Use this calendar to help you know what is going on during the summer at Eastwood!
June 2010
7 First Day of Summer School
8 New student orientation begins at 9 AM
New parent orientation meeting at 6:30 PM in the Assembly Room
9 New student orientation continues from 9-12 noon
11 Library open for student check-out from 11-3 PM.
CALENDAR
3/9
3/10
3/11
3/12 – Girl Scouts were founded in 1912
3/13
3/14 – Daylight Savings Time Begins (clocks spring forward); Happy Birthday, Albert Einstein
3/15 – “The Ides of March); 3.16; 3/17 St. Patrick’s Day; 3/18; & 3/19 – SPRING BREAK
3/20 – The Spring Equinox; International Earth Day 3/22 – The first movie was shown to an audience in Paris, 1895 3/23 3/24 3/25 3/26 3/27 3/28
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HAPPY BIRTHDAYS 
· 2/23 Carla Ayala
· 2/24 Baltazar Pacheco, Herminio Ramirez
· 2/26 Stalina Martinez, Coraima Martinez
· 2/27 Paul Guerrero
· 2/28 Yecenia Flores
· 3/1 Marleni Vargas
· 3/3 Daniel Molina
· 3/8 Aida Silva
· 3/9 Bryan Ayala
· 3/10 Lili Varela-Radliff
· 3/15 Rodrigo Bahena, Joshua Presas
· 3/18 Valeria Gomez
· 3/21 Jaclyn De Leon, Juan Lopez
· 3/22 Ismael Almaguer
· 3/24 Lizeth Muniz, Ms. Lowe
· 3/27 Abigail Nava
· 3/28 Nohemy Aguirre, Maria Gonzales
IDEAS
Do you have any ideas about how you would like HISD to spend the $7.5 million on the Eastwood expansion wing? If so, send your ideas to a member of the Shared Decision-Making Committee or to Mr. Trevino.
SCIENCE FAMILY NIGHT: 3/11 Mark your calendar now for Eastwood’s first annual Science Family Night on March 11 from 5-8 PM at the Museum of Natural Science. The price is only $7 per adult (usually $27) and children under three are free. Eastwood will make arrangements for bus transportation for parents and children between Eastwood and the museum.
If you are interested in this exciting evening entitled “The Wonder of magic Exhibition,” please get your money and bus reservations in early to Ms. Cooper in Room T-131. The deadline is March 3, 2010.
STARBUCKS IS COMING! A Starbucks coffee (tea and hot chocolate) machine will be delivered to the library sometime during the week immediately after Spring Break! Ms. Dravis reports that the Starbucks machine will be available for student and staff use from 7:30 AM until library closing time. The machine will be located inside the library, and all users are encouraged to enjoy the beverages and clean up after themselves.
NEW BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY The library received a number of new books for its collection. Most of these books are often seen on reading lists for Advanced Placement (AP) classes. All the books can be easily identified by the large black AP stickers located at the base of the spine.
Some of the new titles include: 1984, Brave New World, Catch-22, Doctor Faustus, The Color Purple, Dracula, Far from the Madding Crowd, Frankenstein, The Great Divorce, Heart of Darkness, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Jungle, Madame Bovary, Metamorphosis, Moby Dick, Mrs. Dalloway, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Origin of Species, The Power of One, The Shipping News, A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House, Waiting for Godot, War and Peace, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
The library has five copies of each of these titles and all the titles have been labeled with color coded AR reading levels, if available.
Wishes Would you like to request a title for our library? If so, let Ms. Dravis know and she will add it to the library Wish List.
Who’s your guardian??? Art teacher Dr. Littlefield has given a very creative assignment to her Art 1 class students. They are to “create guardians.” She wants her students to create a sculpture of what a special guardian might look like. The supplies needed for this project are things found, other than art supplies. Students will construct their personal vision of their guardians by cutting wood, hot-gluing fabric or other found objects. Not only will students learn how to become constructive workers but will also learn how to be creative with the simplest found objects.
If you would like to see samples of guardians completed by students in earlier years, visit the library where some are displayed at the top of the bookshelves. - Janeen Gutierrez
Lorenzo De Zavala The Lorenzo De Zavala Youth Legislative Session (LDZ) is a high school-age leadership program sponsored by the National Hispanic Institute (NHI). Started in 1983, the overall challenge of the LDZ is for the students to envision themselves as part of the future leadership of the 21st century Latino community. Students who want to attend any NHI program must submit an application with both their parent and counselor signatures, along with a student photo and list of accomplishments. They must also submit a transcript and be enrolled in a college-bound or honors curriculum. Additional students may be nominated by NHI alumni. This year NHI alumni, Sylvia De La Cruz and Lorena Argueta have worked with the following students who are interested in participating in the program during the summer of 2010: Gisela Salgado, Edwin Rivas, Isidro Garcia, Abigail Nava, Maria Ortuno, Hugo Rodriguez, Miranda Ramirez, William Solomon, and Karen Rodriguez.
The LDZ program involves gathering student participants at college and university campuses around the country for eight to 10 days. This year Eastwood students will be attending the LDS gathering in Rochester, New York. Applicants are required to pay tuition for the training and services they receive. The LDZ tuition is $695, including a $20 non-refundable application fee. This does not include transportation.
To help applicants, Eastwood Academy has paid for the application fee for the students going to New York. Our students have also received scholarships that cover a big portion of the tuition. They will also have fundraisers to raise money for their plane tickets, and are looking for sponsors. Sylvia De La Cruz attended the LDZ meetings last summer in Georgetown, Texas, at the Southwestern University, and she will be attending again this summer as a counselor. Lorena Argueta also participated in this program last year, and she went to Panama City, Panama during the summer. -Ana Rodriguez
On Saturday, February 27, 2010, Eastwood students attended a field trip to Texas A&M University The field trip was planned to give students the opportunity to learn all about how it really is in college. The field trip was mostly for students interested in physics and engineering. They will learn how rigorous the programs are, and the amount of homework students should expect once they are in college. -Yesenia Castañeda
SPRING BREAK POLL
A poll of Eastwood students about their plans for Spring Break revealed the following:
68% Stay home and chill
25% Go out of town
45% Find a party
7% Don’t know
98% Enjoy the time away from school
2% Anxious to come back to school
-Brenda De La Cruz
No Off Campus Lunch. What’s really the issue? The decision to cancel the off-campus lunch privilege is in the best interest for all the students, according to Mr. Trevino, Eastwood’s principal. Many students don’t seem to think so.
Mr. Trevino explained that not only was it the tardiness of the students that was one of the precipitating reasons for his action, but he, as Eastwood’s principal, also is held accountable for the students’ actions during school hours, including the lunch period. In the Eastwood community, there are many opportunities where students might encounter difficulties and even harm while off campus. Problems may arise whether it’s just walking one block the to Jack-In-The-Box or down to the Snow Cone Stand. During the lunch period, students are still Mr. Trevino’s responsibility and he would hate for anything to happen to any one student.
Even though the students aren’t exactly pleased with the idea of no more off-campus lunch privileges, Mr. Trevino believes that this change has resulted in a rise in leadership with students wanting to sell food things during lunch and organizing activities of togetherness during the lunch period. He sees this as an opportunity for the student body to develop a stronger sense of community and to begin to feel more like a family. He has even seen that some students are bringing lunch for fellow students. - Miriam Villanueva
Summer Plans Summer is just three months away and now is the time to plan for your summer activities. If you are interested in participating in any college programs, application deadlines are coming up (or have already passed.)
Some interesting summer programs are listed below:
· Rice University will open its doors this summer to high school students beginning June 7-July 30, 2010. The summer camp offers college courses, ACT and SAT prep classes, and allows the students to stay overnight in the dorms. If any of you wish to participate in this program, fill out the requirements at http://www.rice.edu/ by March 26, 2010.
· Summer Programs for High School and College Students http://www.fastweb.com/college-search/articles/787-summer-programs-for-high-school-and-college-students
· National Hispanic Youth Initiative in Health, Biomedical Research, and Policy Development (NHYI), held in Washington, D.C.http://www.icps.org/Portals/44/Documents/NHYI%20APPLICATION%202010%20online.pdf
· Smithsonian Latino Center’s Young Ambassadors Program http://www.latino.si.edu/PDF/2010_YAP_Application_Guidelines.pdf
· The Summer Minority Engineering Training (SUMMET) www.mines.edu/stu_life/mep/Student_Opportunities/
· Summer program at the University of Houston for rising seniors, Mentoring & Enrichment Seminar in Engineering Training (MESET) http://www.egr.uh.edu/promes/camps/
· Lamar University summer camps for high school students (and students of all ages) http://www.guidrynews.com/story.aspx?id=1000017794
There are many, many, many opportunities to learn about college this summer on a college campus. These are just a few. -Emily Hernandez and Selena Delgado
English Department TAKS Report The English department worked really hard to prepare students for the recent ELA TAKS test for all students in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. Teachers offered tutorials for added support to ensure that the students here at Eastwood had all the necessary preparation to pass the test. Testing was held on Wednesday, March 3rd.
Prior to the test, the English teachers focused on the writing skills of the students rather than analytical ability because they believe that if students can write a great essay, they will master the reading comprehension part of the test as well. -Gerardo Briano
2/19
2/20
2/21
2/22
2/23
2/24
2/25
2/26
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HAPPY BIRTHDAYS 
IDEAS
Do you have any ideas about how you would like HISD to spend the $7.5 million on the Eastwood expansion wing? If so, send your ideas to a member of the Shared Decision-Making Committee or to Mr. Trevino.
$7.5 million for Eastwood….but, what exactly happens next?
Thanks to our school board representative, Ms. Diana Davila, who advocated for Eastwood, the school was awarded $7.5 million to make some major improvements on our campus. At this point, those improvements are not define, but the Eastwood community is encouraged to think “outside the box” about how the campus should grow. Should the improvements include things such as additional classrooms, a new cafeteria, a gym, a theater, an expanded library, more office space, or what? The money comes from HISD through a taxpayers bond program and the planned expansion should be completed in about two years. Plans call for actual construction to begin sometime around next February (2011) with completion one year later. - Miriam Villanueva
Did you go to the Valentine’s Dance? If you took any great photos, consider sharing them with the Journalism class for the yearbook.
Soccer 
Eastwood fields girls and boys soccer teams, and the teams participate in the Independent School Soccer Conference. Games are played at different parks across the city. See the calendar (above) for games this week.
The Lovely Bones Review 
“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” – The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson’s latest, The Lovely Bones, based on the 2002 best seller of the same name written by Alice Sebold, portrays an “in between” world amid heaven and earth, one in which we can escape. Sebold’s story is centered on 14-year-old Susie Salmon. After being brutally killed by her neighbor, who is revealed to us from the start, Salmon finds herself “alive in her own perfect world,” watching her family grieve and her murderer escape. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her family’s need to heal. For those who are fans of the book, The Lovely Bones will most likely be a disappointment. But what movie has ever been exactly like the book? Forget about the “raped, murdered and dismembered” part. Jackson, in the press conference, says that he “did not want the film to be disturbing….It was not about murder, but about the events after the murder.” It is PG-13 after all. And so, naturally this film avoids the chilling and sentimental in exchange for fantastical and spellbinding. At times overdone and erratic, Jackson, a man of experience (i.e. The Lord of the Rings and King Kong), interjects a “twilight zone” into the realm of real life through captivating special effects. The tree and its butterfly leaves, which appear to be the symbol of the film, are absolutely mesmerizing. In fact, every scene is. There are rolling hills of brilliant green and moving wheat fields that transform into an ocean. The landscape is meant to shift with Susie’s emotions. And from start to finish, we are captured by everything. With all those dazzling visuals, character development fails to continue. Rather than follow Sebold’s plot chapter by chapter, Jackson, who acquired the rights independently and developed a script of his own, has reduced it down to a basic story beefed up by special effects. That way, we only get surface level reactions from the family. And worst of all, Susie’s “desire for vengeance” falls flat. Although it’s not precisely like the book the movie is great! I highly recommended if you haven’t seen it. -Ana Rodriguez
Is Edward Scary???
We all have heard of Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison), the vampire from the movie Twilight. He is the dream of every teenager. Well, not all people think he is appealing. In my opinion, he is scary and freaky looking. I conducted an informal poll of people at Eastwood to see if they thought he was scary. I asked ten people and they all turned out to be Edward lovers. So, none of them thought Edward is scary looking. But, I still think that the life-size Edward in the library is scary. -Yesenia Castañeda
The Energy Audit After spends $92,000 last year on electricity alone at Eastwood Academy, the Energy Audit Team plans to make changes on campus to increase energy efficiency in the buildings. They received a grant of $12,000 to reduce the high levels of electricity usage. The team is currently trying to find a vendor that will supply motion sensors to turn off the lights when a person leaves the room and a thermostat in the assembly room. The team seeks to help the school move from using the T-12 light bulbs to T-8 bulbs which use even less electricity. The Energy Audit meets every Wednesday for two hours. Ms. Paula Cooper and her students hop on a bus to HCC behind Furr High School where they meet to work on making the changes necessary to make Eastwood a greener high school. If you are interested in being part of the Energy Audit Team, come along and join the fun to being green! -Emily Hernandez
COCA-COLA
Did you see the article about the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program in La Voz, the Spanish edition of the Houston Chronicle? The article included a photo of Luis Chapa working with elementary students at Lantrip Elementary. We are proud of this recognition of the hard work of our Eastwood students!
SENIOR PHOTOS 
On Monday, February 22, Eastwood Academy’s Senior Class will be taking their graduation pictures. The cap and gown pictures will be taken here on campus beginning at 8a.m. First, there will be individual pictures taken of each student wearing graduation attire. Afterwards there will be group pictures that will include volleyball team members, soccer team members, and other clubs or teams within the school. “As a senior, this will be a very memorable day for us because this is the last year we will spend together here at Eastwood, ” said senior Miriam Villanueva.
Dress requirements are as followed: All boys will have to wear a white dress shirt and a dark tie (preferably black) and all girls need to wear a white collarless V-neck shirt. This dress style will ensure that formality is displayed when wearing the graduation gowns during the pictures. -Gerardo Briano
HAITI PROJECT On Saturday, February 6, the Student Council met at Eastwood Academy to help the people of Haiti by gathering money and non-perishable goods. The students that showed up made posters to get people’s attention to donate and also contacted local radio stations to make public service announcements about what Eastwood students were doing to help the earthquake victims. Even though only a few members of the Student Council showed up for this fundraising event, they collected $206 and some non-perishable goods in one day. The project isn’t over yet! So, please help the people of Haiti and contribute to this worthwhile cause. The Student Council thanks all the people from Eastwood – the community and the school – for their donations. 
-Brenda De La Cruz
Piano Lessons
As part of Eastwood’s growing after-school program, piano lessons are now being offered. The instructor for piano lessons is David Rodriguez, an Eastwood alumnus who graduated last year. Piano lessons are offered once a week on Wednesdays from 4-6p.m. in the Assembly Room.
Piano lessons can be very interesting, especially if you’re into music. So if you are interested in learning how to play piano, you know when and where to go for some cost-free lessons. -Bryant Rubalcava
Eastwood’s Debaters
Eastwood Academy’s debate team participates in its fifth debate tournament this week on Friday, February 19, and Saturday, February 20, at Westbury high school.
The team has been successful in always bringing home some sort of award. Eastwood is proud of the debaters and wish them continued success! On March 10, the HUDL Debate League sponsors a debate tournament at the University of Houston for about 200 debaters, and qualified winners who advance to the octofinals win the privilege of debating at the Federal Courthouse in the finals. The two winning teams will have the opportunity to travel to New York City where they will debate against other schools from around the country. This event is scheduled for April 23-25, 2010. -Janeen Gutierrez and Bryant Rubalcava
Math Competition
Congratulations to all the Eastwood math students who traveled to the University of Houston on Saturday, February 13, to participate in a math competition. Students took a test that measured their knowledge in Algebra I, Geometry, Pre-Calculus, and Algebra II. Special thanks to Mr. Elegarle, Ms. Hinojosa, and Ms. Vance who accompanied the students on this trip.
Collecting Milk Cartons 
Eastwood Academy School’s community garden is ready for seedlings to be planted; however, because weather at this time of the year is often accompanied by winds, efforts must be made to protest the young, tender plants. Eastwood students are asked to help collect milk cartons which will be used to protect the plants when they are transplanted from their germination site (in the library) to the planting beds.
Please drink your milk, rinse out the milk carton, and place it in the plastic bag outside the library. - Selena Delgado
DOOR DECORATION CONTEST
Eastwood teachers have a chance to win a prize by decorating their door to represent a college/univeristy they attended. Door decorations may include pictures of their school’s mascot, campus buildings, campus activities, school colors, and even photos of when they were in school. The teacher judged to have the “best door” wins a prize.
The teachers of Eastwood are showing their true colors of where they came from, academically speaking, and the colorful doors have added new excitement to the school building. By visually showcasing their alma maters, teachers show the history of their college/universities and provide students with important information about the school and what it has to offer its students. As a school of college-bound students, Eastwood is helping promote these different colleges where our teachers matriculated.
- Selena Delgado
OUR CALENDAR OF EVENTS
2/8
2/9
2/10
2/11
2/12
2/13
2/14
2/15
INCOMING STUDENT INTERVIEWS
This year we received 160 applications for the incoming freshman class and Eastwood hopes to accept about 125 ninth-grade students. At the moment interviews are being held for current applicants who have submitted all their required credentials/paperwork. The first interview day was Saturday, January 30, when 45 potential Eastwood students were interviewed by teams of teachers and current Eastwood students. Interviews will be scheduled for most Saturdays between now and early April.
Teachers who have volunteered for interviewing include Ms. Lowe, Ms. Ritchie, Mr. McMurchy, Mr. Platt, Mr. Norman, Ms. Littlefield, Mr. Forker, Ms. Hinojosa, Mr. Burgess, Ms. Vance, Mr. Trevino, and Ms. Dravis. Ms. Limon has volunteered to provide the parent component of the interview process. Interviews are usually held from 8:30am to 3pm with a one hour lunch break, or from 8:30 to 12 noon.
Plans call for all applicants to be interviewed over the next six-seven weeks. Students currently enrolled in Eastwood are being encouraged to volunteer to sit in the interview to answer any questions the new students may have and to take him/her for a tour around the school. Those students who volunteer receive community service hours.
- Ana Rodriguez
AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
Eastwood Academy has begun offering a number of after-school enrichment classes, in addition to the tutorial sessions provided by teachers in preparation for TAKS or to support students needing additional time in subject areas.
Other after-school activities include:
If you are interested in any of these enrichment activities, plan to show up and participate. If you have an idea for another class, see Ms. Dravis and make your suggestion known.
- Janeen Gutierrez and Yesenia Castaneda
WHAT IS 5TH PERIOD AND SHOULD I BE SCARED OF IT?
Some Eastwood students currently participate in 5th period classes, such as SAT preparation and Literary Genres (which is preparation for the Name That Book competition.) Other students participate in 5th period tutorials or enrichment classes.
Plans call for all students to be actively engaged in some 5th period activity. Eastwood would like to make available to its college-bound students enrichment activities which supplement the school day and help prepare them for college/university life. These activities are designed to help students define themselves and create their own success.
“No one goes through life untested and the answer to these tests is positive energy — the kind of positive energy consisting of vision, trust, optimism, enthusiasm, purpose, and spirit that defines great leaders and their teams.” - from The Energy Bus
THE VALENTINE’S DANCE
Our dances here at Eastwood are rather fun despite the fact that this is a small school. On Friday the 12th our school’s senior class will be hosting this year’s Valentine’s dance, and it will take place here on campus from 7p.m. to 11p.m. The seniors initiated the decoration process on Monday the 8th and this will continue through Friday the 12th. A group of seniors bought decorations this past Saturday to transform the Assembly into a Valentine-themed wonderland. The dance theme includes decorations in the traditional pink and red colors along with red heart cut-outs pasted on the walls. Tickets can be purchased from any senior class member at any time within school hours; presale tickets will be sold at three dollars each and if you do not purchase a ticket until Friday evening, you will pay five dollars at the door. This should be a fun and memorable chance for students to spend with their loved ones here at Eastwood Academy.
-Gerardo Briano
PASTA FOR PENNIES
Olive Garden’s Pasta for Pennies is a national fundraising program that partners with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in raising money to help support the fight against blood-related cancers, to fund important life-saving initiatives and to provide critical services to patients and their families. Since 1994, Pennies for Pasta has raised more than $42 million to fight leukemia and lymphoma and has provided a wide range of services to patients and their families.
This year Eastwood Academy took past on the fundraiser and is honored to take part in something contributing to our society and we look forward to doing it again. During the four weeks of January, Eastwood students and faculty contributed their “pennies” (and nickels, dimes, etc…) to this cause. At the end of the fundraiser, all the contributed coins, dollars and checks totalled $1,000. Ms. Ritchie-Hinde’s B3 class was the winning class with $270.18 and Mr. Parker’s class was the runner-up with $267.91. Congratulations to both of these classes, and thanks to all the generous people at Eastwood Academy!
- Miriam Villanueva
THE COMMUNITY GARDEN: BECOMING A REALITY
Students have created gardening boxes on campus, across from the Jack In The Box restaurant. The soil has been prepared and we are waiting on the weather for temperatures more conducive for growing our plants. BUT, we are not idle. Work has begun — inside, in the library!
On January 26, 2010, Ms. Dravis, our librarian, with help from some seniors, planted the following seeds in mini-hothouses: Tall Top Early Wonder Beet, Yellow Pear Tomato, Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce, Cilantro, Ferry’s Round Dutch Cabbage, and Taste of Asia Snow Pea Taichung. The purpose of these plantings is to start young plants and have them ready for transplanting as soon as the weather warms. At that point they will be moved from the window sills in the library to the community garden. The plants are making great progress in the library window.
- Brenda De La Cruz
THE SEA TURTLE CHALLENGE
The Sea Turtle Challenge participants are busy at work!
Starting last Saturday, February 6, Sea Turtle competitors along with Ms. Cooper headed to the beach to collect driftwood to be used for their sculpture. Since materials are scarce, they looked for materials such as styrofoam, cardboard and any other usable castoffs. The CSTEM (Communication, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) organizing group helps by providing the rest of the supplies the competitors will need.
On Sunday, February 7, GIS competitors were assigned to a team to complete a Google Sketch of a village design. The following Eastwood teachers are working with their students on this project: Ms. Littlefield, whose Art classes have begun their designs for the murals; Mr. Fischgrabe, whose Robotics classes have started building their own robot; and Ms. Lowe, whose literature classes will soon begin an illustrated children’s book. Other classes will become involved and will work with the Sea Turtle participants as they prepare for their competition. If you are interested in being part of the Eastwood effort, please see Ms. Cooper — there is much work to be done!
- Emily Hernandez
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ABOUT EASTWOOD
Eastwood Academy is an award-winning college preparatory charter high school just southeast of downtown Houston. We boast a diverse student body of approximately 325 students. All of Eastwood Academy’s students take a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum and complete 80 hours of community volunteer work prior to graduation. Our students enroll in dual credit courses, a strong Advanced Placement curriculum and we base our daily actions and behaviors on the IB Learner Profile.
At Eastwood Academy, we know that an excellent education can give you the skills you need to succeed in both college and in your professional career. In addition to our nationally recognized college preparatory program, our students participate in field trips to universities, attend lectures given by community leaders, and have access to several full-time counselors to help guide them in all areas of academic life. We offer Pre-SAT and SAT college entrance exam courses that ensure our students achieve the scores they need to get into their chosen university. Students can also take dual-credit courses to obtain college credit while still enrolled in high school. We equip all of our students with the skills, the experiences and the intellect to develop into internationally minded people who recognize their common humanity and shared guardianship of our Eastwood community, the East End community and the planet.
Our dedicated staff of educators approach each student with the attention and direction that suits their needs. At Eastwood Academy, your continued success in both school and life is our highest priority and greatest reward. If you would like more information, or to schedule a meeting with one of our enrollment counselors, please call (713) 924-1697
Join us in our learning as we dedicate our time and our energy into one mission, one vision and one purpose: to be college-bound!
