Ingenuity
TIMES
Online Publication for Harmony School of Ingenuity
Previous Stories
HS-ING hosts annual Fall Festival
By Genelle Shepard, 10th-grade, and Max Candido, 11th-grade
Harmony School of Ingenuity hosted its annual Fall Festival in November.
The event was organized for everyone, including students, friends, family and staff. The festival featured games, food and music. They also had face painting, a dunk tank, henna and a cake walk. The staff served hot dogs, nachos, empanadas and bottled water and soda.
The Fashion Club designed the whole festival with the help of EvaTavera, Counseling Assistant and club sponsor at HS-ING.
“I wanted the students to be involved and learn event-planning skills,” Ms.Tavera said, adding she was focused on the students’ academic skills.
The students handmade the games and colored them, such as the decor around the photo booth and cake walk. They made the event very colorful, she said.
Various students donated food, drinks and games.
“I liked the games. The events were very fun. I also enjoyed the nachos!” Wences Candido, an HS-ING parent, said.
HS-ING places second in third annual Houston Rockets’ food drive contest
By Genelle Shepard, 10th grade
Harmony School of Ingenuity had its third year with the Houston Rockets’ Food for Families drive. This year the school placed second with 1,888 cans donated.
HS-ING also won second place last year by collecting more than 5,000 food items, and Dwight Howard visited students as a reward. In the school’s first year of its partnership with the Rockets, HS-ING won first place and Jeremy Lin visited the campus.
Teachers, staff, and students contributed in donating cans.
“We wanted to give back to the community,” said Anh Duong, Dean of Discipline for High School.
The school also had its own competition among the homerooms. The winning class, Maria Rives’ 12th-grade class, donated 521 cans. Tori Burton, a senior, donated 150 cans.
“I wanted the seniors to make a lasting impression on the school,” Mrs. Rives said.
The seniors received tickets to the Rockets game, a pizza party and a free dress day. Mrs. Rives also baked them cupcakes.
“I think events like this really tie in to kids who witness starvation and that like to help other people,” she said.
Ahlam Gani’s ninth-grade homeroom came in second place with 404 cans. HS-ING’s basketball team also donated 526 cans.
Ingenuity basketball team has new structure, expectations for 2014
By Khristien White, 11th- grade
A coach and his team kicked off their basketball season at Harmony School of Ingenuity Dec. 4.
Coach Jarvis Davis said the team can dominate on the court by gaining a level of structure and improving on and off the court. This will produce “socially responsible basketball players that can also win,” he said.
In the gym, called “The Lab” by the team, the players have been doing a lot of workouts, getting stronger mentally and physically for the upcoming season.
This is the first year Coach Davis, Information Technology Manager at HS-ING, has served as head coach. He also has a new staff: Assistant Coaches John Duffy, middle school math teacher, and Justin Marshall, HS-ING alumnus, and Volunteer Assistant Ramiz Razzouq, computer teacher.
Coach Davis said everyone is still adjusting to the new staff and structure being implemented at practice. Off the court everyone is expected to abide by contract rules which each player signed and agreed to in the first quarter of the school year. On the court everyone is to fulfill their position and know their place on the team, he said.
The team has several returning players this year.
“If work is put in at practice the team will make it to the championship,” said Senior Guard Darius Clay. “Coach has influenced the team to be better.”
Over a hundred dollars generated in HS-ING fundraiser
By Jessi Rubio Rios, 11th grade
The Harmony School of Ingenuity Video Game Club raised double what they had hoped during a weekend charity event in November.
The club earned $229 to donate to Texas Children’s Hospital.
Video Game Club President Marc Cornejo and Co-founder Jonathan Choo planned the event with the goal of raising one hundred dollars. Admission was three dollars, but they also accepted any other donations.
When asked if they would do it again, Cornejo responded, “It was fun and successful, but it is not likely that we will have another one before the semester ends”.
HS-Ing plans on constructing a canopy
by Mario Arcos 11th Grade
Harmony School of Ingenuity have plans to construct a canopy behind the school building during the spring semester.
The East West Bank gave the school a $10,000 check to help construct a canopy to protect students from any weather conditions.
In the 2013-2014 school year, a program sponsored by the Houston Rockets and East West Bank was held to teach middle school students how to save and spend their money wisely. After completing the program, the East West Bank offered to extend the back of the school building, and sent the $10,000 to Harmony during the summer of 2014.
Due to recent unexpected weather conditions, the construction of the canopy is mainly necessary for protecting the students during dismissal on rainy days. Currently without the canopy, students are to stay inside the building while they wait for their parents. During a personal interview with Anh Duong, Dean of Discipline for High School, Duong states, “Rainy day dismissal will be different. We would actually be able stand outside because of the canopy.”
Alex Urbima, Assistant to the AP of Operations, stated how he feels about the canopy, “ I think it’s a pretty good idea, especially when we have rainy days, for dismissal purposes.”
As of now, the deadline of the construction of the canopy is unknown, but the Doung hopes the the canopy will be completed after the winter break.
Locker searches, drug dogs part of school safety initiative
By Miracle Mitchell 11th-grade
Harmony School of Ingenuity will have locker searches and inspections by drug dogs occasionally this school year to help with student safety and campus security.
This initiative began about two years ago as part of Harmony Public Schools’ district policy, Tameka Germany, HS-ING Dean of Discipline for Middle School, said.
“We want to make sure nothing [dangerous] is being brought to our campus,” Mrs. Germany said.
The school has a contract with a company to bring in their dogs for drug checks or anything of that nature, Mehmet Yetis, HS-ING Principal, said.
“I signed the contract to give us service to bring their dogs to sniff around the whole building, including the parking lot and all offices,” Mr. Yetis said. “It's for the students’ good. Drug dogs are for their safety and to make their educations better. Parents and teachers have good feedback about it."
The official protocol for accomplishing locker searches is to randomly choose grades/sections of lockers to search, Mrs. Germany said.
“We try to keep it random because we don't want any students to feel that they're being targeted. We want to keep it fair and consistent," she said. "Male and female staff members are assigned. We also wear gloves and search everything in the entire locker for hazardous items or anything that affects the safety of the school."
When they find any contraband, weapons or any school code violations within a locker, the next step is to find out which student is assigned to the locker.
"We identify the locker and find out who it belongs to, then ask the student if it's their locker. If the student claims the locker, we investigate the item, and if it's illegal, we use law enforcement."
The student’s consequence—such as detention, suspension or expulsion—depends on what was found and why, which typically involves a meeting with the student’s parents, she also said.
School Book Fair raises $1,500
By Salvador Borroel, 10th-grade
Harmony School of Ingenuity students purchased more than 50 copies of the newest book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series at the school’s Scholastic Book Fair in November.
The book fair raised $1,500 for the school, which will be used to buy new books for the library, HS-ING Librarian Martha Moran said.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul was the best seller among middle school students, as well as pens with invisible ink, she said. Even though the book fair was mainly for high school students, not many older students went to the fair, she said.
"I hope we can order more popular books, like the Percy Jackson and Divergent series” to attract more customers, Edgard Rodriguez, 7th-grade English Language Arts teacher, said.
The next book fair will take place in the spring.
HS-ING students get peek at Renaissance times
By Daisy Baez, 10th-grade
The students of Harmony School of Ingenuity went to the Renaissance Festival in Todd Mission in October.
At the festival students got to experience how life was in Renaissance times.They got to taste some of the food, like the turkey leg.They also got to see and buy clothes worn back then. Students also experienced henna, jousting, face painting, and various rides.
“The students love going,” said Maria Rives, U.S. History teacher and organizer of the field trip.
This year sophomores, juniors and seniors went on the trip. A day that was supposed to be fun and educational for the students turned into a cold, muddy and rainy day.
"My shoes were all muddy, and my clothes were all wet because I didn't have an umbrella," said Stephanie Teran, a 10th-grader.
Even though it was a rainy day, students said they still managed to have fun.
Ingenuity Tigers have playoffs
By Daniel Martinez, 11th grade
Harmony School Of Ingenuity make it to their first playoffs last Friday
Expectation for playoffs? “We hope to win and get far in the tournament”
The team has never been to the playoffs so this will be new to them.
They have had three different coaches in two years.
” It was a struggle to get to playoffs with all the new players that we have now the young talent that we have.” The coach, Jarvis Davis, tries to teach the players well.
This team actually has a lot of potential they do not have a star player, everyone is equal.
During practice they go over plays and try to execute them.
HS-ING teaches students and parents the benefits of AP classes
By Abraham Aguilar, 10th grade
Students and parents attended Advanced Program Night at Harmony School of Ingenuity Nov. 10.
The purpose of the AP Night was to inform students and parents about the benefits of taking Advanced Placement classes. Students who take AP classes lets colleges know they are ready for higher education.
By passing an AP exam, students can earn college credit. The students won’t have the need to take that course in college.
“You can save time and money by taking and passing the AP exams,” said Maria Rives, the AP Coordinator. “Students can save between $1,000 to $10,000.”
In Houston Community College, students can save $1,000 per course, in University of Houston students save $3,000 per course, and in Rice University students save $10,000 per course.
Ms. Rives is also the Chair of the Social Studies Department.
HS-ING students visiting colleges around Texas
By Saget Gomez
Harmony School of Ingenuity will be having field trips every month to colleges and universities across the state.
The purpose of these field trips is for students to experience the atmosphere of the university. Students will attend information sessions to learn about admission requirements, programs and scholarships. Also, a professor will give a seminar about challenges awaiting incoming students.
“Our goal is to reach all juniors and seniors first, also sophomores and freshmen,” said Cem Ayhan, Academic Counselor.
Usually the limit of students that can attend these trips is between 20 and 40.
“The trip was fun. I would go again,” said Lizette Vasquez, a 10th-grader who attended the recent trip to the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Students left Thursday for a trip to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
College field trips are open to all high school students with passing grades and less than fifteen DPS points.