| DEADLINE: FEB. 18 |
January 5, 2000
TO THE SUPERINTENDENT ADDRESSED:
Re: Celebrations of Educational Excellence
Students are excelling academically in Texas schools and we want to celebrate that fact. You are invited to join the State Board of Education and Texas Education Agency in a major effort to recognize outstanding student achievement and accomplishment during regional Celebrations of Educational Excellence ceremonies to be held throughout the state in March.
The sixth annual Celebrations of Educational Excellence will showcase the many students in grades 9-12, who have excelled in local, regional, statewide and national academic programs and competitions. At this time, a total of 22 regional ceremonies are envisioned. The recognition ceremonies will be held March 30 on 20 university or community college campuses in each of the 15 State Board of Education districts. The University of Texas at Arlington will host their Celebration on Monday, March 27.
Along with recognizing outstanding achievement, the program gives students the opportunity to learn more about a higher education institution in your area.
We are asking that each district designate one person as the district contact person for this event. Information concerning location, programs, parking and other Celebrations event material will be sent to the district contact person only. The contact person will be responsible for sending the information to high school campuses and for forwarding nominations to TEA.
IMPORTANT: Attached to this letter you will find a sheet of instructions for the district contact. Please see that your district contact receives a copy of this letter along with the instruction sheet and other attached materials.
Campuses are invited to submit the names of students who have demonstrated outstanding academic accomplishments in the foundation curriculum areas of English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. Students may also be recognized when they have excelled individually or as part of a team in other areas such as finishing in first, second or third place in academic competitions such as the Academic Decathlon and Spelling Bees. National Merit finalists, top honor students and top performers on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test may also be honored during this event. We encourage you to nominate freshmen and sophomores for this award, as well as juniors and seniors.
Ineligible for this award are students who have demonstrated excellence in areas such as marching band, sports, cheerleading, drill team, FFA, FHA, agricultural classes and UIL drama-related activities. While we applaud student involvement in those areas, the Celebrations award was designed to recognize achievement in the core curriculum areas.
Please name no more than 10 individuals per campus. If you wish to recognize academic team members along with other students, please do not exceed the 10-person limit. If you would like, you may nominate one team member to represent the team at the ceremony. Awards for additional team members will be mailed to the district contact person for distribution locally. Either e-mail or type the names of students who will be attending the ceremony and then list the total number of additional awards needed to recognize all honorees.
We are enclosing a map to help you determine which State Board of Education district covers your area. You can also determine your board district by logging on to http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi. In a few instances, TEA staff will suggest that your students attend a Celebrations ceremony outside your board district if another site is closer to your school.
Please submit names of students to be recognized by Friday, February 18, to the Texas Education Agency's Communications Division by e-mailing the division at dculbert@tea.tetn.net, faxing the nomination form to (512) 463-5947 or mailing the form to 1701 N. Congress Ave., Room 2-180, Austin, Texas 78701. Please type the material submitted to ensure that students' names are pronounced correctly at the ceremony.
Last year this ceremony honored about 8,800 outstanding students. We hope the 2000 event will be equally successful in recognizing young Texans who are achieving academic honors.
Sincerely yours,
Jim Nelson
Commissioner of Education
For further information on this topic, contact the Texas Education Agency's Communications Division at (512) 463-5947