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From PTA President Debra Million
What a difference 20 years makes. Twenty years ago, we had our first daughter and bought our first house. Twenty years ago, "Jurassic Park" was the most popular movie of the year. Twenty years ago, Bill Clinton was President and Hillary Clinton, our former Secretary of State, was First Lady. Twenty years ago, none of the current students at Paschal High School was even born.
Why all this reminiscing of events that happened 20 years ago? Well, just recently, on March 6, the Paschal Varsity Boys Soccer Team beat Arlington Martin for the first time in 20 years. The score was 1-0. Only one goal was scored, but it was enough. One well-placed kick by Uriel Pacheco, and the Panthers had their hard-earned victory.
It's like that in lots of situations throughout life. One thing that seems small, one kick, one goal, is all it takes to make all the difference. It can completely change the course of things. If you can run or swim only one second faster, you're in the finals. If you study a little harder and get one more point on your test, that earns you an A instead of a B. Maybe that's just enough to get you into Honor Society or earn your Academic Sweatshirt or win a scholarship.
Never underestimate the impact of that one seemingly small thing. Our whole lives are really composed of small things. It was just one small thing that changed a 20-year-old statistic -- a single goal that those 11 boys on that soccer field will never forget.
PTA Members of Fort Worth-Advocate Today!
The Legislature has started. Our time to affect the funding and policy issues is here. Use these contacts and Texas PTA Priorities to make your phone calls: It takes 5 minutes. Be brief and polite.
1. Tell them your name and which FWISD schools your children attend.
2. Ask them for their support to:
- Fund Public Schools: Create a new equitable and adequate funding system for public education. Fund enrollment growth. Fund legislative mandates. Fund End-of-Course remediation costs.
- Oppose Vouchers in all forms: Texas PTA opposes vouchers which is a policy that allows a student to take the state funding for his/her public school education to a private school to assist in paying for the cost of private school education.
- Pursue changes to STAAR/EOC tests to reduce the emphasis on high stakes testing.
PTA Nominating Forms Available
The PTA Nominating Committee has posted Board Nomination forms on line; click here for the link to the form. Please submit your self-nomination before March 31. If you have any questions, contact Aimee Plummer at s_plummer@hotmail.com.
NEWS FROM THE PHS ACADEMICS OFFICE
PIP (Partners in Purple):
PHS/TCU English Conference 2013
This year is our kick-off year for an annual English Conference to be held here at Paschal. Students in 9th and 10th grade will be invited to apply for the conference; next year we will expand to include all grade levels. The conference will include a series of workshops to be held at TCU in the New Media Lab as well as here at Paschal. The workshops will help students prepare for the main conference, held at Paschal on April 20. The winners of each category of the conference will then present at a public performance on April 27, to be held at TCU, followed by a reception where the grand prize winner will be announced.
AP Registration Time
AP registrations will continue through March 28. Registration forms were mailed to all AP students or you can pick one up in room 231. To see when reviews will be held for the exams, follow this link.
Reflections Photography Winner Advancing to Nationals
Senior Emmalyn Howard will be advancing to the National PTA Reflections competition with her award-winning "Counting Daydreams" photography entry. Emma Pritchett, senior, won Award of Excellence with her "7 Years Old" literature entry and senior Batey Grassl took home Honorable Mention with her "Waiting at the busstop" Visual Arts entry. Many congratulations to them for carrying the Panther Pride from State all the way to Nationals!
Paschal wins North Texas Science Bowl
Two teams from Paschal High School spent the first day of spring break at the University of Texas at Arlington competing in the North Texas Science Bowl. Team A won first place and the US Department of Energy is going to cover all travel, food, and rooming costs for the team to compete in Washington, DC, at the National Science Bowl April 25-29. Team B won the engineering competition that was held for the teams that didn't make the final four.
See photos and more stories on the Science Club page.
The 4th annual Paschal Clay Shoot will be held at Alpine Shooting Range Sunday, March 24, at noon. Participation from every sport is our goal. Cost is $100 per shooter or put together a team of five for $500. This is one of the largest athletic booster fundraisers of the year and proceeds benefit all sports. Go here to print out the registration form or here to sign up online. Please contact Kristi or Blake Parker for more information at bkparker@charter.net.
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