The Tornadoes receiving ASC’s awards include seven men’s soccer team members, three women’s soccer team members, three volleyball team members and two cross country team members. Additionally, volleyball squad setter Nacole Miller was selected as the ASC West Newcomer of the Year.

Middle school gives back to community

While many local families were making plans for Thanksgiving, Hudson Bend Middle School students in Lake Travis ISD spent the Friday before the holiday helping their community. 

On Nov. 20, more than 1,100 of the school’s students volunteered with local organizations by preparing materials for animal rescue group All Things Wild, beautifying a garden at Bee Cave Elementary School, making cards and playing piano at assisted living center The Harbor at Lakeway, washing fire trucks for Lake Travis Fire Rescue, beautifying parks and wildlands, writing letters for service group LTLove, maintaining sports fields for the Lake Travis Youth Association and assisting in schools.

“Being selected as a 2014 Texas Schools to Watch, students and teachers at Hudson Bend Middle School have always done great things in the classroom,” Principal Mark Robinson said. “We also know the success of our school would not be possible without the support of parents, families and the great people of the Lake Travis community. The Day of Service is our way of giving back to this great community that supports all we do here in Lake Travis ISD.”

West Austin school to add kindergarten

Program will form first K-12 Episcopal school in CenTex

Students, parents and faculty at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School celebrated the ground breaking of the school’s new kindergarten building Nov. 5 at the Lower and Middle School campus, 1112 W. 31st St., Austin. The school, which maintains its Upper School campus in Southwest Austin, 5901 Southwest Parkway, will house its new 48-student kindergarten program in a former Daughters of Charity residence at the intersection of Bailey Lane and Wabash Avenue in Austin.

The $3.5 million renovation project is set to be complete by August and will establish the school as the first and only K-12 Episcopal school in Central Texas, Lower School Division head Kama Bruce said. Capital campaign program funds will be used for the building renovations, furnishings, and as an endowment for the operation and maintenance of the facility.

“From a developmental and educational standpoint, our job is to build a strong relationship between [students] and learning,” Bruce said. “When I build a class of students, I’m building a learning culture. At a younger age, [children] are much more curious and excited. It is truly an ideal age to [begin teaching], and we haven’t had that in the past.”

He said the kindergarten program will allow the school to access a greater pool of students, including children who have previously started and maintained their education at a school with a kindergarten program. The broader range of kindergarten students will create a more diverse learning culture, he said.

Eleanor Hall, the name given to the kindergarten building, will include 5,000 square feet of indoor space, including a Makerspace classroom for innovation, play areas, music classrooms, a chapel and special reading/academic areas. The grounds will add an exploration space and gardens.

School adds business incubator course

Westlake High School students will be offered a choice of 10 new courses for the 2016-17 school year, including a business incubator selection. The Eanes ISD school board approved the new course offerings at its Nov. 17 meeting. 

The business incubator course will focus on helping students learn the principles necessary to begin and operate a business and will serve students seeking authentic entrepreneurship experiences, EISD Superintendent Tom Leonard said.

“This to me is a very exciting time,” said Jennifer Salas, EISD board of trustees vice president. “[Students] can enter a class and explore a passion they didn’t know they had.”

The course will primarily be available to high school juniors and seniors, with sophomores given consideration after upperclassmen have been placed, Leonard said.

Program costs will be provided through private donations with no required student fees proposed, he said.

The business incubator course will get students excited about entrepreneurship and the future, Salas said.