Fort Bend Lifestyles and Homes Magazine Apr 2009: Fort Bend Campus News 5

(L-R, front row) Abby Day, Sanjana Jhaveri, Audrey Bui, Samantha Waldheim; (middle row) Mara Nisnisan, Lindsay Chang, Coach Cunningham, Phoebe Wong, Nikki Akunna; (back row) Ale Evans, Izzy Wong, Priscilla Oh and Nikki Murray.

Fort Bend ISD Student Speaks Before White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives - Progressive High School students Russell Hebert and Sheldon Nixon represented the All-American Youth Rodeo Association, based in Fresno, during a trip to Washington, D.C.

Hebert was among six students (representing such organizations as Cell Phones for Soldiers, Walk Humbly and Thai Totes) invited to speak before the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives. Hebert addressed the topic of Compassion in Action.

Hebert and Nixon are co-founders of the All-American Youth Rodeo Association. Tim Bonner (now deceased) was an original co-founder, but Nixon assumed his role in the organization. The association focuses on character development and education, and empowers Fresno youth to complete high school and further their education. The organization also sponsors a four-day rodeo camp for youngsters.

St. Laurence Geography Bee Winners - Students in fourth through eighth grades at St. Laurence Catholic School competed in a SLCS Geography Bee. Each class hosted their own Geography Bee, which resulted in 15 winners school-wide. The classroom winners then took a written test and the 10 students with the best grades on the test were chosen to continue to the school-wide Geography Bee. Tyler Tumbleson took first place, with Aaron Singh and Hillary Healey coming in second and third place, respectively.

Travis High School Girls Soccer - Rallying back from early season losses to strong 23-5A competition, the Travis Lady Tigers, under the guidance of Coach Melissa Fox, are gaining momentum. Four losses have been followed by three wins, as improved passing and strong defense have bolstered the Travis game.

In game seven, the Lady Tigers shut out a skilled Hightower squad 1-0. Kayla Clawson scored the single Travis goal early in the game and the Travis defense held off a strong Hurricane effort.

Fluor Donation Helps Develop Engineering Skills at Lamar CISD - The students in the classroom at Lamar CISD’s Campbell Elementary. are using kits from Lego to help develop higher-order thinking skills by practicing and challenging engineering concepts.

“Teaching math and science concepts in a ‘real world’ context has given students a reason to develop their risk-taking and perseverance in tackling complex problems, ” said Keri Allen, gifted and talented facilitator at Campbell. “By strengthening their natural ability to learn, they have become better at cooperating, communication, leading and thinking independently. ”

Fluor made the program possible with a $10,000 donation to the Lamar Educational Awards Foundation. Fluor specifically targets math

and science programs with their donations to L.E.A.F.

Flour’s donation also funded a similar robotics program at George Junior High, solar cars for Foster High school and “Multiplication on the Go” for fourth-grade students at Frost.