District News

BELTON, TX (December 5, 2024)--All matter is made of atoms. Atoms are indivisible and indestructible. Waco ISD Future Educator Academy students Diego Martinez and Kendall Lampkin are advancing to the Texas Association of Future Educators state contest with the interactive billboard design they created to teach young children about how atoms are created. 

“We chose to do a bulletin board on the Parts of an Atom because it is a difficult topic and we wanted to create an easier way for students to understand, learn, and memorize its different parts,” Martinez said. 

Twenty-six schools with nearly 650 competitors competed in the TAFE Area 5 contest this week in Belton. Of the 71 WISD students competing, 46 qualified to move on to the Texas Association of Future Educators Teach Tomorrow Summit held in Galveston Feb 17-19. 

Martinez and Lampkin already know changes they will make to their project before competing at the next level. 

 “We will give more focus and preparation and practice on our presentation and I feel like we could add more to our bulletin board,” Lampkin said. “It was really interesting to see all of the different projects the other students had worked on and provided lots of ideas of ways to improve our own project.”

The Texas Association of Future Educators or TAFE is a co-curricular statewide non-profit student organization created to allow young men and women an opportunity to explore the teaching profession. The organization was created in 1984 to provide the best and brightest high school and middle school students in Texas with the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions about pursuing careers in education. TAFE is sponsored by the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals and is governed by a board of directors comprised of teachers, students and principals.

Seventy-one Waco ISD high school students who are planning a career in the teaching profession competed at the Texas Association of Future Educators Area 5 contest with 46 advancing to the state competition.

 

Future Educators Academy

 

36 FEA students participated and 23 qualified.

 

Michelle Ponce & Marianna Romero 

Interactive Bulletin Board Elementary

 

Kendall Lampkin & Diego Martinez 

Interactive Bulletin Board Middle/High School 

 

Frankie Deleon, Isela Martinez, & Nahyeli Villa 

Public Service Announcement

 

Rihanna Chambers, Ran'Nysha Lewis, & Andrea Ramirez 

Inside our Schools-English 

 

Jessica Lara & Saul Torres Cisneros 

Inside our Schools-Spanish 

 

Reyes, Karyme Varela 

Impromptu Speaking 

 

Alejandra Betancourt Rodriguez

Children's Literature Spanish K-3

 

Jose Arellano & Evelyn Harris 

Children's Literature Pre-K-English

 

Tristan Bailey, Jeremiah Martinez, & Monica McNeil 

Researching Learning Challenges 

 

Chasidy Akridge 

Educators Rising-English 

 

Ana Enriquez, Anelis Galan, Michelle Ponce, Marianna Romero, & Ty Traevion Moore 

Educational Leadership Fundamentals Test

 

Waco High School

5 Participated, 2 qualified for State Competition

 

Kelvin Young & Roderick Young

Interactive Bulletin Board-Elementary

 

University High School

30 Students Participated, 21 qualified for State Competition

 

Ameiria Keith & Xamari- Adama Kujabi

Interactive Bulletin Board-Elementary

 

Angel Ramirez & Alexa Cardoza

Interactive Bulletin Board-Elementary

 

Michael Lomosad & LaTasia Watkins

Interactive Bulletin Board-MS/HS

 

Zaniyah Majors & Alexa Carrillo

Project Visualize-Service

 

Alexis Villagomez, Armani Franklin, Dayana Montoya, & Adam Sais

Public Service Announcement-Teacher Recruitment

 

Briana Escobedo

Children’s Literature K-3

 

Ivonne Escobedo-Galan & Melissa Cortez

Children’s Literature Pre-K (Spanish)

 

Zechariah Ruiz

Exploring Non-Core Subject Teaching

 

Savannah Reyes, Alexis Villagomez, Alexa Cardoza, & Luke Courtney

Researching Learning Challenges

 

Jesus De La Garza & Jarah’lssa Jimenez Cruz

Teacher Created Materials

 

Jesus Juanez, Jesus De La Garza, & Jarah’lssa Jimenez-Cruz

Educational Leadership Fundamentals Test