It has been a truly remarkable journey! From the founding of the school through the opening of our doors through the day-to-day routine of running a school through winning four state championships in sports through graduating our first class of seniors, it constantly amazed all of us how good the year turned out.
We did not really understand what we were getting into when we said we'd start a school. However, we were all inspired by our faith in God that we were following the right path. We trusted that HISD would do everything they promised to do to help us get started. And, we trusted in a parents and students that they would help as well.
Now, here it is one year later. Our first class of Seniors graduated on Saturday, May 30th, in the Hall of Nations here at MCA. It was a very special occasion, almost like a family picnic. Every graduate was accepted to the college of their choice. Many were awarded scholarships. Our overall graduation rate was 92%, which puts us the top 3% of high schools in the Houston area.
We were very concerned about TAKS. We couldn't get around the fact that the test is required for all students in public schools. Being a first year school, we didn't know what to expect, and neither did the parents of our students. They took a big leap of faith in sending their children to MCA. However, when we reviewed the curriculum that the TAKS test is based on and saw that it was very good, we felt confident that our students would do well. And in fact they did. We ended up be rated EXEMPLARY in LANGUAGE ARTS, EXEMPLARY in SOCIAL STUDIES, COMMENDED in SCIENCE and ACCEPTABLE in Math. (Our goal for the 2009-2010 school year is to bring up the Math scores.)
Sports has always been important to our students. This year, they and their parents had to be extra innovative because we do not have a gym or a playing field. We told them that if they wanted the sport bad enough, they'd have to pay the price by finding a gym to practice in, a park to play in, or a field to play on. Guess what? They did! We worked out deals with area gyms, parks and fields and our teams were extraordinarily successful. In our first year, school teams won three (3) State Championships: Girls Volleyball, Girls Basketball and Boys & Girls Track. The independent Mount Carmel Athletic Club also had a successful year with the Girls Softball winning a State Championship, Boys Baseball coming in 2nd, and the Football team reaching 3rd place.
Our students did extremely well in Science. Yet, we were lacking in a formal science lab, having to make do in the classroom. Then, just as the year was winding down, we received two very wonderful surpizes: the arrival of over $100,000 in science lab equipment (from a grant), and a very sizeable donation which will fund the setting up of a genuine science lab for the 2009-2010 school year.
Blessings just keep pouring in and things just keep getting better!
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