Lottery Results for WAIS 2016/17 Admissions

Congratulations to all of our incoming new wildcats. 

We look forward to meeting our new Westchester families at upcoming open house events and working with you next fall. The acceptance and wait lists are currently posted on the WAIS Campus; just past the middle school arches and main office entrance.

Again this year, we received over 700 applications for next year's openings for next school year. This does not include current students intending to return next year. Applications were handled a little differently this year. If a student applied to multiple SBISD options, they were required to rank their preferences. If a student was accepted to one of the schools they applied for, they were removed from the lists of any choices they ranked lower.

As of the lottery's conclusion, we have approximately 350 students on wait lists from 6th - 11th grade. Numbers vary from grade level to grade level, and 6th and 9th have the longest wait lists. We understand and sympathize that it can be discouraging to be on a long waiting list. If your number was not drawn this year, we hope that you continue to apply. Whether a student becomes a WAIS Wildcat or not, we hope they continue striving for success and working hard to be the best learner they can be.

Admittance to WAIS is based only on two things; residing within Spring Branch, and limitations of our school's capacity. While we aim to provide a rigorous and challenging environment for our students, we don't have a grade requirement on our applications. We understand that a student's current level of success is not always indicative of their level of success here at WAIS. This may be due to a variety of factors within the environment and within the student, including but not limited to learning strategies, curriculum, peers, and level of interest.

The lottery is conducted and supervised by multiple school and district staff and administrators. Law officers and law practitioners are also present during the lottery. This year's lottery included supervision from the Whitley Penn accounting firm. The lottery is conducted in English, but with Spanish translation provided. The public is allowed to attend.

4H Share the Fun hosted at WAIS

The Cooperative Extension 4-H & Youth Development Program at Prairie View A&M University hosts their annual Share the Fun event this weekend at WAIS. The Share the Fun event has a variety of categories in which students can show their skills- including but not limited to public speaking, education presentations, musical performances, and dances.

This is the third year that the Share the Fun event will be hosted at WAIS.

District Spelling Bee Finals hosted at WAIS

The Spring Branch Annual District Spelling Bee for the 2015-16 school year was held today at Westchester Academy. The District Spelling Bee includes the Spelling Bee winners and first runner-up from each elementary and middle school in the district- including WAIS middle schoolers Chase and Betty.

The pronouncer for this year's District Spelling Bee is Roberta Smiley and the judges are Sunny Bell-de la Garza, Julie Hummel, and Dianne Gebhardt, with sponsor Amy Ellington and special thanks to Roberta Smiley and the Blue Willow Bookstore.

Teachers of the Year Announced

Teacher of the Year nominations were handled differently by Spring Branch this year. Nominations were made online through the district website. SBISD Community relations sent out information about nominating a teacher on January 13th. Nominations could be cast through Jan 22nd.

As Westchester serves both Upper School and Middle School students, we have two sets of nominees. Not just staff, but students and families were also able to nominate teachers this year. A significant number of nominees came from our students and parents.

For Middle School, the following teachers were nominated:

Christina Carrizales	Shelly Horne	Brandin LeBlanc
Kimberly Montgomery	Nichole Nakadate	Jeremy Reese
Rachel Rose	Barbara Stephens	Kristin Thompson
Cheryl Wegscheid

For Upper School, the following teachers were nominated:

Shivani Agrawal	Anthony Carandang	Elizabeth Carwile
Lindsey Faleiro	Alberto Halos	Angela Juarez
Marialice Lindig	Trevor Love	Andrew Maddocks
Aurelia Maldonado	Mark Newkirk	Katherine O'Connor
Maryam Ogunkoya	Kathy Oxspring	Laura Sigworth
Melissa Von Blon	Kristen Wachsmann	Shaun Wegscheid

The voting from the nominations were cast by WAIS Faculty and Staff. The Upper School had a run-off; with ballets accepted from Monday at 9:00 am through Tuesday at 4:00 pm.

WAIS Middle School Teacher of the Year:
Christina Carrizales

WAIS Upper School Teacher of the Year:
Shivani Agrawal

Students participate in UH Math Contest

For the 3rd day in a row, WAIS students ventured to the University of Houston Central Campus. 20 students, consisting of both upper and underclassmen, participated in the annual UH Mathematics Contest. This years competition consists of 8 individual exams, a single elimination competition during lunch, and a team project.

Not every student takes every exam; a student is eligible to take an exam for Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and Pre-Calculus if they are currently enrolled in this course. Every student is eligible to take the Statistics, Calculus, Physics, and Calculator Exams. The Team Project is completed ahead of time, and must be submitted at 8:30am during on-site registration. The single elimination questions during lunch are related to Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II content.

For more information about the UH Mathematics Contest
visit Math Contest. UH. Edu


Photography by WAIS student Santiago Moreno. 
Moreno is an IB Diploma Candidate and a volunteer photographer for the Miacis annual student publication.

Ranked 7th Best Charter in Texas

Earlier this month, Niche.com released its rankings of schools based on a variety of measures and variables. From these rankings, WAIS was ranked the 7th best charter school in Texas, and the 46th best charter in the US. There are more than 350 charter schools in Texas, and more than 5,200 charter schools in the US. By these rankings, that puts WAIS in the top 3% for Texas and the top 1% for the US.

Click here to see the Texas Rankings on Niche. com

WAIS was also ranked to be in the Top 40 schools with the Best Teachers. See our post from earlier this month for more information on that specific ranking.

Students participate in Houston Area MUN

A mix of more than 30 upper and underclassmen spent the past two days at the University of Houston campus, participating in the 41st Houston Area Model UN conference.


 Model UN is an educational simulation of the United Nations. Conferences bring together hundreds of students from the surrounding areas and let them participate in a variety of sessions where students discuss issues. Each student takes the role of a delegate to the United Nations, and engage in debates during the simulation.

The students research their assigned county, and the related topics for the conference, in advance. During the conference, the students objective is to write and pass a resolution for the related topics that are congruent with their country's need and perspective. Students will present their ideas at the conference, and work with other countries'  delegates (students) during their attempt to write and pass resolutions.


This year focuses on the topics of the Creation of Israel and the Chilean Presidential Elections of 1969/70. Westchester students are participating as delegates seeking resolutions from the perspective of Cambodia, Cyprus, Ecuador, Malta, Namibia, and the USA. WAIS Students also participated in the Model UN San Antonio conference during IIW in early January.

Model UN officially begun after the formation of the UN in 1945; however, this is predated by the Model League of Nations, believed to go back to the 1920's. The first Houston Area Model UN conference was held in 1976, with 18 students- originally stated by SBISD world history teacher Andrea Flynn from Memorial High School. HAMUN has long ties with the University of Houston, including professors Joseph Nogee and Jordan Paust, since its origins in the mid '70s.

WAIS Alumnus, Patrick Aana, provides the closing remarks Friday afternoon for the 41st HAMUN Conference. Aana served at the Secretary-General for HAMUN, and is currently employed by the World Affairs Council of Houston. He holds degrees from both the University of St. Thomas and the University of Houston. Ruth Oviedo, another WAIS Alumni, serves as Chief of Staff for HAMUN. Ruth holds a degree from Sam Houston State University. Oviedo is employed by a small firm in Houston, but intends to pursue additional degrees.

Learn more about HAMUN at Houston Area MUN . org


Photography by WAIS student Santiago Moreno. 
Moreno is an IB Diploma Candidate and a volunteer photographer for the Miacis annual student publication.