Texas Vacation
The Lone Star State is known for its wide open spaces and its hospitality. A Texas vacation offers great cities, food and local history. There is a coastline, stretching for 600 miles with some serious sandcastle building competition going on. No one could possibly be bored here. There are six big theme parks with roller coasters and rides for family days out. The Texas State Aquarium at Corpus Christie includes displays of sharks, stingrays and barracudas.
Many annual events appear on the calendar, such as the Texas State Fair, which takes place in Dallas. There is also the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo where you can watch the riders, listen to concerts and go on the carnival rides. A Texas vacation wouldn’t be the same without rodeo, it’s big business and it’s always entertaining.
The cities of Texas are all worth a visit. Dallas and Houston are well known for their skyline with impressive skyscrapers and both cities have interesting museums and culture. Houston has its own Grand Opera Company, Ballet Company, Symphony Orchestra and a drama venue called The Alley Theatre. There is also the ArtCar Museum with a collection of custom cars and the Museum of Natural Science. Dallas museums include the Age of Steam Railroad Museum and the African American Museum. Other cities of note are San Antonio, Fort Worth, El Paso and the state capital, Austin.
Football and baseball are popular activities and there are plenty stadiums to catch a game. The Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros are prominent baseball teams and the Dallas Cowboys are worth a ticket for football fans. Keen golfers love a Texas vacation; the warm climate means that golf can be played at any time of the year.
Texas has an interesting history, with its attempt at independence from the United States and its conflicts with Mexico. The residents here have a strong sense of identity. Visitors interested in the subject can visit the significant sites. There is also a Texas Film Tour, which stops at locations used for the movies, the most famous example being the Alamo. The fort still stands where John Wayne fought to the last, at least in Hollywood.
For the very active, there is plenty of opportunity to do sports or take up a new one under instruction. The landscape is ideal for outdoor adventures and there are organizations that offer rafting, canoeing, biking on road and mountain, rock climbing, hiking, sandboarding and horseback riding.
They know about big portions in Texas and no one goes hungry on a Texas vacation. Food is celebrated in festivals, barbecues and jamborees with tasty Texan, Mexican and Spanish being the main influences. Brave visitors may even be tempted into entering the State Jalapeno Eating Contest!
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Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University, which is located at Lubbock Texas, was established on February 10, 1923. This public university was originally called the Texas Tech University System, which is known for being one of the largest contiguous campuses in the US. Also, this institution is the only one in Texas that houses undergraduate, medical, and law schools at the same campus or location. When it comes to sports, the athletic teams that represent this school are called the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Women teams are also called Red Raiders, except for the women’s basketball team which is called the Lady Raiders.
The Texas Tech University has two mascots, Masked Rider and Raider Red. The former is actually the oldest mascot of the university. Although the Masked Rider was first used by the athletic teams of the school in 1936, it became an official mascot only in 1954 when Joe Kirk Fulton together with his horse Blackie led the Texas Tech Red Raiders football team into the field at the Gater Bowl. An Atlanta Journal writer, Ed Danforth, even wrote that there is no team in any sports bowl to have ever made a sensational entrance such as the one that Fulton, along with the rest of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, pulled that day. To commemorate this unforgettable tradition, a statue of the Masked Rider created by renowned artist Grant Speed was unveiled in 2000.
The other mascot of Texas Tech University, Raider Red, is a fairly recent addition to the team. This mascot was actually unveiled during the 1971 football games because the Southwest Conference did not allow the inclusion of live and breathing animal mascots on the games unless the host school explicitly consented. So, in games or situations where the home team cannot bring the beloved Masked Rider’s horse, the raiders usually bring Raider Red, which was created by Jim Gaspard. Although the true identity of the Masked Rider is known to everyone, the identity of the one who is wearing the Raider Red costume is not public knowledge, at least until the end of the student’s tenure. However, one thing is for sure, the one who dons Raider Red should be a member of the High Riders or the Saddle Tramps.
For the longest time, the rivals of the Texas Tech University in athletic competitions have been the Texas A&M Aggies and the Texas Longhorns. The students and fans of Texas Tech usually camp outside the Jones AT&T Stadium the night before important games against the Aggies, the Longhorns, and even the Oklahoma Sooners are held. Aside from the mascots, another popular school tradition of Texas Tech is the Double T Logo. Whenever you see this symbol, it is a good bet that the one wearing it is a student, alumni, or a fan of the Texas Tech teams. The first one who used this symbol to decorate the football team’s sweater is EY Freeland, who is also the first coach of the Texas Tech football team. The logo was updated in 2000 to make the Double T look more three-dimensional.
Writer and editor, Freddie Brister, is a former high school football coach of 25 years. His love of the game of football is reflected in his words and memories of growing up in the South and playing football in the back yard with his brother, cousins and neighborhood friends. His biggest thrill is watching former high school players he has coached play at the college level. His favorite pastime is watching college football on tv and attending the games in person every chance he gets. Freddie Brister is a huge fan of the Big 12 and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Check out his Texas Tech Hawaiian Shirt or his Texas Tech Apparel
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Texas Schools Take Aim at the Future in Math and Science
In July 2006 grants of $9 million were given to Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics academics of the Texas Schools. The grants will go to the creation of 12 new academies and centers in the Texas Schools. T-STEM is a program that provides $71 million to various math and science projects at secondary Texas Schools and operates under the umbrella of the larger Texas High School Project (THSP), which has the goal of increasing graduation and enrollment rates in public Texas Schools. The THSP is funded by both public and private funds in the amount of $261 million. Its partners include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the Office of the Governor and others.
Why Fund Math & Science?
Concerns that both Texas Schools and American students in general are falling behind in the areas of math and science have increased greatly with recent technology. Federal mandates from the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act have also added to pressure for Texas Schools to increase academic performance of its students in these areas. Finally, awareness of an increasing achievement gap between races and economic levels has prompted Texas Schools to make these changes.
According to Texas Governor Rick Perry, “The T-STEM initiative focuses our efforts where they are needed most- in areas where there are a high number of disadvantaged students who are too often left in the shadows of opportunity. This initiative will help us close the science and math gap that exists in our schools today before it becomes a salary gap for tomorrow’s workers, and an opportunity gap for Texas families.”
Methods For Support and Instruction in the Texas Schools
Funds from both projects will provide resources, instructional methods, and innovative approaches to better educate students at Texas Schools in math and science related areas. These funds are devoted to creating new and redesigned Texas high schools, training teachers, and preparing students for college. The development of five new T-STEM centers will give instructional materials to the schools, offer training to school educators, and evaluate best practices that can be recreated in other Texas Schools.
Charter schools, small schools, and a YES College Preparatory Academy will be funded with the three implementation grants awarded to Texas Schools to open Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics academics. Four start-up grants have been provided that will give $480,000 to four new academies that will open in fall of 2007. Educators and Administrators of Texas Schools are hopeful that the launch of the Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics programs in 2007 will reverse the trend of the growing achievement gap.
Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit Texas Schools
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Texas Schools Show Some Important Gains On TAKS
Texas Schools have the results for this year’s Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), and they’re pretty good. With a few exceptions most grade levels showed an increase in the number of Texas Schools’ students passing the exams. The test is given each year to all Texan Schools’ children in grades 3 to 12. Passing the test is a requirement for promotion for several grades.
The passing scores on the tests as a whole are enough to make Texas Schools proud: 89% of fifth grade students passed the reading exam, 85% passed in math, and 77% passed in science. There was also a seven-point increase in the number of Texas Schools’ fifth graders who earned the Commendation Performance by answering at least 37 of the 40 questions correctly.
This is neither the most encouraging news, nor the only side of the story. Texas Schools are most pleased by the improvement of the seventh grade class. This grade has been the group under the most pressure from the state. It started when they were the first grade level required to pass the TAKS for promotion to fourth grade. And it will continue to be scrutinized this year as Texas Schools and state law require passing TAKS scores for promotion to ninth grade.
To help this high-pressured, in-the-spotlight group of students, Texas Schools provided their elementary teachers with training in scientifically based reading practices. Their progress has been monitored, and Texas Schools have devoted state funds to provide additional support like tutoring throughout their education. The good news is- it’s working. Seventh graders improved in all areas of testing and reported passing test scores of 85% in reading, 76% in math, and 93% in writing. Clearly there are still many of Texas Schools’ children who aren’t where they need to be, but the evidence that current practices are improving things is good news.
The question for Texas Schools now is: who still needs help and how do they get it? The “who” question is sadly apparent. The infamous educational gap that concerns educators around the nation is also apparent in Texas Schools. While 84% of Texas seniors are on track for graduation, the numbers shift when broken down by race. Texas Schools report passing percentages of 93% for Asian-American students, 92% for white students, 76% for Hispanic students and 72% for African-American students. Overall, Texas Schools show a 3-point drop in the passing rate that is thought to be due to increased standards.
Texas Schools provide 5 opportunities for students to pass tests required for graduation in the junior and senior years. The 2006-2007 school year marked the first class to meet the new standards. Overall, the improvements of seventh graders bode well for the Texas schools. But issues like the achievement gap make it all too clear that significant work still needs to be done.
Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools.
For more information please visit Texas Schools
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