COOPER STUDENTS SWEEP IT COMPETITION – A group of Upper School Computer Club students from The John Cooper School attended the Texas State Association of Information Technology Professionals Symposium, “Building Your IT Career.” Students were accompanied by faculty sponsor Shelley Gougenheim.

Students participated in a Java programming contest and swept the competition. Farah Patel placed first, Xavier Thierry placed second and Aamer Rakla placed third. Approximately 50 students from high schools around the state participated in the symposium.

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SAINTS TRIVIA BEE WINNERS ANNOUNCED – Elementary students at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School competed in the Saints Trivia Bee. Winners were: first place, Blake Perry; second place, Ricky Bayon; and third place, Austin Brauweiler.

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CHILDREN’S MUSEUM CONTRACTS FOR MURALS BY KRISTINE MCCOOL – Angela Col­ton, executive director of The Wood­lands Children’s Museum, has con­- tracted with museum member Kristine McCool to design a variety of murals for the party rooms and classrooms at the Museum’s new location, 4775 W. Panther Creek next to Sear’s Hardware. For more information on The Woodlands Children’s Museum’s calendar of events and upcoming Spring Break-ation, go to www.woodlandschildrensmuseum.org or call 281-465-0955.

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TWHS THEATER WINS AT STATE FESTIVAL – The 40-member Thespian Troupe of The Woodlands High School participated in the Texas Thespian State Festival, which is attended by more than 3,400 theater students from across the state.

The conference opened with the All-State production of Our Town directed by Texas UIL state director Luis Munoz. With 28 actors from 19 different high schools, the cast rehearsed several weekends over the year in various cities before traveling the show to Corpus Christi. Six actors from TWHS were represented in the cast: Cecily Breaux, Will Rogers, Vic Shuttee, Katlin Newman, Ryan Breuer and Allison McKinney. Costumes for the show were designed by retired TWHS teacher Sandra Erlandson and run by crew members Jennifer Trinque, Jessica Trinque, Rachel Schardt and Lauren Kozar. Hairstyles depicting the 1900 time period were designed by TWHS teacher Connie Godwin.

In addition to the show, students competed and qualified for nationals in every category but one, a record for TWHS. Qualifying to compete in Lincoln were: Cecily Breaux in monologue; Jessica Trinque and Joe Dougherty in duet acting; Katlin Newman in solo musical; Katelyn Mattingly and Madie Plum in duet musical; Christy Beauchemin, Ryan Breuer, Chris Dolphin, Aaron Evans, Rachel Fritz, Chelsi Jump, Megan Mlller, Andrew Novak and Rachel Schardt in group musical; Casey Hale in pantomime; Will Rogers and Vic Shuttee in duet pantomime; Kaylee Speed in marketing; Kristen Conroy in stage management; Justin Deffner in film. Taking first place in group acting were Luc Armstrong, Justin Deffner, Annette Gonzalez, Lauren Kozar, Jacey Martin, Alex McCauley, Ali McKinney, Gabi Perez, Sierra Robinson, Soraya Herbert and Andrew Hollinger.

Also, the troupe display, designed by Jacey Martin, won recognition in the Super Trouper contest; Vic Shuttee was recognized as Outstanding Troupe Officer; Gregg Colschen and Chris Povich were named 2010 Outstanding Administrators.

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WOODLANDS PREP STUDENTS TAKE LEADERSHIP COURSE – Seventh-graders at Woodlands Prep are learning to be leaders in an innovative leadership course. The course teaches self-awareness, self-control and self-motivation as well as social skills. Students develop an understanding of the effects of peer pressure and how to counteract those effects. To culminate the year, students deliver speeches to their teachers and parents about what they have learned. Rebecca Seltz is the instructor.

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JOHN COOPER EIGHTH-GRADER TO COMPETE AT STATE GEO BEE – Twelve students from The John Cooper School participated in the school-level National Geographic Bee by placing first during elimination rounds in their history classes. Of those, eighth-grader Colin Gaffney was determined the school-level winner. Seventh-grader Catalina Cura was the runner-up. Colin will continue in the state level competition that will be held on April 1.

Also competing to be the school-level Geography Bee champion were: eighth- graders Joseph Coleman and Federico Portela; seventh-graders Mitchell Duckett and Ben Robinson; sixth-graders Pamela Fojtasek, Spencer Katterhagen and Madeleine Londa; and fifth-graders Jackson Banks, Kara O’Neal and Sara Rashid.

Middle School faculty sponsors of the event are George Albritton, Allan Barr, Ellyn Hickey, Walt Steadman and Deborah Humes.

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WOODLANDS HS CHEERLEADERS BRING CHEER TO ST. LUKE’S THE WOODLANDS HOSPITAL – The lobby at St. Luke’s The Woodlands Hospital was transformed when more than 50 cheerleaders from The Woodlands High School arrived with toys and gifts for the hospital’s pediatric patients, and to perform cheers for patients and families.

More than 200 toys, books, art supplies, games and gift items were donated to the hospital — the largest single community donation ever received by the hospital in its seven years of operation.

One of the cheerleaders who organized the toy drive with her mom was a patient at St. Luke’s The Woodlands last year on Christmas Day. She recalled how wonderful it was to receive a “Santa” gift — especially since she was not at home with her family.

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THE WOODLANDS HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPALS HONORED – Principals Gregg Colschen and Chris Povich from The Woodlands High School received the 2010 Texas Thespians Outstanding Secondary School Administrators Award by the Texas Thespian Executive Board at the Selena Auditorium in Corpus Christi. This high school theater honor organization holds one of the largest state festivals in the country with more than 3,300 students and teachers in attendance.

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FRENCH STUDENT’S SUBMISSION WINS PHOTO CONTEST – Zeina Suki, a sophomore French student at The John Cooper School, took first place in the 18 and under category of the Bernar Venet Photo Contest sponsored through the Texan French Alliance for the Arts organization in partnership with Hermann Park Conservancy.

The contest was titled “Pics in the Park” and asked photographers to spend an hour, an afternoon or a day at Hermann Park, admiring and capturing the steel sculptures made by French artist Bernar Venet. Suki was awarded a $150 gift card for her first-place photo.