September 22, 2017
Pictured: bottom row (l-r): Emily Gardner, Angela Zhang, Ruy Martinez, Peter Pham, Jasper Lin, Brooke Cohen, Rosemarie Pousset, Abby Criswell, Kelsey Lyszkowski, Joshua Wiedemeier, Elena Gambarin, Elizabeth McFarland
top row (l-r) Eeshaan Rehani, Conor O'Bryon, Colin Donnelly, William Wang, Saitej Iyer, Luke Marshall,
Kyle Wang, William Ziaja, Marika Murphy, Isabella Zou, Lillian Sun, Naira Ikram, Vy Lien.
Not pictured: Matthew Kearney.
2017-18 National Merit Semifinalists
Westlake High School has 26 semifinalists competing in the 2017-18 National Merit Scholarship Program. Nationally 16,000 students were chosen to continue in the 63rd annual competition for 7,500 Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million offered next spring. The nationwide pool of semifinalists represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors.
Semifinalists now advance to the finalist level of competition, where students must have an outstanding high school academic record, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, and submit SAT scores that confirm his/her earlier qualifying test performance. Finalists will be announced in February 2018.
About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and more than half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title. Last year, Westlake finished with 28 Finalists.
The National Merit process started with more than 1.4 million juniors in 22,000 schools who took the Preliminary SAT test in 2016; semifinalists were the highest-scoring participants.
Getting into the Routine....
Well, it has officially happened. As I visited classrooms last Friday and this week, it appears we are finally hitting the school groove in full stride.
KUDOS
The National Leadership Academies Mentor Students
Joseph Asfouri, Eliza Beall and Irene Martinez-Cezon represented WHS and the State of Texas at the Congress of Future Medical Leaders and Katherine Aldama and Berkeley Rhoads represented WHS and the State of Texas at the Congress of Future Science and Technology Leaders in Boston. The Congresses are an honors-only program for high school students who are passionate about science, technology, engineering & mathematics or medicine and medical technology. The program aims to honor, inspire, motivate and direct the top students in the country who aspire to be in STEM or medicine, to stay true to their dream and, after the event, to provide a path, plan and resources to help them reach their goal. During the 3 day event, student from across America heard Nobel Laureates, National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation recipients. These students have been inducted into the Torch and Laurel Honor Society.
Westlake Seniors Participate in KLRU Vietnam Forum
Matthew Kearney, Finn Lowden, Shrey Majmudar, and Ruth Young were invited to participate in a Town Hall Meeting which will be aired on KLRU on:
Friday, Sept. 22 at 9:30 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 24 at 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 9:00 p.m.
The meeting consists of teens and baby boomers discussing lessons learned from the Vietnam War.
The Westlake Speech and Debate Team finished 5th overall out of 20 teams at the Pflugerville Pfall Pfling this past weekend. Westlake was led by the two varsity Public Forum teams who finished in first and second place -
Senior Olivia Hardage, Sophomore Miles Dintzner, and Juniors Ali Slimi and Miles Sigel.
Both teams are now qualified for the TFA State Tournament.
Hurricane Relief Efforts Results
WIT (Westlake Improv Troupe) kicked off the season with their performance on Friday, September 1. With the donations from the packed house, they raised $441 which has been donated to the United Way of Greater Houston Flood Relief Fund. Find out more about the 2017-2018 "Season of Love" by visiting facebook.com/WestlakeTheatre or www.whscast.com.
A Big Heart for our Furry Friends
In just six days, five of Kitty Mellenbruch's English classes raised $450 for Austin Pets Alive to help with hurricane Harvey relief efforts.
SCHOOL NEWS
The Hills of Austin College Fair for students is September 26.
Juniors are expected to attend 1st period and Seniors are expected to attend 2nd period.
Students will have access to well over 100 representatives from colleges across the country. We will send out a list and site map prior to the day so you can help your student identify their schools of interest.
Freshman Parent Night is
September 28 at 6pm in the PAC.
El Paisano
Seniors, You must sit for a portrait to appear in the yearbook. Photographers will be on campus Tuesday, September 26 through Thursday, September 28. Sign up for a spot in Mrs. Strelitz room #285.
Click HERE for deadlines and more information.
For Senior Tributes, go to our online order system.Early Bird Discount ends Oct. 6! All materials & payment must be submitted by Friday, Oct. 6
Half page - $225
Quarter page - $150
Eighth page - $100
Hurricane Harvey Relief
The Westlake Family would like to reach out to do what we can to help support our fellow Texans affected by Hurricane Harvey.
Please click HERE to see the list of campus organizations and how to help them support the victims of the floods.
FROM THE PTO
No Hassle Campaign
Stay healthy, Chaps!
Eanes Education Foundation
EEF granted EISD $2.5 Million and funded 50 teachers for 2017-2018. The WHS Teacher Fund Kick-off and tailgate is October 13th. Help us to continue to make a difference for your children!
SCHOOL CALENDAR
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WESTLAKE HIGH SCHOOL
4100 Westbank Drive, Austin, Texas 78746
http://whs.eanesisd.net