Great People in Houston

Mayor Bill White

The mayor of Houston is Bill White. He is the executive officer of the city and does a great job for the city of Houston.

Mayor White was elected last year with sixty-three percent of the votes in his favor. After one hundred days in office the Houston chronicle said that they could already see many positive changes in the city in every aspect. Bill white has worked to improve the amount of jobs for everyone and traffic jams that are so infamous in Houston at rush hours.

It is also said that within the year that white has been at office the violent crime rate dropped a lot because the mayor added more to the budget of public safety. He has also worked so that the library and swimming pool schedules are improved in the neighborhoods. From personal experience I can say that since he has been at office e he has slowly been fixing many of the streets in my neighborhood by putting new pavement in all of them so that they are smooth and do not have any potholes, and we all have a more pleasant ride through the streets of Houston.

In his next and second year at office mayor bill white will work to develop a better less polluted air in our city. He will work for more jobs for Houston citizens and will build more affordable home for those people who need them.

Mayor Bill White will be our mayor for one more year and we know he will bring many more positive changes to our city. When his term is over we will be saddened that he will no longer be our mayor but thankful for the great things he did.

Victor Trevino- Hispanic Leader

Victor Trevino is a Hispanic constable, a leader in the Precinct 6. His leadership and hard work has gotten him where he is now. He has been credited for all the accomplishments and has received many awards.

Victor Trevino immigrated to the United States in 1958. He attended public schools and graduated from Austin High School in Houston ISD. After graduating he went to police academy and graduated from there in 1976. He continued his education by attending San Jacinto College, and later received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Houston-Downtown. Victor is now licensed as a Master Police Officer.

He was elected as Harris County constable of Precinct 6 in 1988 for 4 consecutive terms. He got married in June, 1972. Victor is credited for the First Parole Violator’s TASK force (Zebra Squad in the state of Texas.) He also founded the Absent Student Assistance Project (A.S.A.P) for reducing truancy of students and the First Precinct Six Police in Service Training Program. He is also credited for the first Contract Patrol Program in Precinct six

Victor Trevino has been recognized for his accomplishment by the following: The Jefferson Award in 1999, the Fiesta Patrias- distinguished Hispanic of the year Award-2002 and the Texas legislative Black caucus- the Outstanding Texan of the year Award in 2003.

All these awards have proven that Victor is a hard worker and is very dedicated to help the community. Victor will continue to go beyond the line of duty to serve his community.

Krystle M., staff writer

Parent Volunteers

Parent involvement in the community is very important. Not only just to make sure that kids are going to shool but also to help out anything needed at school. For the most part teachers and students make up a school. But parents have an equal or even greater effect on school life. Parents take part in decision making of what goes on in school. If they do not get involve, then they could have no say in it. Parents at Eastwood Academy get involved by showing up to parent-teacher meetings and conferences, also by allowing their childen to be involved with after school activities like sports or student council.

Parents who get involved are seen on school campus most of the time. They are here helping in the library, meetings, in the office or even just to be supportive of activities going on at school. Take the Eastwood soccer team for example; its coach is a student who has graduated from Eastwood not too long ago.He gets his support not only by the principal, but also by parents that show up at the games.They help by giving water to students after practice or showing them a new kicking technique.

At Eastwood parents are ready and willing to come to the office and help out with paper work at any time when asked. This was seen especially when one of our well loved staff had to be in the hospital for some time. As she was missed, students, teachers, and parents got together in order to help and do the best during her absence. This is true love for school for parents to take time off out of their busy day in order to show up to their kids' school and help out.

To all of those parents who do come and support the school, thank you!

Jose N, staff writer

Student Volunteers

A volunteer is someone who helps the community in any way without receiving any money for the service they have done. Every student who is applying to college always has to include in their application how they have served in their community such as helping in a local church, hospital, or school. Community service means helping out the environment and the people in it. Throughout our four years in high school it had been a mandatory request that we do community service hours. For me it hasn’t been so much as mandatory. It has been a privilege to help others besides ourselves.

Eastwood Academy High School in Houston, Texas is a good place to attend for those who love helping each other. As a college preparatory school Eastwood Academy prepares students for college by teaching the student skills needed in order to pass a college class, but one of the most important qualities the school has is that it requires students to have a certain amount of community service hours before the end of each school year. A freshman needs twenty hours, a sophomore forty hours, a junior sixty hours, and a senior eighty hours. For example, during our freshman and sophomore years we received my community service hours by helping at Queen of Peace Catholic School with Pre-Kinder and Kindergarten students. My junior year we received the hours by being a teacher assistant and by helping in fundraising.

The community service can be done anywhere, but many do it in the school if they do not have the time. At school students can help in the school office by filing paperwork, answering the phone, and making copies for the teachers. By the Senior and Junior year students do not have many classes and are given a period to be a teacher assistant, in which the student receives ten hours of community service each semester that they served as teacher assistant.

In the world there are many people who don’t have the basic necessities like the fortunate ones like us. We have gone through our life never having to worry about a roof over our head or food in our stomach. To be able to help somebody in need gives us a chance to feel better about myself and to see that there is one less person in the world that needs saving!

The first time someone hears about volunteering it does not sound appealing because they usually want a benefit out of the job they do. Volunteering helped us realize that we should not just think about ourselves because there are many people who need assistance. Putting a smile in someone’s face because you made a job easier for them is the best reward anyone could receive for being a community volunteer.

Janett & Jankarla, staff writers and volunteers in school and community