What to Wear to WorkNext School Week?

When you plan your wardrobe for next week, February 3-7, please consider supporting two important initiatives for Mesquite ISD and our community.

On Monday, please join Mesquite ISD staffers and students in wearing a college jersey to kick off our College & Career Week. While it’s a good way to show off your allegiance to your alma mater or favorite sports team, it also exposes our students to many options to consider after high school.

On Friday, the city of Mesquite will be the first in America to “go red.” Let’s join the American Heart Association and City of Mesquite by wearing red. The Go Red Campaign https://www.goredforwomen.org/ promotes heart disease prevention. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States, claiming more lives than all forms of cancer combined.

Hope to see your college wear on Monday and see you in something red Friday.

Mesquite to Host Destination ImagiNationRegional Competition; Volunteers Needed

Just as our stadiums are popular spots for playoff football games and area marching band competitions, our schools often host academic competitions. Poteet High School, for example, will be working overtime as the site for the upcoming Destination ImagiNation (DI) regional competition on Saturday, March 1.

With some help from the Austin Elementary campus as well, the two schools will host the DI East Texas Region Creative Problem Solving Tournament.

Out of the 300 teams competing, I’m proud to say that 160 will be from Mesquite ISD.

Thank you to the faithful appraisers and judges who, year after year, help make this highly creative, engaging learning competition possible. Our challenge now, though, is that DI keeps growing in popularity here. As a result, more adult volunteers are needed than ever.

If you’d like to get involved, please save these dates: Saturday, February 1, for training in the morning, and Saturday, March 1, for volunteering at the tournament.

For more information, please call Russ Weeks at 972-882-7275.

Let’s Continue to Bring Outthe Best in Our Students

Before school began this year, our teachers, principals and other school leaders talked over the summer about heroism. We reminded ourselves that we have the potential to become heroes in our students’ lives.  This opportunity spans from simply lifting a student’s mood one day to being the one to set him or her on a successful career path. So many of us remember at least one teacher’s piece of advice, kernel of knowledge or action that changed us forever.

You might say Shaw Elementary’s PE staff members are second-grader Kloie Oguntodu’s heroes. While teaching football punting, passing and kicking skills to all Shaw students, PE teacher Noah Wood identified Kloie’s potential early this school year. Since then, PE assistant Rick Grady and Wood have coached her to outshine and outscore several million girls her age. Working with her daily at school and partnering with her parents and grandparents for more support, they’ve helped her earn a spot to compete at this weekend’s NFL Punt, Pass & Kick (PP&K) National Championship.

Believe it or not, Shaw Elementary has produced three national contenders for the P,P&K contests. And year after year, several Shaw students make it to the three-state round of competition held at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium that leads up to the national round.

Best of luck to Kloie on Saturday’s competition. And let’s continue to work together to bring out the best in all our students.

Please pass along other examples of heroism by Mesquite ISD teachers or other staffers you've witnessed this year.