Scholarships Awarded to SAISD Seniors

This month,157 students were awarded over $276k in scholarships through the SAISD Foundation. Together with our community partners and proud SAISD alumni, we had the honor of recognizing graduating seniors for their academic achievements. About half of the scholarships are renewable for a second year, an important aspect for students to have as we work to increase student persistence through college to degree completion. 

We kicked off our scholarship award season at Young Men’s Leadership Academy where senior Alfonso was awarded the Rosas Family Scholarship. He has chosen to pursue a degree in music, inspired by his grandmother. Alfonso explained, “Music has always been central in my life. Seeing my abuela’s joy when she hears familiar songs, despite her Alzheimer's, inspired me to become a music therapist. My goal is to create personalized music therapy programs for Alzheimer’s care.”

By reducing financial barriers, scholarships enable students to focus on their studies and personal development, leading to higher graduation rates and more successful careers. Through scholarships, we invest in our future leaders, ensuring that they have the resources and support they need to achieve their dreams and make meaningful contributions to our communities. Learn more about how to sponsor a scholarship with the SAISD Foundation.

In-district Robotics Competition

SAISD students competed in the district-wide FIRST LEGO League Robotics Competition at Edison High School on May 18, 2024. The competing schools included Wilson and Maverick for the elementary division and Harris, Rhodes, Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier, and Young Women's Leadership Academy for the middle school division. Each round lasted only two and a half minutes and students worked hard until the last second adjusting their robot’s programming to ensure it completed the obstacles the way they intended. Strong teamwork and problem-solving skills were critical for students to be successful. 

Maverick Robotics Coach and Fourth Grade Teacher Venessa Yracheta said the students had practiced for the competition as soon as they received their materials in February. Maverick students were dedicated to learning how to work with their robot, warmly named, Gerald. Yracheta said the growth in each student has also been remarkable. “[The growth] is incredible. 

Not only the teamwork has grown them, the camaraderie, but just the creativity, the logistics behind it, the coding programming as well.” 

Expanding the opportunity for our youngest students to compete in robotics has also been important to growing their confidence when working in robotics. “It's just been a great pleasure to see them grow in all areas,” said Yracheta. “This will be our 2nd year that Maverick Elementary has had the robotics competition. We have one veteran on the team, but everyone else is super new to the experience.” When younger students have the opportunity to participate in these competitions, it allows them to build their confidence and appreciation for the sport as they move up in grade levels. “I like to tell them that we're kind of setting the foundation for the middle school level, that's more competitive. But the experience in itself is just so rewarding, win or lose.”

Kudos to Maverick and YWLA who ultimately came out on top for their respective divisions. 

Thank you to The Harvey E. Najim Charitable Foundation for supporting the SAISD Foundation to fund this competition and the equipment schools need as we work to expand robotics programing in San Antonio ISD so more students can come together and build their skills! You too can support students in robotics by donating at SAISDFoundation.com/donate with “Robotics” in the comments. Have skills in that area? We are also in need of additional community coaches to join our teacher leads. Email us at SAISDFoundation@saisd.net.

13th Annual Inspire Awards

Each year, our Inspire Awards Nominations Committee faces the rewarding and difficult challenge of selecting distinguished SAISD alumni to recognize from an outstanding pool of candidates. We are excited to announce our 2024 alumni honorees for the 13th Annual Inspire Awards: Dr. Ellen Riojas Clark (Edison), Bobby Perez (Jefferson), Pablo Rodriguez (Lanier) and the Honorable Xavier Rodriguez (Burbank). Over the coming months, we will share more about their inspiring stories and we look forward to celebrating them on Wednesday, October 23, 2024.

Events like this wouldn't be possible without the dedication of strong event chairs. For 2024, we are grateful to have four fabulous event chairs: Deborah Amini, Elaine De Los Santos (Jefferson), Walter Embrey (Jefferson) and Tiffany Grant (Brackenridge).

This year, for the first time, we are also introducing a Host Committee for the event. Members of the Host Committee are individuals or companies who commit by July 1st to both sponsoring the event and promoting others to join this celebration. Our Host Committee to date includes Shari Albright, Charles Butt Foundation; Ernest Bromley (Jefferson), Pescador Public Strategies; Alexandra Frey, 80|20 Foundation; Lilia Gibson, Linebarger; Letty Gonzales (Highlands), Generations Federal Credit Union; Debra Guerrero, NPR Group; Gary Joeris, Joeris General Contractors; Marisa B. Perez-Diaz, Firstmark (Edison); Suzanne Peterson, Frost Bank, Erika Robinson, Trinity; and Minnie Sanchez, Andrade Van de Putte (Highlands).

There is still time to join our host committee. Email Executive Director Judy Geelhoed at jgeelhoed@saisd.net or call her at (210) 554-2235.

Become an event sponsor today by visiting our Inspire Awards webpage. You can play an integral role in celebrating our San Antonio ISD alumni while inspiring our next generation of leaders. 

State of the District Recap

In partnership with the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, we welcomed more than 200 nonprofit, government, education and business leaders to hear about the opportunities that lie ahead for the district through a student lens at the beautiful Red Berry Estate earlier this month. Guests were greeted by the Fox Tech/ALA/CAST Tech mariachi and walked through the saber arch from Brackenridge JROTC. Students from Highlands and Sam Houston High Schools demonstrated their STEM learning by flying drones and operating their competition robot. 

Students from the SAISD Student Advisory Council emceed the event and drove content. They began by leading a Q&A session with Superintendent Jaime Aquino and Board President Christina Martinez, before sharing their own research on the needs of more than 700 students they interviewed in focus groups this spring. “The phrase I am taking away is ‘amplify our voices,’” SAISD Foundation Executive Director Judy Geelhoed said to the 40 Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council members after they concisely and passionately conveyed the State of the District from the student perspective.

We were proud to showcase our students' talents and amplify their voices at the State of the District. Thank you to the many guests who shared their reflections as well as their own calls to action for our community in our efforts to power public education in the heart of our city, 

If you missed the event, you can see both the recap and the full event video. You can also share how you would like to engage with our students and we will be in touch.

Book Buddies: Wow, What a Year!

The SAISD Foundation Book Buddies program served approximately 10,000 students this school year alone and facilitated the delivery of 60,000 books for students to take home to build their home libraries. More than 800 volunteers provide thousands of students with easy access to books, annually. The program brings in volunteers from local colleges, high schools, businesses and associations.

Every Saturday, 20-50 volunteers sort, clean and prep new and gently-loved books to load on the Book Buddies Bus for its next school delivery. The bus is an SAISD school bus remodeled by SAISD transportation staff with funding through the SAISD Foundation. The SAISD Transportation Department has since dedicated a driver and assistant to bring the bus for weekly loading and school deliveries. During the San Antonio Book Festival in April, 100 visitors hopped on board to visit the Book Buddies Bus and take home a book or two. As a model program, the Book Buddies Bus was recognized in April with Outstanding Achievement Award at the Texas Education Foundation Network annual conference.

With our growth, we are launching a new volunteer platform to streamline volunteer registration, sign-up and tracking - Bloomerang Volunteer. Volunteer shifts are available all summer as we get books ready for school year programming. Current volunteers, we welcome you to sign up for our Saturday June session as you always have. We will begin to use the new platform in July. We welcome all current volunteers and new volunteers to click here in the new system to register and to sign up for our July sessions now in this family-friendly volunteer activity where children of all ages are welcome. Learn more about how you can impact the Book Buddies programs as a volunteer. 

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