The following is submitted to HCT Now by Athens resident Fred Head
“See Ya Soon” proclaims the bold white letters which beam out from the black marble tomb stone marking the Athens City Cemetery grave of 40-year Athens’ patriotic business leader and Korean Conflict U.S. Army Soldier Paul Harrup, Jr. who was buried there Saturday, January 26th.
The January 21st death of Paul Harrup, after an unbelievably courageous, determined and upbeat 6-plus year battle with heart issues and an esophageal malignancy brought a close to a unique period of love, care, concern and active ministry to others by the Athens Real Estate, Insurance and Mini Warehouse business owner whose real work in life was helping others, creating good feelings and witnessing for Jesus.
Paul Harrup, who was widely known, well loved and eagerly sought out for his remarkable Christian wisdom, as well as his tremendous story telling and master of ceremonies abilities, leaves a sad and lonely feeling, especially in the hearts of those who knew him and loved him, but also in the hearts of the many he helped, advised or befriended in their times of need.
Paul’s “See Ya Soon” earthly tombstone goodbye clearly delivers, for the ages, his Christian message of faith in Jesus that he so often shared, one on one, with countless individuals and as he taught his Baptist men’s Sunday school class at First Baptist Church of Mabank for many years.
Enjoying good friends, good food and the latest news with others – – – especially at his “Star Chamber” Rotary and Country Club tables in Athens – – – gave Paul an important forum to share his vast knowledge, his incomparable wit and his inspired wisdom. He was truly one of a kind!
Athens, Mabank and our entire area have lost a great human treasure from our presence, but he has left us with the certainly and assurance that if we have faith and if we follow the footsteps of Jesus and live Christian lives, we will see him soon.
(This is Part 2 of 2 describing the College for All and Early College programs at Athens High School. Part 1 provided background about the programs and discussed funding and the importance of the Murchison Foundation.)
Jami Ivey
ATHENS — Aristotle once wrote that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Aristotle may be a little heavy for a Friday afternoon in Athens, but the phrase fits when talking about what’s going on out at Athens High School.
The Early College High School is pretty neat. The Career Technology Education (CTE) program is cool. The new College for All program is starting to turn heads.
But the idea behind it all is a downright game changer.
“I want the choice to be the students’. If that’s what they want to do and they want to go to culinary arts school, then we’re going to find a way to do that for them. If they want to go to college and do something different, then we are going to find a way to do that for them,” AHS Principal Jami Ivey told Henderson County Now this week. “Everything is not cookie-cutter anymore, it’s just not.”
Ivey isn’t the only one behind these programs, and she’s the first one to tell you that. Early College is now in its fifth year and CTE its third, and neither would be here today without the support of superintendents, school board members, the community, and lots of teachers.
But she was the face of the Early College program and now that she is principal of the entire high school campus, she’s brought with her that drive to see her students advance.
She may not be the one behind the whole shift, but she does give it a voice.
“There are so many barriers for our kids because of our economically disadvantaged group,” she said. “I want to remove whatever barrier out there I can so the choice is the student’s and not some adult’s about whether they can go to college or not.”
“It is not just about going to TVCC, but about changing the culture,” she said.
SHIFTING PARADIGMS
The goal is to make sure AHS students are ready for a career or college when they graduate, and sometimes that isn’t as easy as it sounds.
“A lot of our kids here have never been told that they could do something; they’ve always been told why they can’t, from the beginning up,” Ivey said.
Ivey is familiar with being told she can’t do something.
“We were told all the way through why we can’t and we had to do it in spite of that, that’s what happened (at Early College),” she said, “and that’s what it is going to take over here.”
“It is a blessing that I was over at the Early College for almost five years and then to come here, because I can see where we are headed and where we can change some things to get it there,” she said.
One of the changes includes a longer day. Teachers have been signing up at the high school to stay around until 6:30 p.m. so that students have someone to turn to for help with college-level work.
“That’s been ingrained at the Early College for five years. I’m trying to get it ingrained where we’re starting it over here,” Ivey said.
The change also makes sense from a strategic sense. Ivey said the high school had 901 students as of last week.
“We have 85 on the working staff and three administrators,” Ivey said. “If we don’t find a way to split that (901) out into small learning communities, small schools within schools and small teams academically where we can keep track of kids, they are going to get lost.”
And with educators struggling to understand vague guidelines from the state on the new STAAR test, and some students still under the old TAKS test, a lost kid is one who is in danger of failing.
STRUGGLES AND SUCCESS
Don’t think all these changes have come without some bumps in the road. The Early College, in particular, has faced some criticism about who was allowed into the program.
According to the Texas Education Agency, only students who fit criteria as being at-risk, economically disadvantaged, or a first (or in some cases, second) generation college student are eligible to participate in the Early College program.
The decision on who fits the criteria has been questioned at times by members of the community.
Ivey has two answers:
1. The community doesn’t always know all the details.
“As a school we know some information about certain families that others may not know. And we can’t share that,” she said.
Because of that, the school district does have a little leeway on who is allowed into the program.
2. The way the criteria is applied has changed over the years.
Ivey points out that Athens ISD is now on its third superintendent since the Early College program was initiated.
“There have been different leaders of the district with different visions, so there have been different blends at the Early College in different years,” she said, and she admits that can be confusing.
But the bottom line is the program continues to grow and improve.
“Last year, we took 100 kids and all 100 met the criteria of being at-risk, economically disadvantaged, or first generation,” Ivey said. “We can’t do anything about what’s happened in the past, or the decisions that were made, but we can move forward.”
And moving forward includes bringing many of those ideas to the main campus for the students who don’t qualify for Early College.
“That’s the reason we have stretched and looked for an alternative, an option for our parents and students who cannot qualify ever to get into Early College, but who have a desire and have a need,” Director of Curriculum Dr. Janie Sims said. “Middle class families, working families, it helps them if their child can go to college. And that’s the reason for College for All.”
The successes have made the struggles worthwhile.
Consider 2012 AHS graduate Carlos Tovias. He was also a 2012 TVCC graduate (like 83 percent of his Early College classmates).
“Those (Early College) students are at A&M, they are UNT, they are all over,” Ivey said. “And it is important for this group to see that and say, ‘OK, it can be done if we don’t have the barriers.’ Where we can level out the playing field for the main campus, because these kids are in just as much need.”
“I know when you put them in certain situations, our kids kids can do it. It is just putting them there and getting them to believe that they can.”
(This is Part 1 of 2 describing the College for All and Early College programs at Athens High School. Part 2 will cover the drive for college, changing cultures and overcoming obstacles.)
ATHENS — The Murchison Foundation came through where the state did not.
Jami Ivey
Athens High School Principal Jami Ivey told school board members last week the Murchison Foundation donated $140,500 to the school this year to help students get ready for college. Aiding students financially is extremely essential. Individually in Sweden students can apply via the CNS for aid. You can view the history of student aid in Sweden online.
Not only get ready for college, but also go to college.
The foundation donation includes $100,000 for the College for All program, which helps AHS juniors and seniors pay for tuition for their CLEP Exam Prep at Trinity Valley Community College, whether the classes are taught at the high school or college campus.
The money also provides funds to allow the high school to have teachers at the campus until 6:30-7 p.m. to help those students.
This year, Ivey went from being in charge of the school’s Early College High School — which is a separate program — to being the high school principal. When she moved, she said she wanted to bring some of those college ideas to the main campus.
Money for college, however, is not in the operating budget, so the school applied for a Texas Education Agency (TEA) grant.
“We applied for that and were kind of devastated that we didn’t get it,” Ivey said, during an interview this week with Henderson County Now.
The Murchison Foundation stepped into the gap.
“If we didn’t have the Murchison Foundation, it would be difficult to do this,” Ivey said.
“This” includes having 62 students at the main campus enrolled in college classes this semester, including five taking a full load of college courses.
The rest of the foundation donation was geared toward helping students get ready for college, with $30,000 for college placement testing — including money for every junior to take the PSAT this year — and $10,000 for scholarships through the Athens Academic Renaissance Organization. The final $500 was a gift to the senior Last Blast.
College for All and Early College High School
There are actually two separate programs now helping AHS students attend college:
– Early College High School, which started five years ago and must be certified by the state. This program has specific rules about who is eligible and operates almost as a “school within a school.”
– College for All, which started this year and does not have to be certified by the state. There are no eligibility requirements, but state rules only allow juniors and seniors to participate.
At this point, the Murchison Foundation is providing funding for both programs. Ivey said the foundation donated about $120,000 for Early College the past two years. There are currently about 260 students in the Early College program.
The beginning of the Early College program mirrors the start of College for All. The district hoped to get a grant but didn’t, and the Murchison Foundation stepped in to help.
Last year, the first class of AHS graduates came out of the Early College and 83 percent of them had associate’s degrees. Ivey said the state average for graduating with a degree is around 15 percent.
“The graduation rate is phenomenal,” Director of Curriculum Dr. Janie Sims said this week.
“Our community has looked at that (success),” Ivey said, “and I really believe from the things that we’ve heard that parents would like to see some of that at the main campus, which I agree with.”
Helping Hands
A program this ambitious doesn’t succeed without a lot of help, and Murchison Foundation members aren’t the only ones stepping up.
Ivey said TVCC has been very helpful. The college waives tuition for the first six credit hours (two classes) and is invested in trying to make the program work.
“From many meetings we have to try and schedule classes to even trying to work with us a little with some books, they have been a great partner,” Ivey said.
And how do you get students from one side of the city to the other? AHS has a bus that runs like a shuttle between the high school and the college that works for both Early College and College for All.
“That is something this district has shown that they are behind and have paid for the transportation,” Ivey said.
And then there are the teachers who sign up to take shifts after school to help the students with their homework and dealing with college coursework.
“You can’t just put our kids out at the college without giving them some sort of support mechanism,” Ivey said. “Our demographics are such that we have to have that; most of our kids can’t go home and get help.”
But from top to bottom, the vision is the same.
“My ultimate goal is that if a student wants to go to college and can’t that we can help them no matter who they are,” she said. “Or even if they would like to go to college as a benefit of being at Athens High School, we would like to pay for it. That’s what we are trying to go toward.”
“The only way to change somebody’s life is through education,” she said.
(Part 2 to come tomorrow: The drive for college, changing cultures and overcoming obstacles.)
Congratulations to the Athens Hornets on winning the Palestine Wildcat Tournament. (PHOTO COURTESY AISD)
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Ty Thomison
Yesterday, Brownsboro ISD Superintendent Chris Moran announced that High School Football Coach and Athletic Director Ty Thomison has been placed on administrative leave.
Moran told The Athens Review — which broke the story — that he could not go into detail on the specifics of the administrative leave, but issued a statement concerning Thomison’s departure and his interim replacement.
The following is the text of Dr. Moran’s statement:
George Losack has been named Interim Athletic Director for the Brownsboro Independent School District in the absence of Ty Thomison who has been placed on Administrative Leave. Mr. Losack has 37 years of experience in education, including service as head football coach and athletic coordinator at both A&M Consolidated and San Marcus High Schools. He has served as an assistant principal for Brownsboro High School for 8 years. District officials are considering all options for leadership of the athletic program and will make the appropriate decisions at the appropriate time. In the meantime, we are thankful to have Mr. Losack’s experience and willingness to serve the students and staff during this time.
Thomison has been coach of the Bears for the past two seasons.
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ON TAP TONIGHT
The red-hot Trinity Valley Community College Lady Cardinals will be at home tonight to take on Jacksonville College. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. If you can’t make the game, listen in on a live stream.
The Athens Review is reporting that two people were killed in a Tuesday accident on Loop 7. The accident involved a car and a truck. Names have not yet been released, however police said none of the victims were local.
The Ghostriders Drill Team took first place at the Fort Worth Stock Show’s “All Western Parade” last Saturday. The team includes riders from Henderson County. Find out more about the team on its website or its Facebook page.
Athens ISD school board members were recognized at last week’s meeting in honor of School Board Recognition Month in Texas. Pictured, from left, are board members Alicea Elliott, Robert Risko (president), Steve McElhany, Ginger Kirk, Bob Spears, and Raymond Williams. Not pictured is David Freeman. (STACY DUNACUSKY PHOTO/Athens ISD)
January is school board recognition month in Texas, a time set aside to remember the men and women across the state who donate countless hours to service at our public schools.
Texans benefit every day from the tireless work and countless hours contributed by a group of more than 7,300 men and women in communities across the state. These local volunteers are elected by their constituents and receive no compensation for their work as public servants. These men and women are the school board members of Texas.
The following serve on school boards in Henderson County:
Athens: President Rob Risko, Vice President David Freeman, Secretary Robert Spears, Raymond Williams, Ginger Kirk, Steve McElhany, and Alicea Elliott.
Brownsboro: Wes Johnston, Michele Rinehart, Michele Blackmon, Brian Bersano, Steve Sanders, Jeffery Fulgham, and Scott Williams.
Cross Roads: President Scott Huddleston, Vice President Darren Himes, Secretary Keith Pryor, Shelly Robertson, Dr. Russell Giles, Scott McCurley and Larry Scoggin.
Eustace: President Diane Rush, Vice President Thomas E. Frazier, Secretary Gary Walsh, C.D. (Sonny) Hodge II, Bobby K. Ashton, Michael Cates, and Billy (Cotton) Walker.
Mabank: President Kenneth Odom, Vice President Dr. Darrell Kinnard, Secretary Mike Cathey, Tyson Johnson, Todd Grimes, Dr. Jeff Gaddis, and Gary Sapp.
Malakoff: President Gary Woolverton, Vice President Todd LaRue, Secretary Daymon Sims, Mike Monroe, Billy Sparks, Jason Darymple, and Rick Vieregge.
Murchison: President Donald Goines, Vice President Lloyd Smith, Secretary Nelda Tillison, Sheryl Sims, Mike Davis, Nancy McCall, and Gayla Roberts.
Trinidad: President Eric Airheart, Vice President Ricky Stanfield, Secretary Karen Newsome, Billy Hornbuckle, Mike Airheart, Bill Tart, and Dennis Parker.
The following is submitted to HCT Now by Athens resident Fred Head
