HPHS junior Clay Van Eaton’s family set out six weeks ago to purchase 250 masks for a family friend’s hospital co-workers as they battled COVID-19. What resulted from their efforts was nothing short of amazing.

Unable to find N-95 masks, they located KN-95s, but found they could only be purchased in lots of 1,000. Through calls and emails to family and friends, they were able to raise the funds for 1,000 masks and sent half to the friend’s hospital and the rest to another hospital and a nursing home. Mission accomplished? Not quite.

When a long-time friend in China heard about the project, he offered to send 90,000 surgical masks and 10,000 KN-95 masks to help. When the Van Eatons got the description of items for customs, they found he had added an extra 10,000 masks.

“Our family was making PB&J sandwiches for SoupMobile,” Clay said. “And when we went online that same day, SoupMobile had just announced they were wanting to get 10,000 masks for the Dallas homeless population. It was perfect timing.”

Then, the real work began. Southwest Cargo stepped up to transport the masks to Dallas, a vital link in the chain, and the HPHS DECA chapter also answered the call, picking up the many boxes of masks and helping with distribution. Some went to Parkland Hospital and others to first responders, nursing homes and shelters. Clay taught himself Excel to help with sorting, monitoring inventory and coordinating deliveries with local organizations.

He summed up the extraordinary results, "It's been a lot of work but worth it to help out in a little way. The organizations that are receiving the masks are doing amazing things to help during this difficult time."

Talk about going forth to serve! Thank you to Clay and everyone who has assisted this effort.

Plans are in the works to allow students to retrieve their belongings and drop off campus items such as books, uniforms and devices.

Pick-up and drop-off times will be scheduled the week of May 25, and detailed instructions will follow as they become available.

HPISD wants to hear about your experiences during emergency remote learning. In order to prepare appropriately for the upcoming school year, we will be gathering information from parents, students and staff. The school district is paying close attention to local and state health officials in order to determine when it is safe to reopen our facilities for children and employees. 

Your responses will help us as we plan for a successful 2020-21 school year. Stay tuned for a brief survey link sent to your email within the next week.

Connect HPISD is the one-stop-shop to find lessons from teachers, plans for instructional continuity, enrichment activities and more.

Connect HPISD   can be found at  www.hpisd.org . Click  here  to view the site. Check back at the beginning of each week for updated assignments and activities.

HPISD is holding a design contest for artwork for next year's staff birthday card, and it is open to all HPISD students. The card will be sent from Superintendent Dr. Tom Trigg to HPISD faculty and staff. The artwork can be in any medium, such as photography, painting or crayon, but it should be submitted electronically. The winning artwork will be featured on the front of the card, and a photo of the student will be on the back of the card.

To submit your child's artwork for the contest, please complete this electronic form by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 26. Please include the student's name, grade, campus, photo of student and contact information with all submissions.

Spring Commencement

Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the Jones and Anderson families, the 2020 HPHS Commencement will be held at 8:30 p.m. Friday, June 5 at AT&T Stadium. This is an optional event and students will still be able to receive their diplomas if they do not attend. The ceremony, including entrance and egress, will comply with newly-released guidelines required by Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency to ensure student, family, staff and community safety.

These guidelines will include pre-screening graduates and family members who attend for any symptoms of COVID-19 and keeping participants six feet away from each other unless they are members of the same household. Each family will be assigned a section to ensure social distancing. Entry information will be provided in the next few weeks with specific plans for arrivals and departures. Should underlying public health conditions change and stricter social distancing requirements become mandated, we will work with public health officials accordingly.

 

In order for AT&T Stadium to be considered an outdoor venue consistent with the Governor's Executive Order, the roof will be opened. The 8:30 p.m. start time is coordinated with the time of sunset that day and it is our hope that it will allow families to have dinner prior to Commencement.  No rehearsal will be held, so please stay tuned for further details.

 

Should parents have reservations about attending or have family members who are unable to attend, plans are being made to livestream the ceremony so that it can be watched from home. 

 

Once again, our sincere thanks goes to the Jones and Anderson families for this tremendously gracious offer.

The HPHS annual Academic Awards Ceremony and the inaugural virtual awards program of the season honored 491 students and their accomplishments on May 7 in a Google Livestream.

 

The evening began with 58 students who received an award for perfect 2019-20 attendance. Additionally, content area teachers acknowledged 278 students for their outstanding achievement in the classroom. Exceptional service to the community was also recognized with 123 students who earned the Bronze HP Scot Service Award for completing between 100 and 174 hours of service. There were 16 students who earned the Silver HP Scot Service Award for serving between 175 and 250 hours. The last recognition of the night was for 15 students who completed more than 250 hours of community service and were presented with the Gold HP Scot Service Award.

 

The names of our 2019 AP scholars, UIL individual academic award winners, and Academic Decathlon medalists will be honored in the May issue of  The Bagpipe.

                                                                                                                                              

The recording of the Academic Awards Program has been posted on the HPHS website. It has also been sent to the awardees along with a digital certificate. The recording can also be accessed here .

Congratulations to all the recipients of these awards!

The community is invited to join HPHS organizations and athletic teams in thanking their graduating seniors and wishing them all the best in their future adventures.

LitFest announced their winners for their student writing contest by visiting each winner and their families via a car caravan. The student club members decided it would be fun to celebrate each writer who placed first through honorable mention in the contest with a caravan delivery of their certificate and winnings.

Poetry

Short Fiction

Creative Essay

Screenwriting

Visual Storytelling

HPHS juniors Ilie Sturhan and Josh Marti took the gold medal for their Texas History Day project, "King Henry VIII's Greatest Heir: Religious Freedom in America" April 30, and will advance and represent Highland Park High School at the National History Day competition in June.

Texas History Day is an academic competition in which more than 65,000 Texas students participate annually by creating a research project based upon an annual theme. This year the competition was moved to a virtual platform to accommodate social distancing measures.

Two HPHS juniors have won a grant for their water filter project from the City of Dallas Environmental Education Initiative. Luke Schneider and Bennett Handler, students in the Moody Advanced Professional Studies (MAPS) program, used their time in the Business Design and Leadership class to design and plan for the production of their filtration system. Their goal is to produce a cheaper and safer system of on-the-go filters that will meet the need for clean water in the homeless community. Sustainability of the product can be met with the marketing of the system to campers and others looking for portable convenience.

Their goal, as stated in their application, is, “With our filter every man, woman and child will have safe clean drinking water for home use as well as on the go, our filter can attach to any hose or faucets, throw it in a river or a puddle and have fresh, clean water. With the grant money we will be able to extend our research into better materials, manufacturing and funding of the resources we will need.”

The varsity tennis team is graduating 12 outstanding seniors. The cancellation of the spring season marks an end to their great run. The team wishes the best to this special group of players: Rhett Bailey (Captain), Mckay Harman, Peyton Dooley (Captain), Harold Glasscock, Sam Hinkhouse, Ethan Vicente, Harrison Wiseman, Ashlee Newton, Nell Covington (Captain), Annika Juergens (Captain), Jourdan Krueger and Katherine Petty.

Lady Scots soccer found that It's amazing what people can do when they join together, collecting a truck full of donations to take to Brother Bill's Helping Hand. Team members are proud and honored to be apart of such a generous group of families and are grateful to them for bringing help to those who are in need.

The Lady Scots soccer program salutes its seniors, who have led the program with grace, excellence and courage. The returning players will miss each of them, know that they will be contributors to their chosen colleges, and are grateful for the amazing legacy they have left for generations to come.

The Scots varsity soccer team congratulates these seniors selected to the District 11-5A first team: Captain Jack Hamilton, Captain Jorge Rodriquez and Captain Wesley Winters.

Seniors selected to the District 11-5A second team include Captain Patrick Krejs, Captain Trey Nemeth and Will Berry.

District 11-5A Honorable Mentions went to senior Ben Hayden, freshman Will Cornog and senior Payton Saladna.

Seventh through twelfth-grade students are invited to apply for the HP Color Guard. The Color Guard performs with the marching band in the fall and then has their own competitive season in the spring. Come be a part of a great group of kids who become fast friends with each other and the band. Color Guard practice begins in the summer before school begins. Click here for more information or email Band Director Reagan Brumley .

By out-investing more than 200 teams of middle schoolers in the Dallas region, an MIS team of three sixth-graders won first place in the Spring 2020 Stock Market Game. The winning team members include Riggs Bean, Henrik Johnson, and Christopher Mader from Cindy Lapp’s TAG math class.

The Stock Market Game is an online simulation of the global capital markets that engages students in the world of economics, investing, and personal finance. Students are given a hypothetical $100,000 to invest in NYSE and NASDAQ common stocks over a course of ten weeks. The winning team made a profit of more than $18,000 with its portfolio.

We are thrilled to welcome our new Boone Elementary logo to our mascot family. Go Boone Bulldogs, and welcome to the tradition of excellence in HPISD.

Beginning May 4, parents may submit an intradistrict transfer request for their elementary student to attend a different attendance zone school from the one for which the child is zoned for 2020-21. Submissions will continue to be accepted until the elementary campuses formally close June 12, 2020.

 

Acceptance and timeline for approvals will be based on the criteria in Board policy FDB(LOCAL) and FDB(REGULATION) . The applications will be reviewed under the Board criteria specified for the first year of implementing new attendance zones, which states in part:

“During the first year of implementing new attendance zones, all intradistrict transfers shall be suspended with the following limited exceptions: 1. Students who are victims of bullying or students who engage in bullying, or other situations specified by law; 2. Students who require a special program placement only offered at another campus; 3. Students who are grandfathered by entering their last year on a campus…; 4. Students who have been approved for voluntary intradistrict transfers two years in a row….; 5. Students who are involuntary transfers to a nonattendance zone campus; 6. Students with other extraordinary and compelling circumstances.”

The online application can be accessed here . Parents are welcome to include attachments. To view HPISD's SchoolSite Locator, click here .

The girls in UP fourth-grade Girl Scout Troop 8360 used all of their savings and partnered with Chelsea Corner to provide 100 meals for the front line medical staff at Baylor Hospital.

MIS is taking music to a higher note with exciting enhancements for fifth-grade music classes thanks to feedback from students, families and staff. This school year, the fine arts department has been researching ways to enhance the comprehensive experience for fifth-grade music students. Click here for the full story.

Prior to the first workout, all students participating in UIL sports at HPISD in grades 7-12 must have:

The HPHS trainers will sponsor athletic physicals for all incoming seventh- through 12th-grade athletes July 25 in the HPISD Multi-Purpose Activities Center across from Highlander Stadium.

Local doctors and nurses will conduct the exams, assisted by the trainers. The cost is $20, and payment by cash or by check payable to HP Sports Medicine will be accepted at the event.

To save time, the trainers recommend that parents download and complete the required forms before their students arrive at the stadium. Click here for a schedule.