State of the Schools
On Thursday, March 3rd, 2016, the following students represented the Student Congress at the State of the Schools at the Hilton Americas downtown:
- Ailyn Gonzalez, Davis High School
- Delano Young, Mickey Leland College Prep
- Tabitha Cerda, Milby High School
- Uyiosa Elegon, Debakey High School
- Amy Fan, Bellaire High School
- Kaitlyn Galbadon, Westside High School
- Eduardo Garcia, Lamar High School
- Timeria Conley, Barbara Jordan High School
- Aviance Obie, Westbury High School
Leadership Houston Panel
On Friday, March 4th, 2016, Student Congress PR chair Uyiosa Elegon (Debakey High School) and Speaker Amy Fan (Bellaire High School) spoke on a panel at the Leadership Houston Education Day at UH Downtown Houston.
April 2016 Board meeting
On Thursday, March 10th, 2016, the following Student Congress members spoke at the board meeting to protest that sports be taken away from magnet schools. As a result, the board voted against repealing its policy on banning UIL sports from magnet schools
- Andrea Jaime, High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice
- John Moreland, Houston Academy for International Studies
- Janet Asante, Debakey High School
- Amy Fan, Bellaire High School
- Cynthia Trujilo, Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy
- Amber Farias, Energy Institute High School
We Wrote an Amicus Brief!
On September 8th, 10 students in the Student Congress filed an Amicus Brief with the Texas Supreme Court. It has been featured on the following news sites:
TexasISD.com: More on Houston Student Congress and their Amicus Brief (9.11.2015)
Houston NPR- KUHF: Houston Students File Brief In Texas Supreme Court School Finance Case (9.28.2015)
Washington Post: Texas students ask state Supreme Court to force adequate funding of public schools (9.13.2015)
NPR WBUR “Here and Now”: Texas Teenagers Join Fight For More School Funding (9.17.2015)
Houston Chronicle Editorial: Scholastic Voices (9.15.2015)
Houston Chronicle Gray Matters: Houston ISD Students to Texas: Educate us, please (9.19.2015)
Houston Chronicle Outlook: Tameez, Fan: Equitable school funding would allow smaller classes (9.18.2015)
Austin American Statesman: Students add overlooked voice to school finance case (9.20.2015)
Texas Lawyer: Teens File Texas Supreme Court Brief in School Finance Litigation (9.16.2015)
Diane Ravitch: Watch Out, 1%! The Students Are Taking Action! (9.15.2015)
Diane Ravitch: Houston Student Leader Explains Why Students Fight for Equitable Funding (9.22.2015)
Texas AFT: Students Call for Adequate Funding in Brief Submitted to Texas Supreme Court (9.14.2015)
Huffington Post Education: Opportunity and Hope in America’s Public Schools (9.18.2015)
Off the Kuff: When might we get a Supreme Court ruling on school finance? (9.20.2015)
We also wrote a post about the process of writing the brief on our blog, DearHISD. Check it out here.
Listen to StuCon Radio!
Check out our radio show on 90.1FM KPFT here and don’t forget to tune in every other Thursday from 4:30-5:30 to hear what HISD students are saying!
We have a blog, too!
In less than a month, it has gotten over 7,500 views and a few of the articles are already improving HISD, namely SAT prep choices and school lunches. Check our our student run blog, Dear HISD, here.
Student Congress on NPR
On March 6th, Laura Isensee, an education reporter for NPR, came to an Advocacy Committee meeting and described the Student Congress as “student government on steroids.”
You can listen to the entire story, which aired on March 24th, here.
StuCon on TV
We Went On a Scouting Trip To Austin Over Spring Break
The Council of Great City Schools
We were featured in an article in the Council of Great City Schools! Find us on page nine of this article.
The Houston Chronicle
On December 13th, Ericka Mellon, a reporter from the Houston Chronicle, came to an Advocacy leadership meeting to interview the following students:
- Zaakir Tameez, Speaker of the Congress, (Carnegie ’15)
- Jamie Russell, Advocacy Committee Chair (Madison ’15)
- Raquel Douglas, Governance Committee Chair (Carnegie ’15)
- Jesus Solano, Finance Committee Chair (Carnegie ’15)
- Demetron Dotson, Advocacy Committee Sergeant at Arms (Austin ’17)
- Aviance Obie, Agenda Committee Member (Westbury ’16)
- Jessica DeBoe, Outreach Committee Blog Squad, (HSPVA ’17)
- David Valerio, Chief Administrative Officer (Carnegie ’15)
- Andrea Jamie, Outreach Committee Blog Squad Email & Instagram Manager (LECJ ’16)
The respective article was published in the print version of the Houston Chronicle on January 4th. You can read the online version here.
On November 14, the Student Congress was featured in Thesis Magazine. You can read the article here.
On November 13, the Student Congress attended HISD’s school board meeting 125+ students from 25 schools. This is the largest showing of students to a board meeting in Houston’s history.
On October 26, the Opening Session of the Student Congress was featured in The Alief Post. Speaker of the Congress Zaakir Tameez (Carnegie ’15) and Advocacy Chair Jamie Russel (Madison ’15) were interviewed. You can read the article online here.
On October 10, the Opening Session of the Student Congress was featured by Ari Rotenburg, a student editor of The Buzz Magazines. He interviewed Governance Member Thomas Nyugen (Carnegie ’16). You can read the article online here.
On September 22, founding members Jesus Alexander Solano, Raquel Douglas, and Zaakir Tameez were featured on HISD’s “Up Close with Juliet Stipeche”
On August 4, founding members Zaakir Tameez and Amy Fan speak about the formation of the Student Congress on ABC 13
On July 12, founding members Zaakir Tameez and Amy Fan went on FOX 26 to spread the word about HISD Student Congress.
Check out and subscribe to our YouTube Channel here.
HISD Student Congress 
Do you have an email?
Yes! Please feel free to email me at speaker@hisdstudentcongress.org any time!