From left: Fabian Abfalter, Ryan Hanks and Martin Schild take part in Spartan football practice.[/caption]St. Stephen’s Episcopal School hosts two Austrian football players
This summer, football team members of St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, 6500 St. Stephens Drive, Austin, hosted two athletic colleagues—Fabian Abfalter and Martin Schild, Austrian high school seniors and teammates on an American-style football team, Director of Communications Anne Marie Becka said.
The European guests said they wanted to improve their playing skills and sought out the Texas high school program’s summer training camp in West Austin.
“We have played American-style football in Austria for many, many years now, but Texas football is something very different,” Abfalter said in a news release. “The intensity level is so much higher.”
Although Abfalter and Schild were permitted to practice with the team, they were not allowed under private high school football rules to compete and represent the team in a scrimmage or game, Becka said.
Westlake, Vandegrift named top high schools
Newsweek magazine released its annual list of the nation’s Top 500 high schools Aug. 19 and included Westlake High School in Eanes ISD and Vandegrift High School in Leander ISD.
Westlake ranked 106th in the nation and fourth in Texas, moving up 11 spots from its 2014 ranking. The school received a college readiness score of 84.4 percent and a 100 percent graduation rate in the listing. Newsweek stated 99 percent of Westlake students are college-bound.
Vandegrift, unranked in 2014, ranked at 256th in the nation and 20th in Texas, with a college readiness score of 80.1 percent and a 99.5 percent graduation rate. Newsweek’s list stated that 93.6 percent of its students are college-bound.
Newsweek also identified schools within its Top 500 list in which economically disadvantaged students perform at or above the state average for all students on standardized tests. Schools that met this equity measure by helping low-income students received a star.
Both WHS, with 3.2 percent of students in poverty, and VHS, with 5.6 percent of students in poverty, received the equity star from Newsweek’s ranking.
Lake Travis ISD board of trustees adopts new school bus tracking system Aug. 18
Lake Travis ISD’s new school bus tracking system is the next progression of where the district wants to be, said Johnny Hill, LTISD’s assistant superintendent for Business, Financial and Auxiliary Services.
The LTISD board of trustees approved the purchase of the Smart Tag system Aug. 18 at a cost of $75,000 for its initial setup and $20,000 annually for maintenance.
The system allows a parent to access a web portal for information as to where his or her child’s bus is located in transit, sends an email to the bus depot if there is a mechanical problem with the bus, computes state-mandated data reports about route specifics and collects information to ensure the efficiency of each of the district’s 62 school bus routes, Hill said.
“Our goal is to have bus drivers spend less time on headcount and other issues and more time on just driving the bus,” he said.
Concordia University Texas freshmen participate in a service project Aug. 24 that benefits the Southwest Key Program.[/caption]Concordia University Texas project helps unaccompanied children new to country
Students at Concordia University Texas, 11400 Concordia University Drive, Austin, began their 2015-16 school year with a service project.
On Aug. 24 more than 250 of the school’s freshmen assembled about 300 toiletry kits for unaccompanied minors—children who have entered the U.S. without a legal guardian or parent, said Elizabeth Medina, dean of student services at Concordia. The project benefits the Southwest Key Program—a nonprofit organization that provides education, shelter and alternatives to incarceration to the Hispanic population, Medina said.
“This is the first of many opportunities these students will have to make a positive impact on this community beyond our campus,” she said.
