Notice to All Students

no-excuses

 – Leave the excuses at the door.

– If you did not do your homework, just admit it.

– If you did not understand the assignment, ask for help.

– If you did not study for the test, then accept the grade and resolve to do better next time

(with the teacher’s help if necessary).

– If you refuse to follow the class rules, then accept the consequences.

The rules are not open for discussion or debate.
The teacher is here for one reason and one reason only:

TO TEACH YOU

TO INSPIRE YOU

TO HELP YOU GROW

I WILL DO MY PART.
THE REST IS UP TO YOU.

Author Anonymous

believe

Laredo ISD Early College

The Early College High School provides students the opportunity to receive a high school diploma and two years of college credit (or an Associate degree), free. (The tuition of two years at college worth more than $28,000) Early college students are outperforming their peers nationwide, 90% graduate high school vs. 78% of students nationally; 94% earn free college credit while in high school.

Many of my former students could realize their dreams through the LISD Early College. You can also achieve the success you deserve.

ECHS School

Laredo Early College High School – Where dreams are ignited by the flames of knowledge.

 

EC today

 

Top 5 benefits of Early College

You Can Be Succesfull

You Can

One of the biggest misconceptions about being successful in school (and in life) is that you sit at your desk and automatically success comes to you. When the reality is that you have to fight for it, and fight hard.

  • Trust yourself
  • Work Hard
  • Don’t be afraid to fail
  • Stay Focused
  • PUSH YOURSELF
  • Be Persistent
  • Never Give Up!

Say to yourself:  I will persist until I succeed!

Don’t eat the marshmallow!  Joachim de Posada  TED

The circle of Poverty

Circle

 The best anti-poverty program is a world-class education.

Barack Obama

In Laredo, a significant number of children live in poverty.

Low educational levels lead to low motivation to stay in school and many students drop out, and thus their opportunities to break the cycle of poverty are greatly reduced.

Break the cycle of poverty depends on you. Take the opportunity you have to study and break the cycle that passes the burdens of poverty from one generation to the next.

free

Pretty Good, By Charles Osgood*

There once was a pretty good student.
Who sat in a pretty good class
And was taught by a pretty good teacher.
Who always let pretty good pass.

He wasn’t terrific at reading;
He wasn’t a whiz-bang at math;
But for him education was leading
Straight down a pretty good path.

He didn’t find school too exciting,
But he wanted to do pretty well.
And he did have some trouble with writing,
And nobody had taught him to spell.

When doing arithmetic problems,
Pretty good was regarded as fine;
Five and five needn’t always add up to be ten.
A pretty good answer was nine.

The pretty good student was happy
With the standards that were in effect.
And nobody thought it was sappy
If his answers were not quite correct.

The pretty good class that he sat in
Was part of a pretty good school.
And the student was not an exception;
On the contrary, he was the rule.

The pretty good school that he went to
Was right there in a pretty good town.
And nobody there ever noticed
He could not tell a verb from a noun.

The pretty good student, in fact, was
A part of a pretty good mob,
And the first time he knew what he lacked was
When he looked for a pretty good job.

It was then, when he sought a position,
He discovered that life can be tough,
And he soon had a sneaky suspicion
Pretty good might not be good enough.

The pretty good town in our story
Was part of a pretty good state
Which had pretty good aspirations
and prayed for a pretty good fate.

There was once a pretty good nation.
Pretty proud of the greatness it had.
But which learned much too late.
If you want to be great,
Pretty good is, in fact, pretty bad.

*Source: http://leedeth.wordpress.com/2007/02/27/pretty-good-by-charles-osgood/

The Lesson of the Butterfly

butterflylifecycleuse-300x208

By Paulo Coelho

A man spent hours watching a butterfly struggling to emerge from its cocoon. It managed to make a small hole, but its body was too large to get through it. After a long struggle, it appeared to be exhausted and remained absolutely still.
 
The man decided to help the butterfly and, with a pair of scissors, he cut open the cocoon, thus releasing the butterfly. However, the butterfly’s body was very small and wrinkled and its wings were all crumpled.
 
The man continued to watch, hoping that, at any moment, the butterfly would open its wings and fly away. Nothing happened; in fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its brief life dragging around its shrunken body and shrivelled wings, incapable of flight.
 
What the man – out of kindness and his eagerness to help – had failed to understand was that the tight cocoon and the efforts that the butterfly had to make in order to squeeze out of that tiny hole were Nature’s way of training the butterfly and of strengthening its wings.
 
Sometimes, a little extra effort is precisely what prepares us for the next obstacle to be faced. Anyone who refuses to make that effort, or gets the wrong sort of help, is left unprepared to fight the next battle and never manages to fly off to their destiny.
 
(Adapted from a story sent in by Sonaira D’Avila)

secret

 

Ali

The story of Aldo

 

Previously  Published On 6/02/2016

In days gone by, sadly I learned that a child at our school was caught up in drugs. This is one of the great concerns that we have as parents and teachers because we know the huge risk involved in drug addiction and its dire consequences to those who consume them.
Regrettably, modern society regards to drug use as normal and instead of combating it with awareness campaigns at all levels, we see with sadness, that in some states it is being legalized. However, I believe that schools should be a place where drugs are completely banned. Under no circumstances should they be tolerated.

Today I want to share with you the story of Aldo. I met him when I finished my studies; he was a Catholic priest who was very different from everyone I had met before. When we were going to confess to the priest, it was common to hear him say “who am I to judge you? I too have been a sinner, and my sins have been greater than yours. Yet God rescued me and so also wants to rescue you, so that you may bear fruits of His love and give them abundantly.” In Aldo, we always had a friend and a counselor, at any time we could go to him, and we felt the peace and tranquility that is emanated.

Aldo said that the confession was not with the priest but with God and with those whom we had offended. When we wanted to do this, we could confess in small groups in the sacristy, in some very emotional sessions that we could now call group therapy. Everyone recognized their sins and asked for forgiveness publicly, offering sincerely, to remedy their sins and not to sin again.

Aldo was born in Nevada and at a very young age lost his parents, so he was a problem child during his adolescence and when he came of age, given that he had artistic inclinations, became a renowned dancer in Las Vegas. He told us that he had lived a life of excesses, women, drinks, drugs; And yet when he was alone and thinking he realized that his life was empty; that others cared only for what he could provide them and that personally he wanted luxury and personal pleasures and did not care what happens to the rest of the world.

One day he had a dental problem, and he went without an appointment at the dental office. While waiting he began to read the magazines in the waiting room; he found an article, a rare thing, of the life of St. Francis of Assisi. He commented that he can not stop reading it, and resulted in him going to buy a book to know more about his life. And at that moment he felt that like St Francis, he must totally renounce that life of hedonism and pleasures, and really be interested in others. He entered the seminary, and when he finished, he sought to officiate in a poor parish where his help was most needed.
Aldo told us Get away from drugs, if you consume them they are surely sorrowful to God, who wants all that is good for you and the evil one rejoices. If you have already consumed them and want to leave them, seek the support of God who will always be at your side to return you to the right path. For him there is no impossible, for him, there is no sin that can not be forgiven, we are his children, and he does not want to lose us .

This same message I give to my students. Get away from drugs, avoid the company of other boys who consume them, seek the support of your parents and teachers, do not look for false shortcuts, really strive to be better in every way, seek to be better children, better brothers, better students, and I have the confidence that when they are adults they will have a full life, the recognition of the community and the affection of their loved ones.

Say no to drugs, say yes to life

Previously  Published On 5/18/2015

Last week I was very sad to hear that a sixth-year child was caught smoking drugs in the school bathrooms. The next day I learned of an eighth-grader who offered drugs to his classmates. This news worried me a lot, and I had no sleep. Over and over again I wondered to myself, what can I do? What should I do?

Many times, I have seen that some students destroy their lives, their studies, their personal and family relations, as well as any possibility of future success because they fall into the trap of drugs.

Ten years ago, I retired as a teacher of higher education and started teaching math at the middle school level. In the first year, I learned of a similar drug case, and I went to the school authorities to ask what we would do. The answer surprised me: “That’s society, there’s nothing we can do”: I totally disagreed with it. When authority is defeated and does not want to intervene, minimizing and in some cases hiding incidents of this type, it will only aggravate the problem.

Society has placed in the teachers and school authorities the great responsibility of cultivating and caring for the most valuable treasure of all the families and of the nation, this is its young people. We can not turn a blind eye to these problems and ignore them. On the contrary, we should alert parents and raise awareness among young people of the serious dangers of drug addiction. To deny the existence of a problem or to pretend that it does not exist does not solve it; but on the contrary, aggravates it. It is a task for all adults to protect with all our strength, with all our heart, with a clear and determined strategy that protects our students from this serious problem.

If a friend offers you drugs he is not a friend, a good friend does not endanger your life and your future.

Take advantage of this great educational opportunity you have today; your future and that of your family depend on what you do today. Do not make a mistake that you’ll regret all your life

Do you think having a drug-addicted child is what your parents want when they send you to school?

And if you have already fallen into this problem, seek help. Lean on someone you can trust, a close relative, your teachers, school or spiritual counselors. I want to tell you that with will, determination, and perseverance, other people have come out of drugs. There is a thought that I want to share:

“God changes caterpillars into butterflies, sand into pearls and coal into diamonds by using time and pressure. He is working on you too” Rick Warren.

 

>>>Good friends do not induce you to drugs<<<

 

Face It

believeiny

 

 

 

 

The Bottom Line

Face it.
Nobody owes you living.
What you achieve or faiI to achieve in your lifetime
is directly related to what you do
or fail to do.
No one chooses his parents or childhood
but you choose your own direction.
Everyone has problems and obstacles to overcome
but that too is relative to each individual.

Nothing is carved in stone.
You can change anything in your life
if you want to badly enough.
Excuses are for losers.
Those who take responsibility for their actions
are the real winners in life.
Winners meet life’s challenges head on
knowing there are no guarantees
and give it all they’ve got.
It’s never too late or too early to begin.
Time play’s no favorites
and will pass whether you act or not.

Take control of your life.
Dare to dream and take risks.
If you aren’t willing to work for your goals,
don’t expect others to.

Believe in Yourself!

Author Unknown