On Thursday, October 4th, Palacios High School held its annual WIT Induction. At the induction, 19 students joined the organization, bringing total membership to 40. WIT was honored to have the director of the Nuclear Power Institute, Dr. Kenneth Peddicord, and The Honorable Judge Nate McDonald give inspiring speeches. WIT was also honored to have Dr. Valerie Segovia of NPI and Mr. Rudolph Henry of WCJC in attendance. WIT would like to thank all those who attended the ceremony and the organization's sponsors -- NPI, TEES, TAMU, and Dr. Valerie Segovia -- for their support.  This was a great start for the upcoming year, and WIT is excited for what the rest of the year will bring. Returning Members - Alyssa Acosta, Matthew Aparicio, Brooke Carpenter, Daniel Castanon, David Cruz, Jackson Engel, Javier Figirova, Hailey Fuentes, Samantha Garcia, Timothy Kessler, Jannifer Le, Brenda Mancera, Jordan Nguyen, Alondra Rubio, Jonathan Segovia, Hannah Tran, Lanae Tucker, Justin Vu, Shelby Wilson, Noah Zamarripa, Daniel Zamora New Members - Giovana Arreola, Reed Bowers, Slone Greaves, Lizbeth Guillen, Hector Hernandez. Sabrina Lopez, Van Mai, Damian Manrriquez, Kaleb Mikeska, Omar Muniz, Truc Nguyen, Xuan Pham, Kimberly Phan, Meagan Ramirez, Reagan Ramirez, Alonso Rubio, Jennifer Sifuentes, Taylor Stoecker, Griffin White

Booke Vandenbergh, Kayla Vu, Dorothy Nguyen, Maria Muniz, Sara Tran, Lauren Post, Kaitlyn Marroquin, Karla Goytia, Macy Wilson, Olivia Filip, Guadalupe Mancera, Evelyn Aparicio, Huyen Ha, Emely Pena, Ingrid Martinez, Brianna Gonzalez, Samantha Otto, Chelsea Campbell, Savannah Williams, Carmen Serrato, Katie Nguyen, Mai Nguyen, Patricia Castanon, Vivian, Nguyen, Jordan Peeples, Caitlyn Rodgers, Avery Kubecka, Anh Dang, Michelle Nguyen, Teresita Lopez, Quynh Nguyen, Cindy Lopez, Ana Velazquez, and Lizette Sustaita.

The PHS National Honor Society will hold its annual blood drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, September 13^th in the PHS Fine Arts Building Parking Lot. To donate blood you must be at least 16 years old, weigh 122 pounds and be in good health. Please eat and drink plenty of fluids prior to donating and continue to do so throughout the day. Remember to bring an I.D. There is no substitute for blood. It has to come from one person in order to be given to another. A regular number of voluntary donations is required every day to meet the need for blood in the Texas Gulf Coast region.

PHS Sophomores and Juniors will have the opportunity to take the PSAT/NMSQT on October 10^th at 8:00 am in the PHS LRC.  The skills tested on the PSAT/NMSQT are the skills students need in college.  The test is approximately 3 hours long.  The PSAT/NMSQT lets students:

• Practice for the SAT
• Assess their skills in verbal reasoning, mathematical reasoning, and writing
• Compare their academic skills with those of other college-bound students
• Enter scholarship competitions
• Ask colleges to send them information
• Get information about a college major of interest to them

 Students interested need to register with Mrs. Garcia, PHS Counselor, by 4:00 pm on Tuesday, September 11th. The cost is $16.00.  No late registrations will be accepted.  

Griffin White, a sophomore at Palacios High School, took and passed the CompTIA Network+ certification exam on Wednesday, May 16, 2018.  CompTIA Network+ is a performance-based certification that helps you develop a career in IT infrastructure by validating the hands-on skills needed to troubleshoot, configure, and manage both wired and wireless networks, including emerging technologies such as unified communications, mobile, cloud, and virtualization technologies.   The possession of the CompTIA Network + Certification is an advantage for network technicians.  The Network+ certification opens up even more job opportunities allowing you to work as a network administrator, network engineer, network technician, and other similar positions.  

On April 18th, members of Palacios High School’s POWER SET organization traveled to Sweeny High School to compete in the Phillips 66 Olympics with other area POWER SET groups. Teams contained members from multiple schools and their objective was to build a device that could sort different sized objects to simulate the process of separating crude oil into different products. Groups had only a certain amount of time, money, and resources to build, as well as prepare a brief presentation. After time was called, groups presented and tested their creations. Members of Palacios’ POWER SET were on all three placing teams. Also, special awards were given for different categories. Summer Brandstatt won “Most Energetic.” Tamara Perez won “Future Mechanical Engineer.” Christina Peterson won “Most Curious.” Maria Muniz won “Best Shoe” (she is currently wearing a boot for an injured foot). And finally, Bailey Grones won “Most Likely to be a Safety Specialist.” Pictured left to right, back to front: Tamara Perez, Quynh Nguyen, Lili Vu, maria Hurtado, Brooke Vandenbergh, Mai Nguyen, Karla Goytia, Maria Serrato, Erika Espinosa, Katie Nguyen, Dorothy Nguyen, Monsterrat Garcia, Kayla Vu, Kaitlyn Marroquin, Jessica Muniz, Matia Muniz, Christina Peterson, Priscilla Nguyen, Bailey Grones, Summer Brandstatt, and Sarah Tran.

On Thursday, March 29th, Rhonda Shay, Human Resources Business Partner for Phillips 66, came to Palacios High School to present an interview workshop to WIT and POWER SET members. She focused on creating focused and attention-grabbing resumes, as well as how to participate in different types of interviews to ensure success in all of their future endeavors. Following an interview and resume workshop with Rhonda Shay, Human Resources Business Partner for Phillips 66, Junior WIT students from Palacios High School put their new skills to the test doing mock job interviews with Phillips 66 employees. In addition to the interview, students also underwent a resume critique. Besides improving their interviewing skills, students learned more about career opportunities at Phillips 66 and went through some of the activities the company does with their new hires. These activities helped improve team communication and listening skills. This opportunity gave these students valuable real-world experience that they can use later on in their careers. Thank you to Phillips 66, Mrs. Shay, Mrs. Brunner and the other employees that made this opportunity possible. Back row - Daniel Castanon, Steven Phan, Jannifer Le, Alondra Rubio, Brenda Mancera, Lanae Tucker, Timothy Kessler, Noah Zamarippa, David Cruz, Javier Figirova, Jackson Engel, Jonathan Segovia, and Daniel Zamora   Front Row - Samantha Garcia, Justin Vu, Hannah Tran, Salvador Carrillo, and Hailey Fuentes

The Palacios High School Computer Science UIL team competed at Regional on April 13. Individually Joe Pena placed 1st, Clayton Stuhrenberg placed 4^th and Daniel Castanon placed 6^th. They also competed as a team and placed 1^st making them REGIONAL CHAMPIONS!!  The team consists of Joe Pena, Clayton Stuhrenberg, Daniel Castanon, and Jackson Engel. These students will now compete at STATE UIL on May 4.  

 

The Science UIL Team competed at the 28AAA UIL meet on Friday, March 30.  The team of Lili Vu, Tyson Nguyen, Justin Vu, Rachel White, Salvador Carrillo and Tim Kezzler placed 1st as a team.  Individual awards were also given to Lili Vu:  2nd place overall individual, 1st place Biology, Tyson Nguyen:  3 place overall individual, Rachel White:  4th place individual.  They will now compete at Regionals on April 14, 2018.  

The Computer Science UIL team competed at the District 28AAA Academic meet on Saturday, March 31 and are District Champs!!  The team of Joe Pena, Clayton Stuhrenberg, Daniel Castanon and Jackson Engel competed as received 1st Place Team.  Individual awards were also awarded:  1st Place Individual:  Joe Pena, 2nd Place Individual:  Clayton Stuhrenberg, Tied for 3rd Place Individual:  Daniel Castanon and Jackson Engel.  They will now compete at Regionals on April 13, 2018.