Posted inSchool Pride, Education, NHS

Carter National Honor Society

Yuridia N. by Yuridia N.

The National Honor Society develops and promotes leadership, commitment, character, and community service; it is a national organization established to recognize outstanding high school students. NHS members have the opportunity to engage with their community and serve as a benefit to students’ future social and academic interactions.

Being a member of the National Honor Society represents an ethical, hardworking individual; Which demonstrates excellence in character and leadership both on-campus and community. You’ll need to be on top of school work academically and while in service.

“I wanted to be in a club where it helps the community and the school at the same time.” an NHS member said.
It recognizes and encourages academic achievement while developing character and leadership skills.

“The responsibilities of being an NHS member is; technically being committed and serving the community as well as being respectful,” said Esmeralda Loera. “Any NHS members understand that they are representing the school itself, people are going to look up to them, and they’re well aware of that.”

Some benefits of NHS are giving to the community, arranging activities to help the school out. Additionally, NHS allows students to make a difference for those in the community who are struggling or do not have enough.

“Giving back to the community by helping others, for example, on a past event we were on a toy drive in an Elementary school, and it was rewarding to see the smile on the kid’s faces after they all received a toy,” Loera said.

There are many responsibilities for the NHS; being trustworthy, being fair, caring for others, having citizenship, and being well informed of everything.

“When there was a big freeze during February in 2020, the NHS community helped out by volunteering at a food drive in Palmview and giving back,” NHS member Frida Beltran said.

Posted inEducation

The Care Academy

Ruby G. by Ruby G.

The Care Academy Program offers activities every day to help students “Become more independent.”

Starting from 18, students stay at an apartment-like building to learn the necessities needed to help their parents at home. By teaching the students how to do floral, cooking, and baking, students can think about potential future careers they could be interested in.

“We see them follow picture instruction recipes, programming themselves to see what is a teaspoon or a tablespoon. The same thing goes with the floral arrangements; they see the vision and want to copy it, sort of like Copycat Syndrome,” said Gustavo Sifuentes, one of the care academy instructors.

Because of the various learning levels, these students have due to their disabilities, teachers “Go to their level and bring them out.” With teachers bringing these students out of their shells to teach them new things, students can get a taste of what they like and what they can see themselves doing in the future.

“We do on-the-job training with students, but as if now because of COVID-19, we are not allowed to leave. Students clean and set up tables or whatever the restaurant tells them to do; they’ll go in and do it. I have students who enjoy doing certain things, and they see themselves doing such things in the future,” said Sifuentes.

With the growth of students doing these activities daily, they are getting closer to reaching their goals, moving one step forward closer to independence!

Posted inEducation

‘Students Need Different Food Options’

Francisca O. by Francisca O.

Students at Jimmy Carter Early College High School raise concerns about possible food waste.

“I think it’s pretty healthy, but I do know it’s hard for some students to eat it cuz they don’t like how it tastes,” Carolina Amador said.

Sophomore Kevin Martinez shared that on most days, he ends up throwing the food away. Students then progress through the day without appropriate nutrition or calories to maintain them.

“I will often find myself falling asleep in class cus’ I don’t have enough energy,” Martinez said.

“It does; I tend to get headaches after not eating, so what I do is just bring something from home,” Amador added.

“I think it’s a good idea because it’s kinda what kids eat at home, so if it’s available at school, I’m sure they’ll eat it in place of what they don’t know what to eat,” Amador said.

“Pues si se puede, nada mas que ahorita por la pandemia y todo eso, estamos enfocadas en un solo menú,” lunch staff said.

Posted inEducation, Community, Culture

Carter Holds Domestic Violence Awareness Vigil

by Ivan Silva

Student council hosts domestic violence awareness vigil.
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), October has been the designated month to promote and raise awareness for victims of domestic violence. The movement was officially launched in 1997.
“Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) was launched nationwide to connect and unite individuals and organizations working on domestic violence issues while raising awareness for those issues,” NCADV said.
The vigil held this morning involved students lighting candles during the ceremony as they listened to a speaker provide facts and statistics regarding domestic violence. Over fifty students gathered in the student union as they watched and listen to their council.
“I was glad we had a very good turn out, Mr. Bernal thought we would not have that turn out,” Daniela Flores, student council secretary said. “I was very glad that we were able to attract so many people. I am for sure that many kids have experienced or seen it. All of us have at least on a TV show.”
STUCO vice-president Domingo Bazan said that the event was focused on providing facts, statistics and observing a moment of silence to honor and pay respect to those “lights that have gone out”.
“I have had close relatives who have gone through that and I wanted to be respectful to those people that have gone through that,” junior Sebastion Marceliano said. “I saw a bunch of people holding candles and wearing a ribbon that symbolized that October is for Domestic Violence Awareness.”

Posted inCommunity, Photography

Small Class Sizes

by Ivan Silva

In this picture, you can see the number of kids there could be in a classroom. In this case, the teacher only has to give the lesson to that side of the room without worrying about other students being on the other side since there are only that many students. So what makes Carter good is the number of students on campus. Being a small number of people benefits teachers in managing things.

By: Oscar Vargas

Posted inSchool Pride, Community, Culture, Carter Update

Education and TAFE students at Jimmy Carter Early College High School are inspired and taking action as they return to on-campus instruction.

by Ivan Silva

Education and TAFE students at Jimmy Carter Early College High School are inspired and taking action as they return to on-campus instruction. There is no time to waste.
In September, senior Luis Aguilar, who serves as the Texas Association of Future Educators Area 1 Secretary, represented the school as Area 1 Officers gathered at Texas A & M University International in Laredo to plan for the Fall Conference, in which students will compete for an opportunity to advance to State and National levels in a variety of events which showcase skills which will help them in their teaching careers.
“As the Area Secretary, there has been plenty of debate whether the area one conference would be hosted virtually or in-person,” Aguilar said. “Recently, our state director, Donita Garza, passed away from Covid-19. This was a game-changer when we first heard the news, and it gave us area officers to make this year’s conference virtual due to the risk of Covid-19.”
Aguilar’s position allows him to organize the area, composed of school districts from Laredo to Brownsville and up to Corpus Christi. TAFE is a state-recognized CTO created to enable young men and women an opportunity to explore the teaching profession. The organization was created in 1984 to provide the best and brightest high school and middle school students in Texas with the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions about pursuing careers in education.
“In our school chapter, we still plan to do all the traditional events such appreciation, service, and fundraising projects. We are encouraging the student body to join our program to explore the teaching profession, especially to those who are undecided in what career they want to pursue,” Aguilar said.

This visit was also an excellent opportunity for the officers to explore the campus and meet with faculty in the Education Department.
The opportunity that we allow members is to use many valuable skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.