Creekview High School’s Safe Driving Campaign Earns Top 10 Spot for 2012-2013

Check Presentation at Halftime of Varsity Boys Home Basketball Game on Nov. 27

Carrollton,TX, Nov.26, 2012 – Students at Creekview High School in Carrollton are working to reduce risky driving behaviors that lead to motor vehicle crashes, the number one killer of teens. Creekview High was selected through a competitive process as one of this year’s Top 10 Project Ignition campaigns from across the United States and Canada. Project Ignition is a service-learning program sponsored by State Farm® and coordinated by the National Youth Leadership Council®.
Creekview’s Project Ignition team will receive $5,000 to support their participation in the National Service-Learning Conference® in the spring of 2013 in Denver, CO. In addition, they will receive a $2,500 grant to implement their yearlong project during the school year. Earlier this year, Creekview was awarded a $2,000 Project Ignition grant to implement their “Good Habits + Careful Driving= Arriving Alive” campaign.
Creekview High School will also be awarded a $2,500 grant for their participation in State Farm’s inaugural Celebrate My Drive® program, which has been billed as the largest one day gathering of new teen drivers ever. The Celebrate My Drive event was on Sept 15 and involved schools in 400 cities across the US and Canada. The local event was at the Stone Briar Mall in Frisco.
To celebrate Creekview’s achievements and dedication to teen driver safety, State Farm will present a check in the school’s gym at halftime of Creekview’s varsity boys home basketball game,  Nov. 27. Tipoff is at 7:30pm as the Mustangs take on R.L.Turner. Media is invited to attend.
“Congratulations to Creekview High for this wonderful accomplishment,” said Mark Cockerham, State Farm’s Vice President of Agency for the DFW area. “We are grateful for students like these who, through Project Ignition and Celebrate My Drive, join us in promoting teen driver safety.”

Superintendent Dr. Burns Visits Creekview

I would like to thank C-FB ISD Superintendent Dr. Burns who visited Creekview today and attended our after school faculty meeting. It is great to work in a district where the superintendent knows so many faculty memebers by name and comes out to visit with our awesome staff! I appreciate it and I know the staff does as well. Thank you Dr. Burns!

Mock Trial & Hurricane Sandy

What an honor it was last week to be able to travel to Brooklyn, New York with the Mock Trial Team as they competed in the Empire City 6th Annual Mock Trial Invitational. The students from our Mock Trial team are a remarkable group of young men and women who have demonstrated an extraordinary amount of dedication and initiative as they prepared, planned and saved money for this academic competition! Mr Myers our Mock Trial Teacher as well as Amy Toy, Creekview's Law Academy Director have given many hours to get our students prepared for the Invitational!
The competition traveled to New York from schools in Ireland, South Korea, United Kingdom, Canada, California, Washington, Louisiana, Texas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, California, Arkansas, South Carolina, Alabama, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Connecticut! Yes, this is big time and the second year in a row that the Creekview team was invited! Thirty six schools from around the world were prepared to do battle in the case of Happy Land Toy Company!
The good news is that we all arrived safely and were able to participate for part of the tournament. The bad news was that Hurricane Sandy had some bad intentions that caused us to change our flight plans and Escape from New York two days early! What a great decision that was- the hurricane was heading our way and we held a meeting with the Mock Trials captains to determine the best course of action.....and yes, they delivered. The plan to leave early was not an easy decision to make...well for some it was....I must say it was not easy to leave New York but knowing the the so called FrankenStorm was bearing down on us made it a bit easier.....In spite of our early departure, it was a trip worth remembering and worth attending in the future if the opportunity arises. It was also great to see the Creekview students practicing, preparing, and delivering on the case. I could not be more proud of a group of students and I look forward to our state competition in early 2013!

Blog Quote for Today!

"We need to arrange the curriculum around big ideas, questions, and conundrums. What does learning look like in this model? Letting kids learn by doing — the essence of the philosophy of educator John Dewey." - MindShift

2nd 9 Weeks!

Good afternoon everyone!!

As you have seen from some of the emails that have been sent today you will know that we have much to celebrate!

• Our Speech Team had another great weekend of work winning the St. Mark’s tournament. This tournament has teams from all over the country and is very competitive. The Creekview Mustang defending state champions are an awesome team and proved it again at this tournament! Shep and his students are not only a hard working group, but obviously are very talented team as well!

• The Creekview Band had their UIL performance this weekend at Standridge Stadium and received all 1’s from the judges!! The band looked and sounded awesome as they completed their season on a very positive note! Congrats to this hard working group of students and teachers- Mr. Ruangtip, Mr. Jordan, and Mr. Anker!

• The Moving Ground Dance Department returned from Chattanooga, Tennessee yesterday after attending the Tennessee Dance festival. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chattanooga,_Tennessee What a wonderful experience for our students to be able to travel and learn from dance instructors from across the U.S. Ashton Overbeck received Honorable Mention for her work in the student choreography showcase!

• Remember that this Wednesday we will have our MAP (Mustang Advisory Period) where we will hand out 1^st 9 weeks report cards as well as have our first CLAY Leadership session. Please review Ms. Biggs email about previewing the materials and having access to a computer for the lesson.

• Red Ribbon Week was kicked off last Friday with a breakfast that involved students from the Lewisville ISD, Coppell ISD, and the Carrollton Farmers Branch ISD. The message is clear- we are in a battle with drugs and we need to do our part to help our students make wise choices. Thank you for participating in the dress up theme each day!

• Attendance & Hall Passes- Teachers- as always, it is critically important that attendance is taken accurately and timely. We have had a couple of incidents over the last two weeks where this was not done and we (Administrators and Law Enforcement) were searching for a student. Also, all students should have a pass if they leave your class. Even if it is a note on a sticky note.

• Thank you to the core area teachers (science, math, social studies, ELA) for scanning their unit assessments on time and for the results that we have seen. Although we believe in continuous improvement, we have seen some very good scores thus far. Keep it up!!!

• On a different note, we will be losing two of our staff members at the end of the week. Math teacher, Andrew Martens and Laura Flores in our records department have both accepted positions outside of education and will be starting at the first of November. Thank you both for your service to the students of C-FB ISD and your friendship. You will be missed!

• Red Ribbon Week- Yes, there are dress themes each day this week and with homecoming next week we’ll get to see more dress up themes as well! If you are participating in one of our dress up themes, yes, jeans are appropriate.

• Congratulations to our tennis team for finishing 3^rd in district!!  This Friday, it is senior night at Standridge where we will recognize the seniors in football, cheerleaders, Wranglers…etc….

• The October 2012 issue of the Mane Event news magazine is out…great job to Ms. Waters and her students!!

• Our fine arts are in full swing…orchestra concert tonight, Choir tomorrow, Musical practice is underway….!!

As you know the school calendar is the best place to find out about the great things that are happening at CHS! Celebrate the great things that you and your students are involved in!!!

Have a great week!

-Joe

CHS Speech & Debate Program Recognized as Top 10% of Nation

The National Forensic League (NFL) has recognized the Creekview High School Speech and Debate program for earning more than 100 degrees last year, placing the program in the top 10% of NFL chapters nationwide. The recognition earns membership in the NFL’s prestigious 100 Club. NFL Executive Director, J. Scott Wunn, stated that, “Such a milestone is remarkable because it demonstrates outstanding commitment to teacher students essential life skills – including communication, research, listening, writing and organization.”

Good Clean Fun

Tonight was some good clean fun Texas style! Actually, what a game! Our cross town rival, Newman Smith is a worthy opponent. Both teams played hard and fought to the bitter end....of a triple OT game! And yes, good clean fun was had by all! Well maybe not quite by all...Sorry Smith. Friday night football on a Thursday turned out to be quite a treat for the Mustangs. The all time series versus Smith is now 8 victories for Creekview and 3 victories for Smith. I think I will buy a plaque and place it in the school somewhere that lists the score of the annual Smith vs Creekview game and hopefully one day will reach 100 games played! The crowd and support from our students was amazing tonight. There must have been over 400 students in attendance yelling, chanting, and..... creating a huge baby powder cloud to start the game.
Some notable performances from my perspective were of course on offense, QB David Blough. What a competitor he is proving himself to be. As a sophomore, we saw much potential, now we are seeing a talented team leader evolving into an excellent passer and an equally dangerous runner.  He made some big plays as did #23 Adrian Williams. Adrian is back after being injured most of the season and he showed some of the running skills that makes him tough to bring down. Compact, nimble and powerful, Adrian is an added dimension to the offense and he made an impact. Two great kids on a team of great kids that performed well. On defense, #4 Cameron Adkins Jr. caught my eye on numerous plays. Cameron is a junior and showed excellent tackling ability and athleticism on defense. Jordyn Peeler was in on many tackles and had an interception tonight. Also playing well on defense was Tyler Cuccia and Alex Vasquez.  Next week is the Forney Jackrabbits....yes, Jackrabbits.... October 12th, Friday at 7:30. Go Mustangs!