Vernon ISD

There were a variety of activities for the kids at the Community Resource Event held Saturday morning at the VHS Cafeteria. Firemen from the Vernon Fire Department explained to the youngsters how things operated on the department's ladder truck, and youngsters also had fun in the bounce house. Youngsters enjoyed painting and drawing, blowing bubbles and getting paint tattoos on their face. Vernon ISD Superintendent Dr. Kermit Ward also decided to get in on the tattoo action.

The Community Resource Event held this morning at the VHS Cafeteria was a big success. Sponsored by Vernon ISD, the event provided information on a variety of services available to residents in our community, as well as info on organizations in the community. Vendors at the event included: The Center; Texas Department of Family and Protective Services; Community Healthcare Center; Rockcrossing Counseling; Catholic Charities; Region 9; Vernon PTO; Big Brother Big Sister of Wichita Falls; Lions Club; Cupboard of Grace; Red River Hospital; Carnegie City-County Library; Legal Aid of Northwest Texas; Texoma Alliance to Stop Abuse; Helen Farabee Center; Wilbarger Child Welfare Board; Wilbarger County 4-H; Vernon College; and Vernon College New Beginnings.

It had been 20 years since members of a Vernon High School team had been fitted for state championship rings, but that changed Thursday! Our Vernon LIons tennis team brought home the TTCA Class 3A State Team Tennis title on March 11 and on Thursday representatives from Balfour were at the high school to get the ring sizes of the players and coaches who will each receive a ring celebrating their accomplishment of becoming state champions. This was the seventh state title for the VHS tennis program. The last time the district purchased state championship rings was in 2003, when the tennis team claimed its sixth title.

Vernon ISD filled two vacancies on its VISD Curriculum Team from within this week, as Randilyn Mayo and Kassidy Sherrill will be transitioning from their current positions to the Curriculum Team starting with the 2023-24 school year. “We had several highly-qualified applicants for these two positions,” said Sarah Swatzell, Director of Curriculum and Instruction. “We were looking for candidates with strengths in specific curriculum areas, and we are excited to add two talented and ambitious leaders to the Curriculum Team.” Randilyn, who has been with VISD for 14 years and is currently an interventionist at McCord Elementary, will be an elementary instructional coach, while Kassidy, who has been with the district for two years and is currently a biology teacher at Vernon High School, will be a secondary instructional coach. Their additions round out the VISD Curriculum Team that is led by Sarah and also includes elementary instructional coach Shelly Koch and secondary instructional coach Amanda Brown.

Two Vernon High School students qualified for the UIL Region 1 Academic Meet after finishing first or second in their event at the UIL District 7-3A Academic Meet held Tuesday and Wednesday at Midwestern University. Madeline Brown will be competing at the regional meet in two events, as she claimed the district championship in Literary Criticism, and finished second in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Sam Thomas took second in Editorial Writing to advance to regionals. Students who placed in the top six in their event will be alternates to the regional meet and seven VHS students finished in the top six. Those students were: Garret Munson, fourth in Informative Extemporaneous Speaking; Joseph Menendez, fifth in Mathematics; Eduardo Guerrero-Cantera, fifth in Accounting; Logan Luster, fifth in Informative Extemporaneous Speaking; Jason Juarez-Ayala, sixth in Calculator Applications; Hilton Rodenbarger, sixth in Accounting; and Mindee Wiebe, sixth in Informative Extemporaneous Speaking. The Literary Criticism team finished second in district and will be the alternate to the regional meet. Members of that team includes students listed above and Ryne Sanders. Placing in the top ten in their event at the district meet were Juarez-Ayala, seventh in Mathematics; Sam Thomas, ninth in Informative Extemporaneous Speaking; and Dane Kieschnick, tenth in Current Events.

The Community Healthcare Center will be just one of the vendors at the Community Resource Fair being held Saturday at the Vernon High School Cafeteria. Vernon ISD is hosting the event which will give residents the opportunity to learn about the different organizations and resources that are available to them in our area. There will also be donuts and coffee, and activities for the kids, including a bounce house. There will also be some great door prizes. The event begins at 9 a.m., and will continue until noon. Translators will be available from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. For more information about the Community Resource Fair, contact Nicole Cameron at 940-553-1900 ext. 2248, or at nicole.cameron@visdtx.org

Help your youngster build a strong education foundation. Check out the information on our pre-k registration for the 2023-24 school year.

Mark your calendar!! From their hands to your home, with love! The VHS Horticulture Department's Annual Plant Sale will be held April 27 and 28. The students in the plant science classes are working hard as they prepare for their annual sale. Check out the list of plants that should be available at the sale. However, please note the plants available may change prior to the sale.

Vernon ISD is hosting a Community Resource Fair Saturday at the Vernon High School Cafeteria. The resource fair will give residents the opportunity to learn about the different organizations and resources that are available to them in our area. A variety of local organizations will have booths at the fair and will be handing information about their group and the services they provide. There will also be donuts and coffee, and activities for the kids. Those who attend the fair can also sign up for a chance to win door prizes. The event begins at 9 a.m., and will continue until noon. Translators will be available from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. For more information about the Community Resource Fair, contact Nicole Cameron at 940-553-1900 ext. 2248, or at nicole.cameron@visdtx.org

!!!!NEW RESOURCE ALERT!!!! If you are in need of rental or utility assistance, there is a new resource available for you. Texas Rent Relief is currently accepting new applicants for rent and utility assistance from now until March 28th at 11:59 p.m CT. First-time Texas Rent Relief applicants may be eligible for up to 18 months of rent and utility assistance. Returning applicants who have not received the maximum allowed 18 months of assistance for rent and/or utility bills can submit an Additional Funding Request via their existing online user account. Applicants who have already received 18 months of assistance are not able to apply for further assistance. Here is the link to visit the site and put in an application: https://texasrentrelief.com/ There is an option on the site to change languages. If you have any questions or not sure if you qualify, reach out to Nicole Cameron at (940)553-1900 ext.2248.

Kid League Baseball Registration Ends Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Parents interested in registering their child to play Kid League Baseball should register them online using the website address listed here: https://bit.ly/KLBRegistration23 Parents can download a copy of the League's Registration Form here: http://bit.ly/3ZfC3a7 For questions, please contact the League Director, Dustin Fraticelli at (940) 357-9422.

Vernon High School is now offering the TSI test to sophomores, juniors, and seniors at VHS! Those students received an email on their school email address with information on how they can sign up and what dates it will available. This is not a mandatory test, but we wanted to make sure we could offer it to our students. The district has committed to paying for one administration of both the Mathematics and ELAR TSI tests for each Vernon High School student that wants to take it. We want to give our students every opportunity possible to succeed now and after graduation! **UPDATE: Due to high demand we are only able to offer one more test date in May at this time for students to take the TSI at VHS. Next year we will be offering this test monthly so there will be additional opportunities next school year if your child is not able to sign up this spring.

STATE POWERLIFTING SEND OFF! Kamryn Hall qualified for STATE POWERLIFTING as a freshman! Help us send her off tomorrow!! The send off will start at 9am tomorrow (Wednesday) at the field house and they will travel down Wilbarger Street. Good luck Kamryn!

The Vernon Tennis team and coaches won an elusive state title yesterday and for that reason I am mighty proud. In my quest to support VHS athletes I showed up at their tennis meet. It marked the very first time that I have ever watched, in detail, tennis, even on TV. A few things I learned yesterday: - The boys and girls are considered 1 complete team (they all easily understood the contribution of each in order to be successful) - Boys and girls sometimes competed together on the same court (that was big surprise) - There was no scoreboard to refer to (the kids kept up with this themselves) - The matches often occurred at the same time (I watched 3 matches at once) - The kids used actual tennis balls to keep score (It took me maybe an hour to understand this) - Warming up for a match was done with your opponent - You can’t cheer while play is in progress (I failed miserably at this all day) - These kids all authentically like each other (do not underestimate how important that is) - The coaches have their own kids playing yet spent most of their time at the other matches (not sure I would have had the discipline required to do that). The kids already had my respect long before I even showed up yesterday. I walked away from this having respect for their level of commitment to prepare themselves to compete at tennis. Tennis is not to be played with and definitely not for the weak. It takes strength and stamina to outlast and outplay your opponent. Julius Caesar is famously quoted as saying, "venimus vidimus, vicimus" which means, " we came, we saw, we conquered". Those kids did just that. Dr. Kermit Ward VISD Superintendent

🎾3A STATE CHAMPIONS🎾 Your Vernon Lion Tennis Team is the 3A STATE TEAM TENNIS CHAMPIONS!!!! Congratulations players and coaches on an amazing season!! Way to represent Vernon!!

Help us congratulate our Vernon Lions Boys Basketball Players that received All-District Honors! Defensive MVP Julius Dawkins First Team All-District Adarius Williams Sebastian Garza Second Team All-District Kell Castleberry Lavery Gonzales Tyrone Mckinney Ty Scott All-District Academic Kell Castleberry Lavery Gonzales

🌻SPRING BREAK🌻 Just a reminder that all Vernon ISD Campuses will be closed Friday, March 10-Friday, March 17 for Spring Break. All campuses will resume on Monday, March 20.

Just a reminder that all Juniors at VHS will take the ACT test tomorrow morning at school. The district is paying for this opportunity for our students! If you have a student that will be testing, please make sure that they are well rested, have a good breakfast, and have their school issued chromebooks fully charged up!

Congratulations to following All-District recipients. The Vernon High School Girls Basketball Team worked extremely hard this past season. Our young ladies played with great effort in every contest and will be a force to be reckoned with throughout our district for the foreseeable future. These accomplishments speak as a testament to their hard work, sacrifice, and never give up attitude throughout this past season. We are extremely excited about what's on the horizon for Lady Lions Basketball. District 7-3A FIRST TEAM Key'Maria McBride-#33 Soph SECOND TEAM Mijah Johnson-#1 Soph HONORABLE MENTION Klancy Sherrill-#12 Fr Mari Johnson-#40 Soph ACADEMIC ALL DISTRICT Dominy Pirtle-#5 Fr Zayleigh Sweet-#10 Soph Klancy Sherrill-#12 Fr Key'Maria McBride-#33 Soph Mari Johnson-#40 Soph Kamryn Hall-Mgr Fr

Yesterday a group of High School Students were able to attend a Student Leadership Event hosted by Region 9. They heard from keynote speaker Gabe Salazar, visited exhibitors to learn about postsecondary opportunities, and attended breakout sessions focused on developing leadership skills and identifying strategies for overcoming obstacles. Our students represented Vernon well and enjoyed their time at Region 9.