As the principal of a high school, or any school for that matter,
hearing news of a student passing is always one of your worst fears.
Well, this Friday, 9/14/12 it happened.
Kiet Nguyen is the name of the Creekview high school senior student/athlete who passed away Friday. Kiet was a very popular student and friend to many. He played on the varsity football team and had many brothers in arms from this group of young men who have gone through everything from early morning work outs, two a days, spring practices, etc. Only a coach and a football athlete can relate to the bond that develops here. Many days sitting in front of the locker, just sitting and talking, exhausted from the work outs and or practice. Or being in the huddle together in the heat of battle leaning on one another and celebrating plays that have been made. He wore #9 and wore it proudly.
I am so very impressed with our students. They are a family of students who call Creekview home. Since I set foot in the building I have always said that I knew the kids were going to be good, I just didn't know they would be this great. So many students filled with faith and with a caring spirit that will help all of us get through this loss.
This weekend was filled with so many emotions, tears, memorials, and hugs. The days ahead will be like that too and we will be calling on our faith often.
The football schedule had Creekview playing a Saturday 11:00 a.m. game. The game was against Timber Creek HS from the Keller ISD. What a class act they were. Each of their football players and coaches signed a sympathy card and sent it to Coach Cline. Their cheerleaders also made a large sign that they hung on their side of the field during the game. From behind the scenes, we considered postponing the game to a later date. I am so glad that we did not. Although played with heavy hearts, the game was so very inspirational to so many. Kiet would have been proud of the way the Mustangs carried themselves and fought for one another. I will never forget the way the Mustangs played. They were inspired. I have seen every varsity football game over the past two years and by far this was the best game that we have played.
Kiet's memorial service and funeral will be this week and this I know....The Creekview family is strong and will support our students as the Creekview community and the Nguyen family grieve for one of our own who has been taken from us at the young age of 17.
Kiet- it is an honor to be your principal and thank you for being one of those great Creekview students. You will be missed.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Instructional Rounds
What a great day today at Blalack Middle School participating in Instructional Rounds! Including myself, the Creekview IR team consists of our Science department chair and AP Physics teacher Wes Baker, our AP Government and World Geography teacher Cynthia MacDonald, Associate Principal Ginny Biggs, Pre-AP English teacher and Instructional facilitator Emily Johnson, our math instructional facilitator and Algebra teacher Trish Jones, and Assistant Principal Jeannette Papadopoulos.
Dr. Maher does a great job facilitating this process and it seems like it was just a few weeks ago when we were at Harvard learning about rounds! Full steam ahead now as we have four internal rounds visits and one network visit this year! All in an effort of continuous improvement!! Go Mustangs!!
Dr. Maher does a great job facilitating this process and it seems like it was just a few weeks ago when we were at Harvard learning about rounds! Full steam ahead now as we have four internal rounds visits and one network visit this year! All in an effort of continuous improvement!! Go Mustangs!!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Meet the Teacher Night!
As a small reward to the teachers for having to stay up at school until roughly 9:00 pm.... I am allowing for jeans to be worn to work on Tuesday 9-11-12!
By the way, do you realize that most of our students were only young children when 9-11 occurred? Most were between 4-7 years old.....I wonder if they remember where they were that morning?
We will dedicate our moment of silence on 9-11 to the victims of that infamous day. God Bless America.
-Joe
As a small reward to the teachers for having to stay up at school until roughly 9:00 pm.... I am allowing for jeans to be worn to work on Tuesday 9-11-12!
By the way, do you realize that most of our students were only young children when 9-11 occurred? Most were between 4-7 years old.....I wonder if they remember where they were that morning?
We will dedicate our moment of silence on 9-11 to the victims of that infamous day. God Bless America.
-Joe
Meet the Teacher Night!
What a great two weeks and start to the school year! Tonight, Monday, 9-10-12 at 6:30 we will be hosting our parents and students for Meet The Teacher Night! The meeting will start in the auditorium beginning at 6:30. We will dismiss teachers to their rooms a few minutes prior to 7 and before we dismiss the parents and students. We will be following a bell schedule which will allow for a few minutes of visiting with each teacher and each period. We hope to see each of our parents and students here tonight!! Class starts at 7:00!
If you haven't seen our volleyball team play, tomorrow night is your chance. We play our cross town neighbor, Newman Smith here at Creekview. I promise, you will be amazed and impressed at the skill level of the Mustangs setters, hitters, servers, and blockers! They are an athletic, talented, and smart group of young ladies who may have one of the highest combined grade point average of any school team!! Coach Mauterer has the ladies off to a 1-0 district record as they defeated Terrell on Friday.
The Creekview Speech team is at it again! This past weekend several Creekview students competed at Plano Senior High. And yes, they made up again proud by winning the Speech tournament. Robert Shepard, aka- Shep- is the coach of the defending state champions and again has some great Creekview students to work with!
Our first faculty meeting will be this Wednesday beginning at 4:00 p.m. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!
It was nice to see the great turnout for our spirit theme this past Friday! We had several rock n roll t-shirts from my day displayed from students and teachers. Mr. Clay Cox was my favorite rock star as I think he could have been the bass player for Guns N Roses! Great spirit displayed by Mr Cox and the many other teachers and students. This Friday, our spirit them is Nerd Day, where we will Outsmart the Timber Creek HS Falcons. By the way our Friday Night Lights game will be played on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at Standridge. Since we don't play many Saturday games this is a great opportunity to get the whole family out to support the Mustangs!
The Friday also marks the end of the 3rd week progress report grading period! 1A Progress reports will be distributed on Wednesday September 19th.
Our goal is high student achievement for all students and as we start week 3, we are working toward making that happen!
Sincerely,
Joe LaPuma
Principal
If you haven't seen our volleyball team play, tomorrow night is your chance. We play our cross town neighbor, Newman Smith here at Creekview. I promise, you will be amazed and impressed at the skill level of the Mustangs setters, hitters, servers, and blockers! They are an athletic, talented, and smart group of young ladies who may have one of the highest combined grade point average of any school team!! Coach Mauterer has the ladies off to a 1-0 district record as they defeated Terrell on Friday.
The Creekview Speech team is at it again! This past weekend several Creekview students competed at Plano Senior High. And yes, they made up again proud by winning the Speech tournament. Robert Shepard, aka- Shep- is the coach of the defending state champions and again has some great Creekview students to work with!
Our first faculty meeting will be this Wednesday beginning at 4:00 p.m. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!
It was nice to see the great turnout for our spirit theme this past Friday! We had several rock n roll t-shirts from my day displayed from students and teachers. Mr. Clay Cox was my favorite rock star as I think he could have been the bass player for Guns N Roses! Great spirit displayed by Mr Cox and the many other teachers and students. This Friday, our spirit them is Nerd Day, where we will Outsmart the Timber Creek HS Falcons. By the way our Friday Night Lights game will be played on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at Standridge. Since we don't play many Saturday games this is a great opportunity to get the whole family out to support the Mustangs!
The Friday also marks the end of the 3rd week progress report grading period! 1A Progress reports will be distributed on Wednesday September 19th.
Our goal is high student achievement for all students and as we start week 3, we are working toward making that happen!
Sincerely,
Joe LaPuma
Principal
Saturday, September 1, 2012
First week- Check!
First day to First Week in no time flat. True story, on Tuesday I was thinking that the next day was Friday! That just means I was real busy! I am sure students, teachers and everyone else can relate to being busy this first week back as we get in to our school routines.
The start date of school followed by a 3 day weekend and then Labor Day is genius! The calendar folks got that one right....even though I know that is just how it falls this year.
Speaking of falling, the Chisholm Trail football team was defeated last night 46-0! Yes, that isn't a typo. The Mustangs scored early, scored often and in a variety of ways. It was the first official high school game at CT's beautiful new stadium so I am sure they will have better nights to remember in their future. Chisholm Trail HS is in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD. CTHS is also not playing with seniors as of yet, so their underclassmen got a dose of our football team that has experienced seniors and experienced underclassmen in key positions. David Blough, the Mustang QB is one of those experienced underclassmen that is a junior and a returning starter from his sophomore year. David is a team leader with great skills at the QB position. The Mustangs ran and passed the ball successfully in game one so David and the Mustangs know there are some challenging tests awaiting in the next few weeks when they play the opponents that are on the schedule for this year. The next 5 games will be at Standridge Stadium in Carrollton, so everyone will get a chance to come out and be a part of the Friday night lights experience! On September 7, we will be playing another school from Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, Saginaw HS. Coming to a game will include the opportunity to see and hear Creekview's marching band, the Chevals, Cheerleaders, and the Wranglers. These spirited Mustang students perform at high levels and make it just plain fun!
Speaking of fun, the Creekview Marching Band is under the leadership of our new Director of Bands, Mr. Art Ruangtip. Mr. Ruangtip has the band working hard and having fun at the same time. Last night's performance is an indication of great things to come from these talented, hard working students that make up the band and color guard. Not only are the students hard working, last night I got to talk to and see the many Creekview parents that volunteer their time and energy to support our band. Passing out water and snacks, loading and unloading the truck are just of few of the things that I witnessed last night and that is often over looked. Any band parent can relate to the amount of time and energy it takes to get a group of kids fed and hydrated, across town, and ready to perform in Texas 100 degree night! Thank you parents!
I hope everyone enjoys their 3 day Labor Day weekend and is prepared to come back to school on Tuesday, September 4 ready to meet the challenges and opportunities of week 2!
It's a Great Day to be a Mustang!
Sincerely,
Mr. LaPuma
The start date of school followed by a 3 day weekend and then Labor Day is genius! The calendar folks got that one right....even though I know that is just how it falls this year.
Speaking of falling, the Chisholm Trail football team was defeated last night 46-0! Yes, that isn't a typo. The Mustangs scored early, scored often and in a variety of ways. It was the first official high school game at CT's beautiful new stadium so I am sure they will have better nights to remember in their future. Chisholm Trail HS is in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD. CTHS is also not playing with seniors as of yet, so their underclassmen got a dose of our football team that has experienced seniors and experienced underclassmen in key positions. David Blough, the Mustang QB is one of those experienced underclassmen that is a junior and a returning starter from his sophomore year. David is a team leader with great skills at the QB position. The Mustangs ran and passed the ball successfully in game one so David and the Mustangs know there are some challenging tests awaiting in the next few weeks when they play the opponents that are on the schedule for this year. The next 5 games will be at Standridge Stadium in Carrollton, so everyone will get a chance to come out and be a part of the Friday night lights experience! On September 7, we will be playing another school from Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, Saginaw HS. Coming to a game will include the opportunity to see and hear Creekview's marching band, the Chevals, Cheerleaders, and the Wranglers. These spirited Mustang students perform at high levels and make it just plain fun!
Speaking of fun, the Creekview Marching Band is under the leadership of our new Director of Bands, Mr. Art Ruangtip. Mr. Ruangtip has the band working hard and having fun at the same time. Last night's performance is an indication of great things to come from these talented, hard working students that make up the band and color guard. Not only are the students hard working, last night I got to talk to and see the many Creekview parents that volunteer their time and energy to support our band. Passing out water and snacks, loading and unloading the truck are just of few of the things that I witnessed last night and that is often over looked. Any band parent can relate to the amount of time and energy it takes to get a group of kids fed and hydrated, across town, and ready to perform in Texas 100 degree night! Thank you parents!
I hope everyone enjoys their 3 day Labor Day weekend and is prepared to come back to school on Tuesday, September 4 ready to meet the challenges and opportunities of week 2!
It's a Great Day to be a Mustang!
Sincerely,
Mr. LaPuma
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