On behalf of the staff at the Robbie E. Howard Eighth Grade Center we welcome you back to school!! We are excited about this educational journey that we are about to begin and look forward to sharing the year with you. At the Howard 8th Grade Center, our goal is to ensure that you are successful in all that you do and that we remember to have fun along the way. Go Warriors!

1st Row:
Isamar Cornejo
Brittany Maze
2nd Row:
Ashley Sargent
Jose Garcia
Benji Garcia
Dillon Christiansen
Kaileyanna McCully
3rd Row:
Morgan McDaniel
Tressa Settlemyer
Dawn King
Courtney Miller
4th Row:
RJ Tarpley
Coleman Beddingfield
Rudolfo Maldonado
Jake Loose

For the first time in our history, Howard 8th Grade Center’s One Act Play placed number one in district. The play is called The Lie by Vaughn McBride.

Actors:
Colin Dacy
Savannah Summers
Benjamin Garcia
Luke Ritchie
Courtney Raye
Mia Washington
Alex Goodloe
Zack Garvin
Crew:
Emily Holbret
Amber Higbee
Daniella Gardano
Carolyn Van Zandt
Alternates:
Brad Baker
Mary Kate Clark

Special Honors went to:
Colin Dacy – All Star Cast
Savannah Summers – All Star Cast
Benjamin Garcia – Best actor
Carolynn Van Zandt - All Star Tech

The Play was directed by Ms. Charity Mullican, Mrs. Helen Sellers, and Mr. Ryan Mullican

I Big thank you to all those who volunteered to visit Howard 8th Grade Center for Drop Everything and Read! We look forward to your visit again next year:)

The month of January was a particularly busy one for students and staff of Howard 8th Grade Center as they researched and prepared for “Random Acts of Kindness Week” and for “Rachel’s Challenge”. The students learned more about the Columbine tragedy and they also heard about Rachel Joy Scott. Rachel was the first student shot and killed at Columbine, and her family and many other dedicated people have since started “Rachel’s Challenge”. The program is impacting young people and adults all across the United States.
Craig Scott, Rachel’s brother, came and spoke to the Howard students and to a standing room only crowd at the WHS Fine Arts Center on January 28, 2010. His powerful message teaching empathy, kindness, compassion, and acceptance toward others has started a “chain reaction” across Waxahachie ISD. “We look forward to the continuation of this powerful program”, said Martha Cunningham, counselor at Howard.
The Howard 8th Grade Center students also did activities during “Random Acts of Kindness Week” which was January 25-29. These activities were done during and through the advisory (Pride Time) classes. Each advisory class (33 in all) chose a facility or organization within Waxahachie to adopt for the remainder of the school year. Each class will be doing whatever possible to be thoughtful, kind, and helpful toward their prospective adopted facility. Some of the “adoptions” include places like the SPCA, various assisted living facilities, Daniel’s Den, Gingerbread House, Waxahachie Care, Salvation Army, and many others.
The Pride Time classes also made a paper chain on which the students wrote many of the “Random Acts of Kindness” that took place in their lives during that week at home and at school. In addition, the classes made large, red Valentine hearts and wrote notes of appreciation to adult staff and faculty of their choice at Howard that had made a positive impact on their lives. These notes will be distributed to those adults on Valentines Day.
As students were observed or “caught” performing acts of kindness on campus, they were given red coupons by the faculty. The school then had drawings during the week, and students’ coupons were randomly drawn from the RAK box for prizes donated by community merchants. A special thanks goes out to the following for their kind donations: Whataburger, Chick-Fil-A, Sonic, Marble Slab Creamery, Subway, and Johnny Carinos. Stories of kindness were read to the students during daily announcements, and the week culminated with the life changing presentation made to the Howard students and staff by Craig Scott of Rachel’s Challenge.

Howard 8th Grade Center’s special needs class worked with another group of Howard students to collect supplies to be sent to Haiti. The class went to Dollar Tree and each student purchased a towel, a wash clothe, a comb, a toothbrush, a bar of soap and some band aids. Then each student packed their supplies into a gallon zip-loc bag. The bags were being collected by a Girl Scout troop from Waxahachie to be sent to help the people of Haiti who are suffering because of the earthquake there.

A BIG thank you to all these students!

Monday 1-25-10
What is a Random Act of Kindness?
•Announcement “That’s So Random” from Project Wisdom (explanation of Random Act of Kindness Week and examples)
•Advisory classes will also plan and discuss the “adoption” of the nursing homes/assisted living facility, the SPCA, Waxahachie CARE, etc. in Waxahachie. If the advisory chooses one of the assisted living or nursing homes in Waxahachie, they could possibly find out the residents’ birthdays and make cards for them, make and send Valentines for them, and brainstorm and discuss different acts of kindness to perform for these special people. The following are some of the nursing home/assisted living facilities: Alterra Sterling House, Covenant Place, Buffalo Creek Assisted Living, Renfro Healthcare Center, and Pleasant Manor Living Center. We will also provide a complete list of many more possible choices for this activity.


Tuesday 1-26-10
Be Kind to Yourself
•Kindness story during announcements
•During announcements announce, “Those of you that received a Random Act of Kindness PRIDE POINT were caught performing Random Acts of Kindness toward your peers or adults.
•Advisory classes will be given enough red hearts for every student. On the hearts, the students will write Thank You cards (notes of appreciation) to someone that works in our school that has been a positive influence on their lives – examples could be teachers, administrators, custodians, cafeteria workers, crossing guard, etc. Those “hearts” will be given by the advisory teachers to Mrs. Cunningham and given to the recipients on Valentines Day.


Wednesday 1-27-10
Be Kind to Others
•Kindness story read during announcements, and also draw a few names of students whose names have been turned in for performing Random Acts of Kindness.
•During announcements: Tell students that we want all of them to go home tonight and ask their parents/guardians, “How was your day?” They will be asked tomorrow in advisory to write the response that the parents give them, and we guarantee that most of their parents/guardians will be pleasantly surprised that the students are asking them that question.
•PRIDE TIME tutoring will take place this day.

Thursday 1-28-10
Commit to Random Acts of Kindness
•Craig Scott from Rachel’s Challenge will speak to all of our students at 10:00 A.M. in the gym.
•Kindness story read during announcements, and also draw a few names of students whose names have been turned in for performing Random Acts of Kindness.
•Discussion of post-event questions concerning the assembly this morning.
•7:00-8:00 – Program at the Fine Arts Center with Craig Scott, speaker from Rachel’s Challenge.

Friday 1-29-10
•Final Kindness story of the week
•PRIDE TIME tutoring

Holiday Break
Friday, December 18th is NOT an early release day. Staff and students will have a regular scheduled day. Studetns will start back to school on Tuesday, January 5th. See you then!

Wednesday:
1st – Regular
2nd – Regular
3rd – Regular
4th - Normal - 1/2 test
5th – Normal class
6th - TEST 1:17 to 1:35 study. 1:35 to 2:44 test.
7th - Normal class

Thursday:
2nd - TEST 8:35 – 8:55 study. 8:55 to 10:00 test.
10:00 to 10:04 class change.
3rd – 10:04 – 11:01
4th - Normal - 1/2 of test (if needed)
5th – TEST 12:27 to 12:47 study. 12:47 to 1:54 test.
Class change.
6th - Normal
7th - TEST 2:07 to 2:27 study. 2:27 to 3:35 test.

Friday:
1st – Test 8:35 to 9:46
Class change – 9:46 to 9:50
3rd - TEST 9:50 to 11:01.
4th – Normal
PRIDE Party…

During Red Ribbon week Howard 8th grade students and staff took time to plant 400 red tulip bulbs donated to Howard 8th Grade Center by The Greenery. By planting the bulbs now, in honor of Red Ribbon Week, they should come up during Alcohol Awareness Month in April. Bulbs were planted around trees throughout the front and back of the campus. The bulbs will not only bring beautiful tulips but will also remind anyone who sees them the importance of recognizing alcohol awareness.

Congratulations to the following students for being selected Student of the Month!!

1st Row:
Cynethia Martinez, Hank Perkins, and Chelsea Jones

2nd Row:
Rebekkah Jones, Gerardo Garcia, Angelica Gonzales, Joel Flores, and Allyson Hyndman

3rd Row:
Yoshyr’a Skinner, Natalie Power, Austin Stracener, Payton Stewart, Elissa Trevino, and J.P. Wilker

To develop responsible, well-educated students who are capable of achieving their highest potential in a changing world.

Howard 8th Grade Center Motto
P.R.I.D.E Prepared-Respectful-Integrity-Determination-Encouraging