Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Team leads the way to OM Finals

Leading the way at the state meet last Saturday at Spring Woods High School were Westchester Academy for International studies of Spring Branch ISD, whose high school team placed first in two problem categories. Odyssey of the Mind Finals will take place May 31-June 3 at the University of Maryland.

WAIS’ team of high school juniors placed first in Division III in both the Road Rally and Tee Structure problems. The WAIS middle school team took second in Division II for Dino Stories.

Other qualifiers in SBISD were Meadow Wood Elementary, second place for Road Rally in Division I; Spring Oaks Middle, first place for Tee Structure in Division II; and Spring Forest Middle, first place, The Eccentrics, Division II.

In addition, Cornerstone Academy won an OMER award in Division II. The award is given to teams or individuals who demonstrate outstanding sportsmanship, exemplary behavior or exceptional talent.

Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem-solving exercise for teams of children from kindergarten through college. More than 2,000 students from 141 schools across the state participated in the state finals. The top two teams in each category qualified for the world finals.

See: Related article in the Memorial Examiner

Friday, April 30, 2010

WAIS Students Visit Rice University's Fondren Library

published in Rice's NEWS from FONDREN, Spring 2010

High School Help at Fondren

      Students from the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program at Westchester Academy for International Studies, part of the Spring Branch Independent School District, have been coming to Fondren Library each semester since 2006 to conduct research for major writing projects. One of these, the extended essay, is researched and written over a period of two years on a topic of the student's choosing. The extended essay must be 4,000 - 4,500 words in length and is graded by an external committee from the IB organization.

      Kay Land, librarian at Westchester Academy, prepares the students thoroughly for their day at the library, so they can maximize the value of their time here. Before setting foot on the Rice campus, they have searched Fondren's online catalog and also other online databases available from their own campus. The students come prepared to locate and to work with the materials they have already identified from these searches.

      Land is enthusiastic about these visits. She said, "our kids really love coming to Rice to do research. They are amazed by the sheer number of books and I am thrilled that they are using books to do research instead of only the internet. I think we are really getting the kids prepared for college."

      Westchester Academy is one of a number of high schools that have brought classes to Fondren Library. The students find a wealth of information for their research papers and also get an opportunity to experience a bit of an advanced academic environment.

Sandi Edwards                

Head of Reference                 
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