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Greetings!
Another successful year at KIPP Austin has come and gone. On June 8, we celebrated the achievements of our eighth graders with our second annual Senior Word Promotion Ceremony, during which our "seniors," or eighth graders, stand on stage and give their word to continue to work hard to climb the mountain to college. These students were admitted to competitive high schools around Austin, such as St. Andrew's Episcopal School, St. Stephen's Episcopal School, Regents School of Austin, The Griffin School, San Juan Diego Catholic High School and the LBJ Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School.
Several days later, we began our summer school session with nearly 400 students, about 110 of whom are brand-new fifth graders. The 2007-08 year is off to a great start!
For a full report on the 2006-07 year, stay tuned for our award-winning Annual Report, due out in September.
Summer School at KIPP Austin |
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KIPP Austin awarded Texas High School Project Grant |
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Grant Will Fund Start-Up of KIPP Austin High School
We are excited to report that the Texas High School Project (THSP) of Communities Foundation of Texas will award KIPP Austin a very generous grant of $700,000 to fund the opening of our high school, grades 9 to 12. Because of this investment, we will be able to open our doors in June 2008 to 90 ninth grade students. In preparation, our high school facility, which is on the same property as our middle school, will undergo renovations beginning this summer.
In addition, our high school principal, Carrie Donovan, will begin KIPP School Leadership Program training, an intensive one-year fellowship program that will help equip her for the academic, financial, business management and community responsibilities of running the high school.
African American and Hispanic students in Texas are three times more likely to drop out of high school than white students. Of those who actually graduate, less than 7 and 15.7 percent of them, respectively, score at a level on the ACT or SAT that indicates they are ready for college. At full capacity, we will more than double the number of African American and Hispanic students in our area who graduate from high school prepared for college success.
We are very grateful to the THSP for making it possible for KIPP Austin to expand our reach in the Austin community.
This announcement was featured in the June 27 issue of the Austin-American Statesman, and you may read the article by clicking here or here. |
| Student Spotlight |
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| Jesus Puga
A KIPP Austin alumnus from our first group of graduates, Jesus Puga, has received another year of scholarship funding from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. The Class of 1941 will grant Jesus $36,500 for his upcoming tenth grade year that will cover most of his tuition, books and other room and board costs.
"My first year at Phillips Exeter was by far the hardest but most enjoyable thing I have done in my life," says Jesus. "Two years ago I found myself attending one of the worst middle schools in Austin, and here I am right now, in one of the best boarding schools in the country. I would not have achieved this without God, KIPP, or my family--especially KIPP."
Jesus hopes to attend law school at Harvard or Yale University to become a "people's lawyer" to help defend the civil rights of disadvantaged people.
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| Students Soar on TAKS Tests |
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Once again, the long hours of hard work that all of our students and teachers dedicate to learning has paid off. For the second year in a row, 100 percent of eighth graders met the standard on the reading TAKS test, and for the third year in a row, 100 percent of seventh graders met the standard on the writing TAKS. Well over 90 percent of sixth, seventh and eighth graders met the standard on all required TAKS tests.
We are also very pleased to report that, for the first time in the history of our school, our fifth graders received a higher passing rate than the state of Texas on the math TAKS, thanks to first-year teacher Constance Taylor.
We're so proud of our KIPPsters!
For complete results, please view our 2007 TAKS scores here. |
| KIPPsters Experience the Nation |
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| 2007 Field Lessons
Every KIPP Austin student has the opportunity to earn a special trip at the end of the school year by keeping their grades up, acting responsibly and earning the trust of teachers and teammates. After these May trips, students who stayed behind interviewed those who earned the trips for a schoolwide student-produced newsletter. Below are excerpts from Maria Osorio's article about the seventh grade trip to California:
The seventh graders went on a one-week field trip to California! I interviewed Briseyda Loza to find out more. The first day they arrived, they went to the ocean. Briseyda said, "I didn't go into the water because the water was really salty, but the sun was really hot so I stayed to get a tan."
Briseyda said that the most exciting thing that happened on the trip was when she went to Hollywood because she took pictures with Spiderman and Freddy Cooper. She also had fun at all the universities. They went to UCLA, Pepperdine, USC, Berkeley, Stanford, and a private high school called Cate.
The seventh graders stayed in two hotels. The first hotel was in Los Angeles, California, which was called Best Western Hollywood Hotel. The second hotel was in San Francisco and called Staybridge Suites. When they were coming back to Austin, Briseyda had to wake up early, but she woke up late. So she and her roommates were in a big hurry.
When they were at the airport, a lot of strangers went up to the seventh grade chaperones and told them that they were the most well-behaved students they had ever seen. She said that she had a lot of fun because she spent a lot of time with her friends. She also had fun because she was able to be independent. At least, that's what she says. You will never know until you go to California yourself.
Sixth graders spent 10 days camping and hiking in Utah's national parks. |
| Teacher Spotlight |
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| Shawna Valerius
In May, half of our eighth grade class took the rigorous Algebra I End-of-Course exam and 100 percent of them passed, making them eligible for high school credit. They acheived these fantastic results because of a course designed by eighth grade Math teacher Shawna Valerius, who just completed her first year at KIPP Austin. Ms. Valerius introduced eighth graders to complex material such as abstract thinking, polynomials and linear and quadratic functions, plus a great deal of material that is typically found in a high school Algebra II course.
Ms. Valerius graduated from Texas A&M University in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Math. She has been teaching middle and high school Math for nine years.
Congrats, Ms. Valerius!
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| Program Spotlight |
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Physical Education
Now in its third year, our model Physical Education program, created by Coach Amy Holtman, continues to encourage fitness and helps our KIPPsters establish healthy lifetime habits.
All KIPPsters have 45 minutes of P.E. each day, during which they learn important physical skills such as how to run effectively, and how to dribble, throw and catch a ball. These skills enable our students to be successful in any physical activity of their choosing.
This year our fifth graders participated in the Marathon Kids program, during which they each logged 26.2 miles of running and eating fruits and vegetables each day. In March, sixth, seventh and eighth graders participated in Southwest Key Fiesta 5K Fun Run. We also continued our partnership with RunTex, which provides running shoes to our students each year.
P.E. teachers from KIPP schools across the nation visited this fall to learn about Coach Holtman's program, which consistently brings more and more students into the Healthy Fitness Zone (HFZ). The HFZ is a measure of cardiovascular fitness, as well as muscular strength and flexibility.
If you are interested in learning more about the Physical Education component of the Health and Fitness for Life Program, please contact Elizabeth Wilmer at ewilmer@kippaustinprep.org. | |
We are looking for volunteer mentors for our students and alumni for the 2007-08 school year. This is a fantastic way to have a lasting impact in the life of a child. If you are interested in helping in this way or want to learn about other volunteer opportunities at our school, please contact me at ewilmer@kippaustinprep.org.
Thank you for your continued support of KIPP Austin. Have a wonderful summer!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Wilmer
Development and Communications Officer KIPP Austin College Prep |
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