Hello Jaguar Community -

One of our campus' primary goals is to create a culture in which every student is involved in at least one activity, club, or extra-curricular program. It is our belief that if a student has at least one connection to the school, there are profound personal and academic benefits.

At the same time, one of our district's "hidden gems" is the Academic UIL program, which is a series of academic contests designed to highlight our students' abilities in various core subjects as well as oratory events. Academic UIL, then, is an incredible opportunity for any student to represent his or her campus and community in an exciting and valuable venue.

Many of you might remember that the Academic UIL program is quite strong at the middle school level, particularly at our two feeder middle schools. Johnson is committed to building upon the Academic UIL success of our future Jaguars at Bush and Tejeda and becoming equally known for its Academic UIL program.

The attached document provides a list of Academic UIL events, the Johnson coaches for each event, and their practice times and location. The document also lists the primary contests our campus will be entering this year. If your student has an interest in any of these subjects, please encourage him or her to visit with the event coach. It is important to note that prior experience is not necessary, and our coaches welcome and invite all students to be a part of the fun! If you have questions about specific contests, please contact that coach directly. If you have general questions about the Academic UIL program, please contact our campus coordinator, Ms. Christine Velasquez a cvelas4@neisd.net.

You may have noticed in a previous Schedule of Events that our orchestra recently competed at two separate TMEA Region Auditions, symphony and philharmonic. We are very excited to announce that ten students qualified for region in each event. Congratulations to Ms. George and her musicians!

Our cheer program is also entering its competition season and traveled to Cedar Park last week for the Fun Cheer Competition. Both our junior varsity and varsity squads took second place at the contest. Congratulations to Ms. McKinley and her athletes!

At the same time, our aquatics program recently wrapped up its dual (two campuses competing) season with both the boys and girls taking victories over O'Connor. In fact, the aquatics team went undefeated in all its duals this season. We wish Coach Holland and this athletes the best of luck as they enter the championship (full meet) season!

Looking ahead to this week, we would like to highlight tomorrow night's (Tuesday, November 17) General Membership PTA Meeting at 6:30 PM in the campus auditorium. Following the standard meeting protocol, our PTA has invited our campus STAN counselor, Ms. Carri Elliott, and Mr. Lucien Costley from the Region 20 Education Service Center Office of Safe and Drug Fee Schools to present on social and health issues related to teen dating and texting. It is important to note that because the topic will be presented in a very direct manner, the material is specifically geared for parents and other adults.

Finally, one of the interesting aspects of the Community Update is that, although I individually write it each weekend in preparation for the following Monday, it is, in many ways, a community project. Given the incredible number of events occurring at our school, trying to keep track of the various items to include and celebrate on my own would be a challenging and, I fear, unsuccessful endeavor. As a result, I rely on information and contributions from students, parents, and staff--including a very valuable and appreciated staff member who serves as editor. Granted, some weeks there is a general theme to the update that prevents me from including every suggestion, but I do purposefully try to work in nearly every item in a timely fashion, but I can only do so with your assistance.

As we head into the Thanksgiving Holiday, then, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the many community members who make this on-going project possible and successful!

Due to next week's holiday week, there will be no Community Update on Monday, November 23, but it will return on Monday, November 30. To accommodate for the week off, the Schedule of Events below lists three weeks out, rather than the normal two week window.

Have a great week and a restful holiday. If you are traveling, we wish you a safe journey.


Kristopher Wickerham
Principal
Claudia Taylor "Lady Bird" Johnson High School