Victory Place @ Coppell

Thank you to all of our guests and students for a great first semester. Here are some highlights from our 3rd Six Weeks Celebration and enjoy the video from our students at the end!

Trailblazers

Sanjuana Cobarrubias- We keep reminding everyone what it takes to be a Trailblazer. Traits such as: Integrity, Patriotism, Responsibility, Cooperation, Caring, Respect, Self- Control, Patience, Effort, and Honesty. This student started off very slow. We wondered if this student had the fortitude to last in this program. Five months later we have our answer. Sanjuana is a very hard work supporting her- self and family.

Drew Schmitz- A trailblazer “blazes trails” which means they show the way; they dig out a path to make it easier for others to follow; they lead. Our staff agrees that this trailblazer knows how to face her challenges and how to work through them to overcome. She shows steady improvement and it is wonderful watching her blossom, gaining confidence, and displaying beauty from within as well as from the outside with her modeling career. With energy, honesty, openness, and a smile, she interacts with the staff and the students to be a valued contributor in classroom discussions and in one-on-one encounters. She helps her peers to do the right thing and exceeds expectations in character education. As a silver star much of the 3rd six weeks grading period, Drew is excelling academically as well as socially. If we all had to select one characteristic to capture her essence, it would be positive. She exudes it even when under pressure and when under duress. That smile just radiates through the darkness and provides hope to all that see it. Some say life either gets a little bit better or a little bit worse each day. If so, Drew has found the path to making her life and those around her a little bit better every day! Keep blazing that trail!

Tia Vick- Tia has been one of the most pleasant people to come through the program. She greatly improved her attitude during her enrollment in the Turning Point program. Over the past year, we have had the privilege of seeing Tia grow into responsible and respectful young women who takes responsibility for her actions. She is willing to use her experience to help others, and has matured to better exemplify the Cowboy Way ethics. She has gained confidence in herself and she stands out on Professional Dress Day as a well-dressed, well mannered, mature, responsible young women with a can do attitude. Tia’s claim to fame is the persistent and consistent maturity, both academically and emotionally, that she demonstrated in the pursuit and accomplishment her goal… graduation from high school. Facing tremendous grief from personal loss and the challenges of life’s transitions, Tia fought hard against complacency and apathy to find within herself the strength to tackle even the most daunting of subject matters. She put in many hours at home, as well as productive time in the classroom to meet her academic goals. She always paid attention to due dates, and even when she was going to be late, she would ask how can we make this work. Additionally, Tia brought her bright smile, appreciative attitude, and encouraging spirit to the staff and students daily making our campus a better place to be. She has been a blessing to us all and makes our job worth doing. We will miss her as she graduates soon.

Perfect Attendance

Tia Vick and Amanda Lastimosa

Graduates

Brittany Nguyen, Brianna Richelete, Taylour Hill, Alexandra Murdock, Collin Kincade, Tia Vick (not pictured- Connor Hebert, Montserret Gonzalez, Reagan Hopkins, Edward Park, Rachael Tomaso, Austin Evans, Abagail Phillips, Raven Randall, Cally Lindle)

Best of the West

Raven Randall- This is one determined young lady. She set a goal and achieved that goal in only ten weeks. She achieved Silver and Gold stars. She is truly the Best of the West!

Rock Star of the Six Weeks

Mike Shirley is a true asset to the Education Annex family. Mr. Shirley is a hardworking, flexible, organized, and personable member of the Annex Team. He works both programs effectively to meet the needs of all students. He exemplifies the "Cowboy Way" and is always willing to help whenever and wherever he is needed. Whether he is doing PE classes, Social Studies classes, or working with students in the South classroom - his rapport with all students is the same – respectful and challenging. Mr. Shirley has gone above and beyond to create diverse, engaging, and fun PE activities for all our students. Through incentives and a variety of activities, his creativity and knowledge are used to tailor this program to meet the needs of our diverse population, who for the most part, very much disliked PE at their home campuses. He is enthusiastic about Social Studies and all campus activities he is involved in. Mr. Shirley is always willing to step up to the plate to make our programs work and do what has to be done. Mr. Shirley is an inspiration and positive role model to our students and staff.

Rock Star Mike Shirley keeps the Education Annex rocking’! He visits with each student every day and gives them encouragement and praise, or a firm nudge to get focused, to maintain good communications and positive relationships with them. He emails parents multiple times updating them on their student's progress and never misses a beat. Mr. Shirley works relentlessly with students in Compass Academy to ensure their use of appropriate social skills and meeting the high expectations for behavior while establishing a caring, consistent, and encouraging environment. His strong organizational skills allow him to effectively stay on top of all the endless documentation he does each day. If you need to know something, he has a clipboard with the answer! In his desire for our school to have an effective discipline system, he offered to go above-and-beyond by monitoring the one hour detentions, before, during and even after school, without expecting any compensation. If something needs to be done, he is quick to volunteer to do it and NEVER an Energy Vampire. He is definitely a Rock Star!

He does not let being “on the other side” interfere in any way in following the procedures and expectations of the Turning Point way. Mr. Shirley ensures the Compass Academy program runs smoothly. Whether it is checking in students, managing the laptops, transitioning students between their daily activities, or holding them accountable to meet all expectations. In fact, it’s hard to get him to leave the building when it is time for him to do so because he has such a strong desire for the program to run effectively. Mike also maintains a positive relationship with other staff members in all areas of the building. He is respectful to our different personalities and styles and that is a feat in itself. He is usually right behind us doing whatever he can to assist and take care of us. He exemplifies a character of true chivalry and the Cowboy Way. Thank you Mr. Shirley!

“A GOAL and SUPER TALENTED TEAMMATES can inspire ORDINARY PLAYERS to do good things. I am an ordinary player, you guys are the super talented teammates, and the students are the goal.” - Mike Shirley


As we end School Board Appreciation month, I would like to give a sincere thank you to our School Board members and administrators in CISD who understand the importance and value of options for our students. Students- Sam, Maddie and Tia created a video to express our students’ perspectives. Please enjoy! Click here for the video.

Mrs. J