Last Thursday was the Energy's annual Underclassman Awards Night. Many parents came out to see their children get awards. At the beginning of the ceremony, students received "Firefly" Awards. These awards are created by teachers to highlight students in ways that they shine from within.  After that, students received "Twenty-First-Century Awards" such as the "Ted Talk" Award, "Presidential" Award, "Gates" Award, "Chameleon" Award, "Green Peace" Award, "Grit" Award, and "Game Changer" Award. The students who received these awards exhibited great communication skills, leadership skills, critical thinking skills, adaptability skills, responsibility, self-determination, and innovative skills. At the end of the night, three students from each grade level received the Tesla Award. The "Tesla Award" is given to an outstanding student chosen by the Energy leadership team. The student has attained a high-level of academic achievement, contributed to the school in an extraordinary way, and embodies the twenty-first-century skills that are so important to the mission and vision of Energy." The three recipients of this award were Nicolette Beguiresse, Jacob Martinez, and Trisha Litong. Congratulations to all of Energy's outstanding students!

SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS 

Congratulations to senior Chance Bednorz for receivin g  the Williston-Jones Sustanability Scholarship to attend Coe College. The Williston Jones Scholarship program seeks to further their legacy of enriching the educational experience by inclusion of a wide range of voices. The Sustainability Scholarship is a full-tuition award given to students who have a passion for the environment, creating sustainable practices and reducing our carbon footprint on the world.  Congratulations Chance!

Congratulations to Brandon Caltrider and Francisco Anaya for being awarded the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Opportunity Scholarship in the amount of $20,000! The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo scholarship program consists of more than 750 scholarships and nearly $13 million awarded in one year. Congratulations Francisco and Brandon!

Congratulations to Andrew Farias for earning an $8,000 scholarship from Out for Education. Out for Education provides scholarships to LGBT youth from the Houston area or students attending college or university in Houston. Out for Education is one of the largest funders of LGBT scholarships in America. They have provided over $1.4 million in scholarships since there founding in 1999. Congratulations Andrew - your scholarship count is extremely impressive!

For the final newsletter of the year, the spotlight shines brightly on our outgoing Publications class. As this was the first year for this class, these students - Israel Cobell, Wilbert Moore, Matthew Diaz, Chance Bednorz, Yvette Alvarran, Reagan Dennis, and Megan Camario - have put forth a lot of time and energy to construct a student-driven newsletter. 

From the very beginning, the students have focused on producing editions which represent student-voice and student-choice. At the start of the year, the students founded classroom norms which incorporated respect, group consensus, critical awareness, emotional intelligence, and the practice of breaking bread together. These norms became the bedrock of our class's functionality and served as a foundation for student growth. Through all the challenges and hurdles throughout the school year, these students have done a great job recreating the newsletter and producing editions which reflect the campus community. As five of the seven students will transition on to a new phase in life, we acknowledge and thank them for all of their hard work, creativity, and collaboration. Thank you for establishing this class and incorporating your individuality and originality into the newsletter. 

We wish you the best of luck as you continue your educational voyage.

Energy Institute would like to recognize our campus Teacher of the Year, Ms. Elizabeth Harris and New Teacher of the Year, Ms. Jessica Merino!

These teachers both joined Energy this school year and immediately made a strong and positive impact on our campus. Ms. Harris had previously been teaching for 6 years in Baytown and was excited to join a Project Based Learning campus that would really allow her to get creative in the classroom. She has definitely taken advantage of that! Ms. Harris made a commitment to fully implementing PBL in both her AP and on-level courses this year. As a cohort, every single project included all cohort disciplines (English, engineering, science, and social studies).

Ms. Merino truly exemplifies what it means to be a teacher. She pitches in everywhere on campus, works hard to build relationships with her students, and brings her industry expertise to her engineering classroom in order to provide real world connections for her students. If you can't find Ms. Merino in her classroom, she is either meeting with her cohort team or outside helping with bus dismissal.

A student from Cohort 6 commented, "everyone talks about junior year being the hardest. It was, but it was also my best year yet. Ms. Harris and Ms. Merino work really hard with Mr. Benson and Ms. Estrella to make our work fun and interesting. I definitely have been challenged this year, but had a blast!"

Thank you for all that you do for our students at Energy and for being true stewards of the mission of Energy Institute! We are so proud of you!