Student Safety Priority One

Around 11 am on March 9th a bat flew into a classroom in “C” build-ing while a class was in session.

Students rushed out of the room. Kayla Williams stated, “Edward Walker threw a spray bottle at the bat and knocked it out of the air.”

The bat fell on the teacher’s desk near the computer mouse and appeared to be dead.

Staff member Kevin Robin-

son was walking in the hall when the incident happened. Mr. Robinson immediately called the main office and diffused the excited crowd.

Principal Williams had the bat removed and contacted the city’s Health Department and HISD’s Pesticide Department. She also requested for HISD’s Construction and Facilities De-partment to inspect the building.

Letters were sent home to par-ents explaining that a thorough inspection of the building would take place and that student safety is priority at Madison.

“Students in my Saturday sew-ing class are creating storage containers for the High School Students United With NASA To Create Hardware Pro-gram,” explained Ms. Hubbard.

The storage containers cre-

ated by Madison students are used to prepare for when as-tronauts visit the space station.

Madison has participated in the program for two years.

Presently, the students are cre-ating a video that explains

how the storage containers are made in the classroom for the NASA astronaut program.

Students Create Storage Containers for NASA

Mr. Kessier from the NASA program works with student Mickelyn Washing-ton in Ms. Hubbard’s Class

End of Construction Date Near by Carlton Coleman

The campus renovation is scheduled to end next month. The Ready to Occupy Date is May 2012. The renovation scope includes electrical upgrades, fire and life safety upgrades, mechanical and plumbing upgrades, minor roof repairs, technology upgrades and ADA code compliance upgrades. The budget cost is $5,164,000.

Above is a picture of the renovation of the Science building.

Below is a picture of one of the new air conditioning units on the roof and trees for the landscaping. Also, below there is a picture of the new plumbing in the floor of the science building. In addition, there is a photo of the new rest room floor tile.

Perks for Reading

If you are a frequent reader, check out 2 or more books per week and you qualify for a spe-cial ID badge that allows you to visit the library during your lunch time.

If you check out 3 or more books per week, you qualify for a Mad-ison car magnet decal or special wrist band to be awarded at the end of the grading cycle.

Seniors, if you complete the Commit to Library Initiative Program, you can qualify to be presented with a black cord to be worn with your regalia at the graduation ceremony symboliz-ing your commitment to reading and literacy.

See Ms. Young in the library.

Time Running Out for Attendance Appeals

Attendance appeals hours can be made up after school from 4:00pm to 5:00pm and Saturday 9:00am to 12:00pm. For each class period that was missed, one hour of appeals will be required. See Ms. Jefferson for details.

Seniors Prepare for Graduation Exercises

Senior Fees Due

The final deadline for purchas-ing the Bundled and Individual Off-Campus Activities is April 26, 2012.

Ticket to Schlitterbahn - New Braunfels ($110.00) (Snack, Lunch, Senior Gifts).

Senior Breakfast/ ($40.00) (Ac-tivities/Senior Gifts).

Ticket to H&H Ranch ($70.00) (Lunch, Activities, Senior Gifts).

Ticket to Six Flags over Arling-ton ($110.00) (Snack, Lunch, Senior Gifts). Daily Bus Trans-portation

Genesys Works Job Program

by Jessenia Salinas

Genesys Program teaches stu-dents responsibility and students are paid while working and gain-ing valuable hands-on knowl-edge about business etiquette, conflict resolution and proper communication skills.

During the school year, students attend classes in the morning and work in a professional office set-ting in the afternoon.

According to Ms. Foster, the 2011-2012 participants were: Deandre Collins, Paloma Del Valle, Jacqueline Mendoza, Stephanie Montesino, Rodolfo Penaloza, Jaelen Randolph, Nijahnik Robinson, and Edward Stennis.

Ms. Hobbs is over the VAC program and Mr. Roquemore is over the Off Campus Vocational Training (CBVI) program.

The VAC program provides in-struction in the vocational skills area. The Off Campus Voca-tional Training (CBVI) of Career Development Services is the link between the classroom and the community.

Ms. Hobbs and Mr. Roquemore are responsible for student em-ployment training in a variety of job clusters to determine the best match for a student’s skills and likes. Once a student is pro-ficient in the skills needed at a particular site, they rotate him/her to another site. As closely as possible, the CBVI training sites should match the student’s inter-ests and strength.

Mr. Roquemore stated, “It is a great blessing for the child to have his own occupation and to be able to provide for himself.” Ms. Hobbs added, “Students should strive for the top because the bottom is full.”

CIS coordinates the Summer Youth Employment Program to expose Madison High School Juniors and Seniors to career op-portunities.

During the summer, CIS can place up to 200 students in jobs and internships at a variety of local businesses, hospitals, law firms and non profits.

Students are matched with a pro-fessional mentor to foster their development.

Interested students should visit the CIS office on Madison’s campus today.

Community Based Instruction by Shanara Hope

Communities in Schools Jobs by Brian Smith

Texas Southern New Admission Standards by Luckett, Patricia-Researched by Brian Mars

Texas Southern University had an “open-admission” policy which allowed any student who graduated from high school to be granted admission to the university, without consideration of their ability to be successful in college-level classes. This caused many students to enroll at the university but not graduate within a specific time period.

As a result of our low graduation rate, we recently implemented new admission guidelines to ensure students have a chance of being suc-cessful at TSU. To be considered for admission for the fall 2012 semester, students must have a minimum 2.5 grade point average (on 4.0 scale) with either an 820 SAT score (critical reading and math sections) or 17 ACT score.

With the new admission standards, we have seen both our graduation rate increase, and we anticipate our graduation rate will continue to increase as we admit more college-ready students.

Hispanic College Highlight by Michelle Cora

The top colleges or universities that have high graduation rates for Hispanics are: Florida International University (FIU), Uni-versity of Texas-Pan American (UTPA), University of Tex-as-Brownsville and Texas A&M International University.

TAMIU in Laredo is home to four colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences, the A. R. Sanchez Jr. School of Business, the College of Education and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences with its Dr. F. M. Canseco School of Nursing.

The campus recently completed Phase V of its Master Plan, includ-ing the Center for the Fine and Performing Arts’ Theatre and the Kinesiology, Wellness and Recreation Center.

A new Student Success Center was opened this past fall.

The campus complex represents a nearly $200 million investment in higher education in Texas.

Qualified high school students attaining Junior or Senior status may seek early enrollment to TAMIU for purpose of gaining credits in University-level classes.

Students must apply through www.applytexas.org. No application fee nor essay or personal statement is required.

At Texas A&M International University, enrollment qualifications are the following:

RANK SAT®* Minimum ACT™** Minimum Top 10% None† None† First 40% None† None† Low 60% 900 19-Composite Score

Paying for College by Jamie Campos

TEXAS Grants, a need-based grant program that covers tuition and fees at most institutions, is only available to Texas residents. Students unable to prove U.S. citizenship may establish residency if they graduated from a Texas high school, have lived in the state for three years before applying and sign an affidavit indicating their intent to apply for permanent residency status as soon as possible.

You only have to complete one financial aid application (either the FAFSA or the TASFA) to start the process.

Lamar University is offering scholarships to graduating seniors who plan to pursue a degree in a pre-professional field (such as pre-med).

Stop by the CIS office in Building “B”, Room 506 and speak with Mr. Mercado or Ms. Hawkins for more contest detail information on $1500.00, $2500.00 and $5,000.00 scholarships that are hosted by the Texas Hospitality Association.

Scholarships on the Net

www.advocacy-net.com/scholamks.htm

Fast WEB Scholarship Search

www.Fastweb.com/

Harry S. Truman Scholarship

www.truman.gov/

Hispanic College Fund

www.hispanicfund.org/scholar.html

Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholarships

www.jackierobinson.org

Hispanic Scholarships and Financial Aid Information

www.scholarships.com

United Negro College Fund with Information on Scholarships

www.uncf.org

Hispanic Caucus Institute Scholarship Information

www.chci.org

Scholarship Search Engine

www.scholarships101.com

Free Application for Student Aid

www.fafsa.ed.gov

Texas College and Universities, Requirements, Cost.

www.thecb.state.tx.us

Ron Brown Scholar Program

www.ronbrown.org

Explore private colleges in Texas admission deadlines, require-ments, fees find ways to fund college

www.texasmentor.com

ACT Application

www.act.org

Marine Corps Scholarships

www.marine-scholars.org

Tylenol Scholarships

www.scholarship.tylenol.com

Lead Actor Ryann Williams

Madison’s play, The Actor’s Nightmare, lived up to its name at the one act UIL competition when Madison was disqualified for exceeding the time limit by 14 seconds.

Theatre director, Ms. Giles, spoke with the students about the disqualification. “I assured the students that it wasn’t their fault. I let them know that they earned all excellent scores,” she explained.

Based on UIL rules, Madison students were not allowed to re-ceive any awards nor advance to the next level of competition.

Madison students showed great character when they sat through the awards program and ap-plauded other schools.

Judge C. Lee Turner told Madi-son students, “I have seen The Actor’s Nightmare performed many times but never as great as your performance.” Mr. Turner was impressed with lead actor Ryann Williams and offered to speak with him privately about studying acting in college.

Outstanding cast members in-cluded Tomminique Cook, Samone Mathews, Khadejah Clarke, Kenneth Hill, Rickey McCoy, Allen Fuentes, Brandon Bolden, Orlando Clarke, Kevin Trujillo, Angel Gibbs, Eliseo Gurrrero, Chanise Cleveland, Gregorio Montes, and Damien Short.

dress or tuxedo rental. It’s not too late to apply for assistance this year. Students should just send an email to info@fairygod-motherprojec.com and request an application. If approved, you could be picking out prom attire at one of the organization’s up-coming shopping days (April 14 @ Milby HS or April 20 @ Sam Houston MSTC).

FFA Shows at Rodeo

Sydney and Chloe Dao Donate Fabric for

Scholarship

Sydney, sister to Chloe Dao with Jorge Ramirez. Sydney and Chloe donated fabric for the students to construct gar-ments for a scholarship competition.

Fashion Students Take Professional Photographs

Mr. Fuller’s Fashion students work with professional photographers Tasha and Kikki from Hayes Sears Photography and Marva Curtis who is the Portrait Studio Manager at JC Penny

Theatre Department Shows Character

At the Houston Rodeo this year, Madison FFA students showed animals they raised: Steers- Ar-rike Griggs, Darrion Goffney; Lambs- Sharon Guyen, Mimi Gyuen; Goats -Sharon Nuyen, Mimi Nuyen, Barrows- Carina Martinez, John Mendez, Juses Martinez, Chris Rose, Tay-lor Thomas, Little Ms Walker; Broilers(chickens) - Afiya and Brandy, Gonzales.

Dress design above by Jorge Ramirez. Designs by other students are below

Newspaper Staff Picks for Prom Dresses by

Stephanie Frausto

Below are dresses that are great for prom because they are cute and will impress everyone at the big dance.

If you want these types of dress-es for prom, you should go to “PROMGIRL” online.

These dresses range from $50.00 to $178.00, and the web-site has other prom dresses that cost up to $498.00.

“NEWYORKDRESS” online is where you will also see a fan-tastic variety of prom dresses. “NEWYORKDRESS” prices are from $396.00 to $590.00.

The Fairy Godmother Project was created in 2000 to help Houston students who lack the financial resources to pay for a

Yusila Espinal

Anna Ramirez

Ana Marquez

Lakrisha Sutton

Sosha Edwards

Debate Improves Student Skills by

Chanelle Wiggins

The debate team is a competi-tive style of argumentation that enhances students analytical and research abilities. Each year Madison’s students attend a minimum of six tournaments that include a two day competi-tion over the weekend.

The debate team goes all over the city debating at different schools. All the students on the team really enjoy being part of the team.

Ms. Montgomery said, ‘’In or-der to be a debater, you must be passing all of your courses per UIL rules. However, as a debater students must strive to achieve well above a 70 average. Not only does the debate team help you increase your reading and vocabulary skills, it also helps you become ‘quick on your feet’ when it comes to speaking with others.’’

Currently there are 15 students on the debate team. Ms. Mont-gomery, Ms. Barrett and Mr. Ken Ogden are sponsors.

Student Success Academy Still OpenThe Madison Student Success Academy is still available after school Monday through Thursday from 4:00pm to 5:00pm in Building “D” to provide all Madison students an opportunity to receive assistance with tutorials, class work, projects and reports or with writing a pa-per. The library will also be available for computer use. You will be responsible for your own transportation. Please take advantage of this great opportunity.

Science Fair Winners

9th Grade Division:

1st Place: Pill Power by Jamie Russell and Tony White 2nd place: Heartbeat in Different Exercise by Jose Guevara, Bryan Medrano and Luis Pineda 3 r d Place: White vs. Wheat by Mark Diaz, Kennedy Harrell, Jacque-line Vasquez, Marvin Velasquez; Honorable Mention Mole Race by Mark Ina.

10th Grade Division: 1st Place: Marker Remover by Lelsy Turrbiantes and Rosa Ro-driquez 2nd place: Magic Marker by Marisol Castelan 3rd place: Candy Chromatography by Jacqueline Gonzalez and Alma Reyes.

11th Grade Division: 1st Place: Juiced PH by S. Bhat and K. Robinson 2nd place tied: Stick/Stones by Chris Chaison and Gender & Mem-ory by Kerla Cerna 3rd place: Foreign vs. U.S Cars by Shanique Wardall

Congratulations again from Science Fair Team: A. Captain, J. Giron and L. Johnson.

Sha’de Adedapo Selected All-

District 20-5A Girls Basket-

ball Team by Viridiana Carbajal

Sha’de Adedapo, Aundrea Pip-kins, and T’kyh Jones made the All-District 20-5A Girls Bas-ketball Team for 2011-2012. Shantrice Pickings, and Whit-ney Hawkins made the Second Team.

Sha’de Adedapo is a Junior on the varsity team at James Madi-son High School. She averaged 13.5 points per game. Her most memorable game this year was when Madison defeated Sam Houston, and she scored 15 points.

Sha’de said, “I’ve been an athletic girl since I was in elementary school where I played foot-ball. Since my middle school didn’t have

football, I decided to play bas-ketball.”

When she was a sophomore at James Madison High School, she had proven to the coach that she deserved to be on the varsity team.

Sha’de loves basketball and wants to bring the championship trophy to Madison at the end of the 2012-2013 season.

Football Scholarships-

by Chris Harris

Coach Pat Reinecke expressed that he was proud of the young men who received scholarships this year.

Chris Rose and Cleveland Sim will join other former Madison football players, Tunde Idowu, LeDarryae Groover, Rickey Simpson and Raymundo Car-dova at Prairie View A&M Uni-versity.

Charles Phillips, Jeremiah Ea-ton, Jamarcus Burks, Ricky Mc-Coy, and Angel Aguilera earned scholarships to play football at Valley City State University in Valley City, North Dakota. The Valley City State University Vi-kings rank number 4 in Division I in pass defense per game.

Reginald Smith will travel to Texas College in Tyler, Texas.

Joshua Rogers will attend Lon Morris in Jacksonville, Texas.

Delandon Driver will play for Trinity Valley Community Col-lege in Athens, Texas.

Power Lifter Goes to State

March 23rd at the Boys State Meet - Division 1, Roderick Wiltz placed 5th in Power Lift-ing.

Roderick was able to Squat 670 lbs, Bench Press 365 lbs and Dead Lift 600 lbs.

Coach Pat Reinecke has been building the Power Lifting pro-gram at Madison for over a de-cade. Reinecke, reported in the Houston Chronicle, “Anyone who’s been to a Power Lifting tournament knows what an excit-ing sport it is. Power Lifting is a big deal in a lot of small towns.”

Madison High Needs a Celebrity

Week by Rolando Campos

Is there someone who can steer Madison students into a positive direction? Someone who has ex-perience in making the Ameri-can dream come true? Someone who knows the business industry and how to teach kids to make money?

That celebrity may be Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris– what has he not done? World renown actor, mar-tial artist (8th degree black belt grand master) and activists. He has helped with many organi-zations such as Funds for Kids, The United Way, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He is a man who is obviously living the American dream. He is one who students might consider a leader.

Now, the question is: How can Chuck Norris lead students into

a positive future?

He can come to Madison to in-spire our students to do better in school and pursue a positive career, whether it’s money mak-ing or working for a good cause. Who knows, having contact with a celebrity of his stature might be in the financial interest of our school.

Yes, I think we need a Celebrity Week and Chuck would make a great celebrity first choice.

Ms. Beverly Moore was featured in the magazine Fort Bend Life-styles and Homes.

Ms. Moore is a member of Sub-urban Sugar Land Women. The organization provides commu-nity services in the area of edu-cation. They also create cultural programs that build confidence, expand knowledge and offer skills needed to succeed in life.

Madison Teacher Featured in Ft. Bend Magazine

New Special Ed Teacher by

Estefany Sanchez

One of the many new teachers at James Madison High School is Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Johnson is a Special Educa-tion teacher. He teaches students in 9th-12th grades. He has been a teacher for 7 years and has to teach every subject.

“I came to teach at Madison be-cause Madison has a great his-tory,” Mr. Johnson said. “I want to improve the quality of life for my students.”

Mr. Johnson became a teacher because he loves to work with kids.

“My educational philosophy is: education, when taken seriously, is a passport to future success.”

When it comes to Facebook, lots of people say that there are a good and bad things.

One good thing is that you can meet new people, and you can also find family members who you haven’t heard from in a long time. It also helps you keep up to date on social events and business gather-ings. I like the fact that if you don’t have a person’s phone number, you can look them up on Facebook and send them a message when you have an important question or announcement. Most people enjoy the fun things like sending an invitation or a birthday wish.

But you have to be careful on Facebook because child molesters, rap-ists and other menaces to society use the site. All of their information is make-believe so that teenagers can think they are the same age.

Another problem that is getting a lot of attention on Facebook is cy-ber bullying.

So, don’t meet people you don’t already know on Facebook. Re-member, never post anything that you don’t want your parent or boss to read, and don’t make statements like, “We are going out of town this weekend.”

If you are an artist, do not post any of your creative works on Face-book because they can be stolen.

Facebook can put a smile on your face, but it can also turn a smile into a frown if you aren’t careful.

Message to Freshmen from a Senior by Leslie Gonzalez

I have always worked hard in school, and I stayed out of trouble be-cause I didn’t want to disappoint my mother. She was already disap-pointed because my older brother didn’t go to college.

Although I have always hated the fact that I attended 3 different high schools, I made the best of it since I like to meet new people. The one thing that really kept me going was the fact that I wanted to make my mother proud of me.

My GPA hasn’t been the best since I went to so many high schools. One year I did slack off a little since I didn’t want to be at that par-ticular school, and I thought by doing “bad” my mother would put me back in my old high school. Sadly my GPA as a senior is not in the top 10% of my class because I was childish and stubborn and didn’t think things through like a mature young adult when I was at the school I disliked.

I hope the freshmen at Madison High School won’t make the same mistakes that I made.

Two Faces of Facebook by Felipa Saldana