Brian Mowry, an AISD prekindergarten specialist, was named the Austin Association for the Education of Young Children (AAEYC) Teacher Educator of the Year at a recent conference held in Austin.

The Austin School District has expanded — from four to six — the number of elementary schools that will offer its “Two-Way” Dual Language program beginning in Fall 2011.

 Sunset Valley and Travis Heights elementary schools will join Becker, Ridgetop, Perez, and Wooten elementaries in offering the program for students in Pre-Kindergarten through first grade.

Adam Garibay, a senior at Crockett High School, has been informed that he is a Gates Millennium Scholars recipient. The Gates Millennium Scholars program will select 1,000 talented students from across the United States to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship, to use at any college or university of their choice. The scholarship, based on unmet financial need, is for an undetermined amount.

Kindergarten Roundup is set for 9 a.m., Tuesday, May 3, at all elementary schools in the Austin School District.

Children who will be five years old on or before September 1, 2011, are eligible to be enrolled. Parents should bring to Kindergarten Roundup:

A high school teacher whose Audio and Video Production classes offer students so much more than technical skills.

A middle school Language Arts teacher who had been a tenth grade dropout — and was shocked to discover he wanted to be a teacher.

An elementary school teacher who switched careers from television news to teaching bilingually — learning patience and perseverance from her students.

 iCivics, in partnership with the Austin Independent School District will host retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor at the Fulmore Law Magnet Middle School on Wednesday, April 13, 2011, at 1:15 p.m., in the Library. Justice O’Connor is visiting Fulmore Middle School to introduce her free, interactive, online curriculum iCivics.org. iCivics is a web-based education project designed to teach students civics and inspire them to be active participants in our democracy.

 Orchestral compositions by two Austin high school students will be among those performed by the Austin Symphony Orchestra at its first-ever Texas Young Composers Concert on Wednesday, April 20, at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

The Austin School District invites the community to an afternoon of island music at the Second Annual AISD Steel Drum Festival on Saturday, April 9, at 3 p.m., at the Toney Burger Center, 3200 Jones Road.

The festival will feature steel drum bands from Anderson, Bowie, Crockett, and McCallum high schools; Bailey, Bedichek, Covington, Gorzycki, and Kealing middle schools; and KIPP Austin Academy. The festival’s finale will be an exciting performance of the nine schools’ combined steel drum bands. Approximately 150 students will participate.

Online registration for the Austin School District's 2011 Summer High School is underway, and will continue through May 20. This, and other information for families seeking summer programs, can be found at AISD’s website, https://www.austinisd.org/summer-school

AISD Summer High School

The AISD summer high school program will be held at:

Nine Austin students from one middle school and two high schools have been chosen as finalists in the ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair, held recently in San Antonio.

The students, their category and division, and awards are as follows: