Copy
View this email in your browser
April 12, 2022

We have a new edition of Tides of Pride, our e-newsletter featuring highlights from the East Central Independent School District. Happy reading!
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
LinkedIn
Flickr
The East Central School Foundation Gala was held on Thursday, March 31 at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. The event raises funds for student scholarships, teacher mini-grants and more. This year's Gala raised approximately $55,000! In this photo, Superintendent Roland Toscano is with East Central High School student artists who had their paintings as part of the event's live auction! The student artists are Amelia Alvarez and Natalee Zincke.

We would like to thank our sponsors for the event:
  • Benefactor Level
    • H-E-B
  • Gold Level
    • CPS Energy
    • Computer Solutions
    • First Financial Group of America
    • HOLT CAT
    • Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP
    • LPA Design Studios in San Antonio
    • Massengale Armature Works, Inc
    • The Ecumenical Center for Education.Counseling. Health.
       
  • Silver Level
    • Buckeye Cleaning Center
    • CDS Muery
    • Firstmark Credit Union
    • Joeris General Contractors
    • McCall, Parkhurst & Horton LLP
    • Republic Services
    • Texas A&M University-San Antonio
    • Terracon
    • Valero Energy Foundation
    • Walsh Gallegos Treviño Kyle & Robinson P.C.
       
  • Bronze Level
    • Alpha Consulting Engineers
    • Blackmon Mooring & BMS CAT 
    • GermBlast
    • Republic Services
    • Specialized Public Finance Inc.
    • Trane
    • Mary Beth Fisk & Danny Miller
    • Amy & Lloyd Welty
    • Annette & Julio Alonzo
    • Kid Kountry Early Learning Center
    • Robn & Mike Traugott
  • Underwriters
    • Online silent auction - ESS
    • Plaques & awards - Robin & John Massengale
    • Photography & music - Mary Beth Fisk & Danny Miller
    • Legacy Circle - Indeco and ThoughtExchange
    • Venue provided by Texas A&M University-San Antonio
Elementary Schools
Salado Elementary celebrates its fantastic Librarian, Mrs. Silva, for School Library Month! 
Mrs. Jung's class at Pecan Valley Elementary celebrated four consecutive days of perfect attendance! When you are at school, you are learning is our motto!
This past Friday, April 1, third graders and their families from Pecan Valley Elementary attended a family night at the Doseum. The Doseum closed the building to the public. Third graders and their families enjoyed pizza, learned how objects have changed over time and enjoyed the various exhibits. 
Lexington from Mrs. Levrie's class celebrated Salado Elementary's Cultural Day by sharing the history of her family's heritage. Her shirt has the Creole Flag. The flag represents that Creole is French, Spanish, and African. The four small flags together form a cross in the middle representing Christianity. The food she brought was Jambalaya and Boudin. 

Salado's Cultural Day Celebration was on April 6. Students, teachers, and staff came dressed in attire representing their cultures. Students shared about their culinary cultures at lunchtime. Salado Patriots are leaders seeking to understand others by celebrating and learning about one another's cultures. 

Mrs. Levrie's Pre-K children at Salado Elementary celebrate their Cultural Day by being dressed to impress. In addition, they also sampled just a few of the wonderful treats!

Second-graders at Tradition Elementary learned about the life cycle of a chicken, beginning with the incubation process to hatch eggs. 

Shout out to Mrs. Briones from Tradition Elementary! She came out on Wednesday night to cheer on two of her kindergarten students that played against each other. 

A group of Ms. Zapata's at Pecan Valley Elementary students synergized to create a cardboard kid! These cardboard kids help bring awareness to child abuse.
Pecan Valley Elementary was totally impressed and excited to see all the show box floats that come in for its Fiesta parade!
Highland Forest’s Fiesta Parade was a huge success! We had so many families join us as students walked with their floats. Such a great way to start a three-day weekend!
Students in Mrs. Garcia’s 2nd-grade class at Harmony Elementary share their acrostic poems with a partner.
Harmony Hawks display their decorated Cardboard Kids in the hallways to show their love and support and bring awareness to child abuse.
This year, Salado Elementary School Counselor Mrs. Cervantes invited Salado Families to participate in the CardBoard Kids Project to promote health care for kids. Families dressed and decorated their Cardboard Kid with their unique style and creativity. Salado's Cardboard Kid Gallery is up for everyone to view.
Salado Elementary Pre-K and Kinder Float Parades were held last week. Students walked throughout the campus for their parents and then through each building for all grade levels to enjoy. Students created their floats with their families at home; they all came out great! Way to go, Patriots! 

LINK to the video: https://youtu.be/9PzY9a5aZbA
What happens when your teacher is a dumpster diver? You get to have fun with boxes! Mrs. Mahr's class at Sinclair Elementary enjoyed big boxes filled with foam blocks while exploring volume. Even Mr. Clarkson fit in a box! 
After reading "A Treat for School," Mrs. Mahr's students at Sinclair Elementary made fruit salad just like Tina, the main character.
Check out the future architects in Sinclair Library! They are so creative!
Sinclair Elementary supports National Child Abuse Prevention Awareness month.
Fifteen students from Mrs. Cabrera's 1st grade dual-language class at Oak Crest Elementary recently published their opinion pieces in the Wilson County News. The students worked with 4th graders to draft, revise and edit their writing. The topic was the cutest animal in the world. We are so proud of them!
On Wednesday, April 6, Oak Crest Elementary received five more adaptive bikes from the Believe It Foundation. This addition makes a total of 11 adaptive bikes we have in the district. We will get six more next year! Our 4th-grade students helped with unloading and bringing the bikes in. Thank you for being so helpful! 
The Oak Crest Elementary Robotics Club members check out a lithophane they designed and are printing on the school's new 3-D printer. They recently acquired the printer through the district to enhance their STEM program. 
Second-graders at Oak Crest Elementary participate in Math Measurement Olympics! 📐
Students and staff at Oak Crest Elementary had a very productive week!
  • A huge shout out to our OC paraprofessional!! We appreciate all your hard work and dedication! 
  • OC Kindergarten first day of Gardening Club 👩‍🌾 
  • Second-graders at Oak Crest take measurements seriously. 
  • OC teachers and staff wear blue in honor of Autism Awareness Month 💙
  • Third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders at Oak Crest did fantastic job at Night at the Museum. 
  • Third-graders at Oak Crest take learning about perimeter and area out to the garden. Did they find the best tool to measure their items? 
  • The third-grade Ecosystem Gallery walk at Oak Crest was a huge success. Students did an amazing job. The third-graders presented their Ecosystems to their classmates.
  • Kindergarten students at Oak Crest are making math and social studies learning fun! They had a Market Day where they were able to practice buying and selling using coins they have collected.
  • Mrs. Perez's 4th-grade dual language class finished reading the novel, Estrella en el bosque. They were very excited to complete a reading project about the novel using their Depth and Complexity Icons. Way to go, Stingers!!
  • Mr. Castro did a wonderful job of engaging the 4th-grade dual language students using Nearpod. The students in Mrs. Ramirez's and Mrs. Perez's class loved working together to respond to questions about a story that they read.
Middle and High Schools
Last Friday, Heritage Middle School had its "Fiesta Especial." We brought in a Little bit of Fiesta for our Specialized Support and Life Skills Kiddos. There was food, fun and games for them to enjoy. They had a blast. 
Mrs. Briones' class from Legacy Middle School is enjoying our CBI at Fiesta Especial! It was a great way to enjoy the festivities and activities of a fiesta in an inclusive environment. Viva Fiesta!
Congratulations to the members of the Legacy Middle School advanced bands who participated in the UIL Region 11 Band Concert and Sightreading Evaluation on March 31, 2022. They received an overall first division from the judges in their concert and sightreading performances, earning them the coveted SWEEPSTAKES AWARD! This honor is the highest award a band can receive in the UIL Concert and Sightreading Evaluation. Due to the pandemic, this is the first time since 2019 that the band has been able to participate in this event. Their band directors - Brian Beasley and Shelly Beasley - are very proud of the band members.
In honor of National Assistant Principal’s Week, Legacy Middle School would like to recognize the best of the best associate and assistant principals, Ashland Pingue, Rodney Vigil, and Erica Jackson. They show up daily for students, teachers, staff, and parents. We are blessed to call them our own! 
April 4 was School Librarian Day, and Legacy Middle School has the very best in Jennifer Smith. We appreciate her innovation and creativity in supporting our teachers, students, administration, and staff. We are blessed to have her at Legacy!
On April 6, in honor of our Instructional Assistants at Legacy Middle School on Instructional Assistant’s Day, we honor the best, most supportive IA’s who serve our students, teachers, and staff daily without complaint. They received donuts, coffee, a treat bag, and a card. We can’t do enough for them for all they do every day supporting our campus.
On March 31 and April 1, the Heritage Honor Band and Wind Ensemble participated in the UIL Concert and Sight-Reading Evaluation at Steele High School. This event is the first time our bands have participated at UIL since the pandemic. 
 
Under the direction of Mr. Lacy, the Heritage Honor Band participated at the Non-Varsity level. They earned a second division, Excellent Rating, for their concert performance, and they earned a first division, Superior Rating, for their performance in sight-reading.
 
Under the direction of Mr. McKelvey, the Heritage Wind Ensemble participated at the Varsity level. They earned a first division, Superior Rating, from all three judges on the concert panel, and they earned a first division, Superior Rating, from all three judges on the sight-reading panel. The overall award earned was a Sweepstakes.
 
HMS Band Directors Mr. McKelvey, Mr. Lacy, and Mr. Atcheson are incredibly proud of all students in these ensembles for their outstanding performance. They represented our school and EC community exceptionally well. This outcome was a long process of rebuilding that began in August, and they achieved their goal last week.
As Prom approaches, East Central High School students have been spreading joy through promposals. 
East Central High School students Inari Martinez, Bradin Dor, Harmony Fulwood, Sanae Dukes, Orianna Flores and Shayley Escalante competed in the SkillsUSA Forensic Science State contest in Corpus Christi on April 2nd and 3rd. This event was the first time East Central had representation in this contest, and they did a fantastic job! 
The ECHS Hornet JROTC Raider Team, coached by instructor CSM (Ret.) Frank Leota, set a new course record at the La Copa All-Service Raider Competition on April 2, 2022, beating out 32 other teams. It was a grueling two-mile running course with 16 obstacles to complete and overcome, and the Hornet Raiders performed flawlessly! Thanks to CSM Leota and the JROTC Booster Club for their excellent support!
All ECISD School Counselors engaged in a PD session on Crisis Response with Debby Moore. Our school counselors gained so much knowledge and expertise on this day! Thank you, Miss Moore.
A special shout out to The Step 18 Plus Program at ECHS for volunteering at the "Fiesta Especial Celebration Day 2022." They were in charge of running three of the game booths for the entire day. Even though the weather was hot, they still enjoyed helping out while at the same time having the opportunity to meet the San Antonio Spurs Coyote. 
East Central High School made a tremendous showing at the UIL (University Interscholastic League) District Meet on Saturday, March 26. We are so proud of these amazing and hardworking students:
Winning 2nd in LD debate and advancing to Regionals, Mimo Ideis;
Winning 4th in LD debate and alternate to Regionals, Lathan Koenen;
Winning 3rd in Persuasive Speaking and advancing to Regionals, Bre Jimenez;
Winning 4th in Informative Speaking and alternate to Regionals, Dayton McKay;
Winning 4th in Poetry Interpretation and alternate to Regionals, Ilela Abimbola;
Winning 3rd in Spelling & Vocabulary and advancing to Regionals, Harmony Fulwood;
Winning 2nd place team in Spelling & Vocabulary and alternate team to Regionals, Harmony Fulwood, Stormie Montes, and Mariana Lozano;
Winning 2nd in Current Issues and advancing to Regionals, Ashley Figuero
AND
Your District 27 CHAMPION in Literary Criticism and advancing to Regionals, Emma Sinclair!!!
CAST Lead participated in the 2022 CAST Youth Rally at The DoSeum. The rally was planned and led by student advisory members across the network who put on the rally for over 500 students. CAST Lead-ers attended symposium-style sessions led by their peers, listened to keynote speakers, and enjoyed sharing and collaborating with students across other campuses. 
On March 30, the Child Nutrition department joined stingers at Oak Crest Elementary for their Literacy Night. Students enjoyed an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and got to take home coloring sheets and books.
ECISD was awarded a $100,000 SECO grant. This grant allowed the maintenance department to upgrade the conventional lighting to the new LED lighting at ECHS, Legacy and Heritage.
Congratulations to our child nutrition professionals at Tradition and Harmony Elementary for receiving another perfect score on their health inspections. We joined the Hawks at the Harmony Health and Career Fair on Thursday, March 24. Students and community members sampled our homemade strawberry smoothies. 
ECISD Child Nutrition is very excited and proud to announce that its very own Child Nutrition Supervisor, Veronica Villarreal, was recently elected to the Texas Association For School Nutrition's Board Member as the Area 10 Representative! Some of her duties will include submitting articles to various TASN publications, chairing area meetings, making recommendations to the TASN Conference program, and ensuring ECISD continues to be provided with a wealth of high-quality information, guidance and support. 
Have a group of students that did well at a competition? A teacher that went above and beyond? Awards won? Grants received? Any amazing statistics for the week? We want to hear about it! Click the button below to submit your story for Tides of Pride. If you have any questions, please call (210) 634-6380 or email marcom@ecisd.net.
 
SUBMIT A STORY
Copyright © 2022 East Central Independent School District, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp