Is your student taking a Pre-AP or AP (Advanced Placement) course at Dickinson High School next year? If so, the student and a parent/guardian must attend one mandatory meeting to learn more information. You can choose from one of the five different meeting times below:

Tuesday, April 22 - 6 p.m.

Tuesday, April 22 - 7 p.m.

Wednesday, April 23 - 12 noon

Thursday, April 24 - 6 p.m.

Thursday, April 24 - 7 p.m.

If you would like to preview some of the topics discussed, see pages 3-7 of the yellow Dickinson High School Academic Handbook for 2014-2015.

Week of March 24, 2014

See how Dickinson ISD students are leaving

their mark as we celebrate Texas Public Schools.

Visit a Dickinson ISD campus event this spring

to see why there is no place like Dickinson ISD.

More than 50 students earn awards at Galveston County Science Fair

More than half of the 93 McAdams Junior High and Dickinson High School students who competed in the Galveston County Science Fair brought home awards. Dickinson ISD was well represented this year and had the best results ever.

In the Junior Division (grades 7-8), 19 students were honored. Overall division awards were earned by Rianne Brown with third place in Life Sciences, Katie Palmer, fifth place in Life Sciences and Alexandria Hallberg, honorable mention in Life Science. Sara Kirk won a division fifth place in Physical Science.

In the Behaviorial/Social Sciences category, Madelyn Kelly earned third place. Biochemistry honorable mention awards were given to Cameron Collins and Erin Bernardo. In Medicine/Health, Grace Kusnerik received third place and Michelle Lim earned honorable mention. In Zoology, first place went to Rianne Brown, second to Alexandria Hallberg and third to Kelli Westerlage. Sarah Willard came in at second place in Chemistry, followed by Sara Kirk with third place. David Hall got an honorable mention award in Physics. For Botany, Thuy Le won first place. Katie Palmer brought home a first place award in Environmental, along with John Herrington in third place and Kristina Hallberg with honorable mention.

Students in the freshman division brought home the most awards, totaling 23. Topping the category were division winners including third place Alia Brown and fourth place Amber Valentino. A Shell TRC Partnership Award including a plaque and a $150 award was received by Laura Westerlage.

Five awards were received in the Behavioral category, including first place Dinah Rollins, second place Allister Azagidi, third place Gaybria Rhoads and honorable mentions to Amanda Gregg and Joseph Rodriguez. In Biochemistry, awards included second place Evelyn Baecker, third place Leslie Loredo and honorable mentions Lathan Simmon and Garrett Kettler. Samuel Parada was awarded first place in Botany, followed by Roshawn Maeberry in second an Angelica Jules in third. In Environmental, first place went to Laura Westerlage. Kyra Tegler earned second place in Medicine/Health, followed by Ozioma Okeke in third place and Sam Brown and Maylyn Topfer with honorable mentions. In Zoology, Alia Brown brought home first place, while second place went to Amber Valentino and third to Kaitlyn Gordon. Second place awards were awarded to Connor Morgan in Engineering and Adam Alam in Physics.

In the Senior Division, 14 Dickinson High School students in grades 10-12 were awarded. Kaylee Boudreaux earned first place in the Behavioral category, while in Biochemistry, Selma Garcia received third place and Ryan Kennedy earned honorable mention. Jose Hotema brought home a first place victory in Botany, while in Zoology, first place went to Samantha Bullock, followed by Jared Dornak in second and Taylor Sanders in third. In Chemistry, second place was earned by Alison Guffey and third went to Shirley Nguyen. Hailey Willard received second place in the Engineering category. The team of William Duong and Ewere Azagidi got the first place victory in Math.

Watch a "Gator Bytes" edition in April for individual elementary campus science fair winners.

McAdams singers are "Superior" at UIL contest

Congratulations to the McAdams Junior High Tenor-Bass Chorus and the Symphonic Choir for their outstanding performances at UIL competition on March 6.

The Tenor-Bass Chorus received a rating of "1" or "Superior" from all three judges on their sight-reading performance. A "Superior" rating is the highest rating that a choir can receive at UIL Contest. The Symphonic Choir received a rating of "1" or "Superior Performance" from all six judges on their stage and sight-reading performances. As a result, the choir earned the Sweepstakes Trophy. The McAdams Choirs are directed by Michelle Bilek.

Powerlifting finishes 29th out of 100 teams at state

The Dickinson High School Powerlifting Team placed 29th out of 100 teams competing at the State Powerlifting Championship this past weekend in Abilene. The meet included all the top lifters from the 4A and 5A UIL classifications from all over Texas. Six athletes qualified to represent DHS at the state Powerlifting Meet. They each returned with individual honors as well.

In the 148 Class, junior Alec DeLeon came in 11th place lifting 1,240 pounds. In the 181 Class, junior Thomas Bridges earned 16th place with 1,265 pounds lifted. Kaylond North came home with a fourth place victory for lifting 1,645 pounds and Anietie Etuk came in 13th place by listing 1,455 pounds. Both are sophomores in the 242 Class. In the SHW Class, ninth place went to junior Alonzo Crittendon with 1,680 pounds lifted and 11th place to sophomore Chance Harmanson with 1,660 pounds lifted. The Powerlifting Team is led by Coach Earl Ricicar.

Dickinson FFA earns awards at Houston Rodeo

The Dickinson FFA organization earned third place in the Tours Day Competition at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo recently. In addition, four students caught calves in the Calf Scramble. Colten Cooper, Triston Amason, Chance Cummings and Dillon Holcomb will now receive funds from a Calf Scramble donor to raise and show either a steer or heifer at next year's Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. In the Calf Scramble Steer Show, Brittni Wood earned fifth place, Blakeley Padgett came in seventh and Dalton Padgett followed in eighth place.

Other awards included Dalton Padgett placing fifth in the Calf Scramble Scrapbook Competition and winning the Herdsman Award. Dillon Holcomb placed 11th in the Historical Public Speaking Competition.

The Dickinson FFA program is now gearing up for the Galveston County Fair April 4-12, where several students will be showing animals. Watch future editions of Gator Bytes for Galveston County fair results.

Menotti wins VFW Teacher of the Year award

The Dickinson VFW Post 6378 and the Ladies Auxiliary honored DHS FFA teacher Clay Menotti with a "Teacher of the Year" award. Menotti went on to win the same award in the VFW District 16. This is his second year of teaching at Dickinson High School.

He is pictured in the middle with VFW representatives, left to right, Carol Palumbo, Glenn Helwig, Olivia Tolbert, Danny Bell and Nancy Kostelney.

Law enforcement agencies have lunch
with Hughes Road Elementary students

Law enforcement have lunch at Hughes Road

Some special visitors had lunch this past week with students at Hughes Road Elementary. Dickinson Police Chief Ron Morales and members of the Dickinson Police Department, the Dickinson Volunteer Fire Department, Dickinson EMS and the Dickinson Fire Marshal ate lunch and talked with students throughout the lunch periods and even chipped in to help clean up in the cafeteria.