London-Kennedy MS

Kyandra Rivera-Jackson MS

Natalia Serna-SGPHS-9

Congratulations to our B team young men for earning the silver medal:

Christopher Hernandez-Bush Elem

Carlos Hernandez-Florence Hill Elem

Michael Morales-Moseley Elem

Israel Rodriquez-Moseley Elem

Adam Villanueva-Crockett Elem

Anthony Mitchell-Perez-Jackson MS

Tim Prater-Jackson MS

Gerardo Villarreal-Fannin MS

Simi Ojo-SGPHS

Congratulations to our A team young men for earning the silver medal:

Gary Carrasco-Jackson MS

Myles Congress-Jackson MS

Anthony Rubio-Jackson MS

Charles Taylor-Jackson MS

Devontraye Whitaker-Jackson MS

Ricardo Canada-SGPHS-9

Angel Verduzco-GPHS

Uriel Mora-GPHS

Sean Overstreet-SGPHS

Osvaldo Garcia-SGPHS

AVID Campuses Recognized at Board Meeting

Lead AVID teacher Mike Mozingo recognized the eight AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) certified campuses and their teachers at this week's Board Meeting.  Those honored were:  

South Grand Prairie 9th Grade - Brayonna Howard

South Grand Prairie HS - Beth Kennedy

Dubiski Career HS - Mike Mozingo

Grand Prairie 9th Grade Center - Kayla Burrow

Grand Prairie  HS - Melanie Alvarez

Fannin Middle School - Ana Jimenez

Truman  Middle School - Tiffany Terry, Dennis Thomas

Arnold Middle School - Deidra  Keener

Gomez & Gomez Team Dual Language Program

The Gomez & Gomez team completed their official visit to GPISD by visiting 2nd and 3rd grade Dual Language classrooms as well as any new DL classroom.  The Gomez team made the following comments regarding our Dual Language implementation:    

"Classrooms implementing model show a true Dual Language environment."     

"Writing across the curriculum is very evident by the authentic writing in journals in many of the Dual Language classrooms."   

"GPISD is well on their way to being one of the best Dual Language districts in North Texas."   

Exemplary Dual Language Teachers noted by the Gomez & Gomez team:

Bonham EEC - Esther Hernandez and Alice Nguyen

Rayburn - Debbie Lopez

LBJ - Alex Vega

Dickinson - Matiana Saldana

Eisenhower - Maggie Resendiz

Lee - Ana Sierra, James Cereceres, Evelina Salas  

Bush - Sandra Mejia

 General Motors Presents Partnership Grant to GPISD

Chris Boehle from General Motors presented a check for $10,000 to Natural Science Education Center Program Facilitator Tracy Hollis at the March 3 Board Meeting.  This GREEN/Stream Team Partnership will develop mentors for middle school science.

Pictured above are Chris Boehle, GM; Tracy Hollis, Natural Science Education Center Program Facilitator; and Sam Buchmeyer, GPISD Director of Communications standing in front of a Chevrolet Volt, GM's new electric vehicle.

Art Success in GPISD!

Young American Talent is a juried art competition and exhibition open to all North Texas High School Students. It is an outstanding opportunity for high school students to showcase their artwork.

Young American Talent draws competitors from all the top Visual Arts High School programs in North Texas, including Booker T. Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Plano, Greenhill  and Hockaday, just to name a few. This year's jurors were selected from art faculty at regional colleges and universities.

Of approximately 120 artworks to be selected as finalists, twenty artworks were chosen from Grand Prairie High School and Grand Prairie 9th Grade Center. Those finalists are Jesus Alvarez and Oleg Neronov, Grand Prairie 9th Grade Center, Felipe Andrade, Richard Carranza, Oscar Espinoza, Keven Hernandez (2 works,) Evelia Luna, Timo Mala, Eric Ojeda, Mason Parker, Walter Pastor, Ana Rodriguez, Joseph Swearingen, Marisol Tapia, Kevin Tran (2 works,) Joel Zamora and Luis Zavala (2 works.) The finalists' exhibition will hang in the H. Paxton Moore Fine Art Gallery at El Centro College from March 7 to April 3. There will be an awards reception for the finalists on April 3 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the gallery.

Congratulations to our outstanding Visual Arts Students, who represent one-sixth of the total number of finalists in the show. Their proud art teachers are ; Mary Cavazos, 9th Grade Center, and Craig Hall, Cathy Luckett and Sarah Waggoner, Grand Prairie High School.  Craig Hall, Cathy Luckett, Sarah Waggoner and Mary Cavazos  of GPHS and GPHS 9th Grade Center Visual Arts Teachers.

 Scholarships Posted on GPISD Web Site

Local and national scholarships are now posted on the District's web site.  The online database can be accessed at:

Logon ID: grandprairie

Password: grandprairie

Once you're in the database, you can search by "local" for local scholarships or by the name of the scholarship. 

A listing of links to the local scholarship applications is available on the Scholarships page.

Legislative Contact Information

Use this search tool to find out how to contact your representatives at the state and national level.