Grace Estrada, a member of the Westside High School Band Program will perform with the Texas All-State Band in San Antonio, Saturday, February 14, 2015 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center as part of the 2015 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention. 

She was chosen for this prestigious honor through a competitive process held this year across the state at District, Region, and Area levels. Grace Estrada is a student of Robert Caston and plays at school under the direction of Joey Brunson. This is Grace Estrada's second time to perform as a member of a TMEA All-State organization. Grace is the daughter of Waldir Estrada and Ruth Zavala.  Grace is the first T.M.E.A. all state student in Westside's history.  She has set a high standard for future of the program. 

High school students selected to perform in the All-State concerts have competed through several levels of auditions beginning in the fall of 2014 to qualify at the state level. All-State is the highest honor a Texas music student can receive. Over 1,600 students are selected through a process that begins with over 60,000 students from around the state vying for this honor to perform in one of 15 ensembles (bands, orchestras, and choirs). Texas Music Educators Association sponsors the Texas All-State competition. 

This competitive process begins throughout the state in auditions hosted by 28 TMEA Regions. Individual musicians perform selected music for a panel of judges who rank each instrument or voice part. From this ranking, a select group of musicians advances from their Region to compete against musicians from other areas in seven TMEA Area competitions. The highest-ranking musicians judged at the TMEA Area competitions qualify to perform in a TMEA All-State music group. Only the top 3% of musicians who initially audition become All-State musicians.

These All-State students participate in three days of rehearsals directed by nationally-recognized conductors during the TMEA Clinic/Convention. Their performances for thousands of attendees bring this extraordinary event to a close. For the All-State concert schedule and conductor information, go to www.tmea.org/convention.

Hundreds of students across the West Houston area participated in the Texas Music Educators Association Region Contest on December 13.  To advance to the area contest, the musician has to learn three challenging pieces of music and be placed in the top 5% on their instrument.  

Grace Estrada, Christian Crawley, Yue Li, and Maximo Santana advanced to the Texas Music Educators Association Area Contest.  They competed on January 10, in Beaumont, Texas.  We congratulate these musicians for their hard work and their dedication to the band program and Westside High School!

Herff Jones will be back on campus collecting orders this Thursday, January 29, in the Commons during "A" lunch. This is your last chance to order graduation announcements and Class of 2015 merchandise! 

PetroChallenge is a 2-day event in which students use OilSim, a Schlumberger training program, to virtually explore and produce offshore oil and gas reserves.  Students work in teams (forming "companies") to evaluate offshore land blocks, bid on potentially profitable blocks, evaluate possible oil and gas reserves using 2D and 3D seismic data, then drill and complete wells.  They also negotiate investments with other teams so that their success is tied to the success of other companies.  The first day is practice so the teams can learn the software and get to know each other; the second day is a competition.  In most cases, teams consist of students from all the Academies.  The event promotes teamwork, leadership, and problem solving.

We had 5 winners from Westside:

1st place team:  Dana Smith (12th) and Walelegn Admasu (10th) 2nd place team:  Mohamed Al Ibraheemi (11th) 3rd place:  Caleb Madrigal (10th) and Sarah Abdalla (9th)

In addition, the 1st place team will compete at International PetroChallenge on Feb. 7th from The Sheraton Galleria, via videoconference with students in London.

Come see Westside's Comedy Sportz High School League team compete against Morton Ranch this Wednesday at 7 p.m., in the Black Box. Tickets are only $5 and can be purchased here. 

Parents don't have to be here to turn in the paperwork, which is a form that can be printed off of the Westside website or here. Students can turn in their paperwork and $25 cash or money order and turn it in to room A220. Then, the student will proceed directly to A204 to pick up their laptop.

The Choices topic for January may seem obscure, but it is an issue that needs to be addressed. People with gambling problems are found in all age groups, income groups, cultures, and jobs. Gambling addiction is characterized by an increased preoccupation with gambling, a need to bet more money frequently, restlessness or irritability when attempting to stop, "chasing" losses, and loss of control manifested by continuation of the gambling behavior in spite of serious negative consequences.   Individuals with gambling problems are much more likely than others to have problems with drinking, drugs, and smoking.  They are also more likely to suffer from depression.  About 2.5 million Americans are gambling addicts and another 3 million are considered problem gamblers.

Gambling is especially risky for teens and can more easily escalate into a problem behavior.  Approximately 4-8% of kids between 12 and 17 years of age meet criteria for a gambling problem, and another 10-15% are at risk of developing a problem (Youth Gambling, NPGAW website, 2007).  If you are concerned about your teen or someone you know, please contact me: mparsley@council-houston.org.

And don't forget about our upcoming "Friends of Choices" luncheon on February 18, at the River Oaks Country Club!  Click here to register and for more information.