Important: MySBISD.com Accounts going away

Secondary students will no longer have @mysbisd.com accounts, and will instead have @mysbisd.org accounts. This does include a few new features. However, and most importantly, any files, emails, or sites you've created, worked on, or received on your mysbisd.com account will be deleted on December 19th.

You will have to transfer over any work that you want to keep.

Please see the video on YouTube on how to transfer files in Google Drive to the new account. Please see the video on Vimeo on how to transfer a Google Site to the new account.

You may also find the following article from lifehacker useful:
How to Migrate your Entire Google Account to a New One

Students Participate in Hour of Code

More than 20% of WAIS students participated in Hour of Code. Many of those that did, participated in multiple hours as well. Over half of sixth and eighth grade participated, as well as a fair number of high school students in tech/design courses and many in upper level math courses. See our Hour of Code page for examples of just a few of the ways our students participated.

Hour of Code started as a US initiative to increase exposure and awareness of Computer Science, and quickly became a worldwide event, across 180 countries. The demand for computer scientists and programmers is expanding much, much faster than our society creates. This isn't because its hard or because the pay isn't good. Programmers and computer scientists make good pay and have a lot of benefits. The bigger issue is a lack of awareness for students.

Many countries around the world begin teaching computer science in elementary, some at the same time they begin teaching children how to read. At most US schools, students are lucky if they have the option to take a computer science course by the time they get to high school. Only around 10% of high school students nationwide have the option of taking a computer science course, because roughly only 1 in 10 high schools in the US offer Computer Science.

Sure, not every student is going to become a programmer, but not every student is going to become a scientist, writer, historian, or mathematician either. Let your student try an Hour of Code; because they should at least have the opportunity to try programming. Learn more about Hour of Code at Code.org.

West Houston students invited to Nov. 22 leadership summit

Excerpts:
The summit has attracted top Houston-area leaders to participate. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett; Spring Branch Independent School District Superintendent Duncan Klussmann; District 139 State Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston; KTRK ABC-13 Reporter Miya Shay; and Harris County Republican Party Chair Paul Simpson, among other leaders in their fields have been invited.

A sampling of the schools participating include Kinkaid, Northbrook, St. Agnes, St. Thomas, Strake Jesuit, The Guthrie Center, Westchester Academy, Westside, Memorial and Stratford.

See the full article on Chron.com

First SBISD Code Camp

Spring Branch ISD students gathered on July 28 at the Technology Training Center to begin a four-day camp revolving around what many believe to be the language of the future — coding. 

Excerpt: The older group — grades 6-8 — was taught by Westchester Academy for International Studies (WAIS) technology teachers Cheryl and Shaun Wegscheid...

See the full article on SBISD's School Zone

Vietnamese group honors 4 SBISD valedictorians

Four valedictorians from Spring Branch Independent School District high schools were honored recently during theVietnamese-American Youth Excellence Recognition Luncheon held Aug. 3 at the Kim Son Bellaire Ballroom in southwest Houston.

The Vietnamese Culture and Science Association reports that it honored 28 regional high school valedictorians and salutatorians at the 18th annual event.

Spring Branch ISD student honorees included the following Class of 2014 valedictorians: Alyssa Nguyen and David Pham ofWestchester Academy for International Studies, Bao Tran Ma of Spring Woods...

See the rest of the article on Chron.com

WAIS & SHS Leadership take the Ice Bucket Challenge

Jennifer Collier & Chris Juntti and their leadership teams take the Ice Bucket Challenge on the WAIS campus on August 19th. The Ice Bucket Challenge is an effort to bring awareness and increase donations for ALS research. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, is a progressive degenerative disease that affects neurons in both the brain and spine.

It is believed that roughly 30,000 americans are afflicted with the disease. Causation is linked to genetics in roughly 10% of cases; there is no known cause in the other 90% of cases. ALS has cut short the lives of people all over the world, including famed athletes, actors, musicians, artists, and even a former vice president; as well as wives, husbands, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, cousins, class mates, co workers, and friends.

Since July 29th, the Ice Bucket Challenge brought 700,000 new donors to the ALS Association, raising over $40 Million USD. Jennifer Collier and Chris Junti nominate the leadership teams of Northbrook, Spring Woods, and Memorial High Schools. Chris Junti also nominates the SHS coaches.

Watch the video on YouTube.

International Baccalaureate Diplomas awarded to Westchester Academy for International Studies grads

Printed in the Memorial News of Houston Chronicle

"Eleven recent May graduates of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Westchester Academy for International Studies (WAIS) have earned the highly esteemed and internationally recognized IB Diploma.

WAIS, an award-winning district charter secondary school in Spring Branch ISD, offers the IB Diploma Programme (DP), Middle Years Programme (MYP) and the IB Career-related Certificate. The IB Career-related Certificate was authorized in June.

In addition to the IB, both Pre-Advanced Placement (Pre-AP) and AP courses are offered at WAIS. The combined middle and high school campus is located at 901 Yorkchester.

To earn the IB Diploma, students devote their junior and senior years to fulfilling program requirements in English, a foreign language, math, science, history or social studies, and fine arts, as well as a Theory of Knowledge course.

Students also write a lengthy research paper and fulfill other class activities, including traditional community service projects.

Two IB Diploma recipients this year earned the Spanish Bilingual Diploma. They are May graduates Yansi Arevalo and Eliza Quintana.

IB Diploma recipient Helen Scott earned the highest score to date among WAIS graduates (38 out of a possible 45 points).

WAIS graduate and IB Diploma recipient Adam Kassir is now the fourth family member in a row to earn the IB Diploma while at Westchester Academy. He will be the fourth in his family to enroll at Rice University, too.

His brother, Elias, graduated from Rice University in May. Elias will soon attend Baylor Medical School. His sister, Iman, a 2011 graduate of WAIS, is studying to be a nurse practitioner.

David Kassir, a 2013 graduate, is a kinesiology major at Rice. Adam is interested in pursuing a major in bioengineering. His mother, Patricia Kassir, teaches at the Bendwood School.

IB Diploma graduates at WAIS and known college/university choices and intended majors include:

·       Yansi Arevalo, Texas State University at San Marcos, finance and accounting (Spanish Bilingual Diploma)

·       Emmanuelle Henriet, undecided university in France, international relations and law

·       Connor June, Texas A&M University in College Station, chemical engineering

·       Adam Kassir, Rice University, bioengineering interest

·       Khanhtran (Anna) Levu, University of Houston

·       Rachel Loving, University of Texas at Austin, biomedical interest

·       Alyssa Nguyen, University of Houston, biochemistry

·       David Pham, Rice University, chemical and biomolecular engineering

·       Eliza Quintana, St. Edward’s University in Austin, Spanish Bilingual Diploma

·       Jacob Saenz, St. Edward’s University in Austin

·       Helen Scott, Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas

Valerie Harelson has served as IB Program Coordinator at WAIS for many years. The district charter secondary campus is led by Jennifer Collier."

Read the Article on Chron.com