Learning to Get Back Up

GOOD MORNING AND HAPPY FRIDAY!

All Graham ISD Campuses Earn High Reliability Schools Level One Distinction! I am pleased to announce that all district campuses achieved Level 1 Certification in the Marzano High Reliability Schools™ (HRS) program.

Level 1 Certification indicates systems have been created and implemented to allow for  a “Safe and Collaborative Culture,” which is the foundation for every level of the HRS framework that follows. We all know that without a safe and orderly environment, learning will not occur! A campus culture that promotes safety and collaboration is crucial to student achievement, and the Level 1 assessment addresses and evaluates day-to-day operations to ensure these things are happening. In the Marzano program, a campus must collect data and validate its performance to move through each level of the hierarchy. Each campus collected leading and lagging indicator evidence and submitted the Marzano research team for evaluation. Over the past two days, members of the Marzano Research Team visited our campuses to meet with teacher leaders, students and campus administrator and to observe procedures and practices.

Our participation in the Marzano High Reliability Schools program has been made possible by the Region 9 Education Service Center collaborating with the Priddy Foundation.

We appreciate the way our teacher leaders and administrators have embraced the processes of High Reliability Schools and for their commitment to improve teaching and learning in our district.

Congrats on a job well done!

Graham High School TSA Students Qualify for Nationals!  I am excited to let you know that Graham High School TSA competed in last week’s 59^th Texas TSA Competition and Leadership Conference.  Nine students are eligible to represent Graham High School at the 2018 National TSA Conference to be held in Atlanta, Georgia, June 22 through June 28, 2017.  Congratulations our National Qualifiers: Jeb Curry in Flight Endurance; the SciVis team of Jeb Curry, Sarah Farmer, Will Busey, and Chris Guinn; the On Demand Video team of Jeff Hazlett, Hayden Husen, Ryan Karper, Kolton Gough, and Jay Robertson. A complete list of our results for the TSA contest is below.  Our students did an excellent job!

	EVENT	STUDENTS
5th	NQE - Debating Technological Issues	Hayden Hayden, Jack Mercer
10th	NQE - Digital Video Production	Jeff Hazlett, Ryan Karper, Kolton Gough, Hayden Husen, Jay Robertson
1st	NQE - Flight Endurance	Jeb Curry
7th	NQE - Flight Endurance	Spencer McHenry
9th	NQE - Music Production	Jeff Hazlett
3rd	NQE - On Demand Video	Jeff Hazlett, Ryan Karper, Kolton Gough, Hayden Husen, Jay Robertson
3rd	NQE - SciVis	Sarah Farmer, Jeb Curry, Will Busey, Chris Guinn
1st	Recycled - Metals-Team	Alan McCall, Enrique Olvera, Anthony Martinez
1st	Recycled - Other-Team	Daniel Alcantar, Samuel Perkins, Andrew Hunter, Saul Nigoche
3rd	Portrait photography. B/W	Jolie Pippins
2nd	Architectural model of a commercial structure	Jordan Louder, Shayne Lopez
3rd	Kits metals (CONSTRUCTION, MODELING & DESIGN)	Garrett Box
2nd	Kits metals (CONSTRUCTION, MODELING & DESIGN)	Emma Southerland
1st	Rocket Launch (Kit)	Chaucey Thomas
5th	TEXAS TSA HIGH SCHOOL CATAPULT CONTEST	Garrison Stovall, Will Hays, Luke Stone, Zeph

Graham High FFA Qualifies Three Teams for State! The Graham FFA had a great day at the area contest on Wednesday. Three of the four teams advanced to state next week. The teams advancing to state include: Milk Quality- 2nd place team, Jordan Crago 5th high individual, Jade Jordan, Tucker May, Heather Cash; Poultry-3rd place team, Seth Hamm 5th high ind., Nick Moore, Amanda Richards, Kalon Walker; Range-3rd place team, Jake Holland 4th high ind., Shanna Gleason, Riley Wyatt, Gustavo Ramirez, Terry Wainscott. Our Ag. Mechanics team of Cody Henderson, Deaven Miller, Zane Garner and Riley Langford placed 4th.

Lady Blues and Graham Steer Track Athletes Qualify for Regionals!- Good day at Area Track Meet on Wednesday.  Our Regional Qualifiers are: Will Hays-Discus; Jonathan Sanchez 800m; 800m relay  Wes Martin, Will Busse, Marc Tate, Daniel Gilbertson-Alt Zac Martin; Xaiver Reyes 300m Hurdles; Nicole King Shot Put, Discus; Emily Schaefer Triple Jump; Chloe Menard Triple Jump; Morgan Shook Pole Vault; Jourdan Daily Pole Vault; McKenzie Graham Pole Vault; Khloe Morris 3200m, 1600m relay; Claire Jones 100m, 400m relay, 800m relay; Summer Croxton 200m 400m relay, 800m relay; Rosie Schaffer 400m relay, 800m relay, 1600m relay; Allison Lee 400m relay, 800m relay, 1600m relay; Ashley Gallaway 1600m relay; Relay Alts, Olivia Shifflett, Julia Grimes

Lady Blues Softball- Our Lady Blues softball team travels to Vernon this evening with opportunity to clinch the district championship.  GOOD LUCK LADY BLUES!

Graham Steer Baseball- Best of luck to the Steers as they take on Vernon this evening at Vernon!

Memorial Day- Holiday for Staff and Students- This date is NOT a bad weather makeup day!

Learning to Get Back Up

In his book, A View from the Zoo, Gary Richmond describes how a newborn giraffe learns its first lesson.

Bringing a giraffe into the world is a tall order. A baby giraffe falls 10 feet from its mother's womb and usually lands on its back. Within seconds it rolls over and tucks its legs under its body. From this position it considers the world for the first time and shakes off the last vestiges of the birthing fluid from its eyes and ears. Then the mother giraffe rudely introduces its offspring to the reality of life. 

The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a quick look. Then she positions herself directly over her calf. She waits for about a minute, and then she does the most unreasonable thing. She swings her long, pendulous leg outward and kicks her baby, so that it is sent sprawling head over heels.

When it doesn't get up, the violent process is repeated over and over again. The struggle to rise is momentous. As the baby calf grows tired, the mother kicks it again to stimulate its efforts. Finally, the calf stands for the first time on its wobbly legs.

Then the mother giraffe does the most remarkable thing. She kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up. In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with the herd, where there is safety. Lions, hyenas, leopards, and wild hunting dogs all enjoy young giraffes, and they'd get it too, if the mother didn't teach her calf to get up quickly and get with it.

The late Irving Stone understood this. He spent a lifetime studying greatness, writing novelized biographies of such men as Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh, Sigmund Freud, and Charles Darwin.

Stone was once asked if he had found a thread that runs through the lives of all these exceptional people. He said, "I write about people who sometime in their life have a vision or dream of something that should be accomplished and they go to work.

"They are beaten over the head, knocked down, vilified, and for years they get nowhere. But every time they're knocked down they stand up. You cannot destroy these people. And at the end of their lives they've accomplished some modest part of what they set out to do."

Have a nice day!

CORNY JOKE OF THE DAY:

What do you call a bee that’s having a bad hair day? (Scroll down for the answer)

Frisbee!