WHS seniors, bottom from left, Arun Natesan, Emily Austin, Kenny Call and Grant Wiseman; and top from left, Hirrah Barlas, Steven Wilbanks, Leah Weidmann, Catherine King, Nathan Shashoua and Faraz Amin.

The Westlake High School 2012 Baccalaureate Service at Riverbend Centre is set for Sunday from 5 – 6 p.m. Those who participate in this popular tradition will hear from Westlake seniors of Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu faith communities. This celebration also includes music by the high school’s fine arts students. WHS seniors should arrive at 4 p.m. with their cap, gown and chords.

The Riverbend Centre easily accommodates the 2012 WHS graduating class with plenty of space for an unlimited number of guests. An early arrival is important for this brief but beautiful service. Many families take advantage of the grounds for photos with their graduating seniors following the service. Riverbend Centre is located at 4214 North Capital of Texas Highway. For more information contact Marijane Smitherman at msmitherman47@yahoo.com.
We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

This is the time of year when mothers and daughters celebrate their relationships. One group of local mothers and daughters doesn’t wait until Mother’s Day to do that, they celebrate that relationship all year long through charity work together.
For more than 50 years, the nonprofit National Charity League has thrived, giving mothers and daughters from coast to coast the opportunity to volunteer together. Today, there are more than 165 chapters of league, with 44,000 members that include girls in grades seven through 12. Each year, NCL members volunteer about a million hands-on hours in local communities.
Local emergency room physician Kim White is the president-elect of the Capital of Texas Chapter of NCL. The local chapter recently won the 2012 Outstanding Chartered Chapters from the national NCL.
“I love NCL because of the opportunity it gives Sarah and me to spend time together, while participating in worthwhile activities,” White said. “I am also surrounded by other moms who are each so inspiring and kind-hearted.”
White and daughter Sarah have learned firsthand how the organization can provide opportunities to bond and do something important for their local community. They joined in 2009 when Sarah finished sixth grade. The chapter supports 19 philanthropies. Sarah’s favorites are the Capital Area Food Bank where she and her mom help sort food, the Ronald McDonald house where they help with meal preparation and cleaning and Operation Homefront, where they show appreciation to the military and their families.
“I love getting to work hands on to do something to really help,” Sarah said. “Even if we are just helping in our local communities, it helps make the world a better place. The same day that we made baskets for Operation Homefront, the paper had a big headline about how military families need our help, and we were already doing something to help, which was cool.”
As a physician at the St. David’s Emergency Center in Bee Cave, White is a busy woman. She divides her time between being a wife to husband Joe, mom to Daniel, Ben and Sarah and being a comforting presence to her patients. But she carves out time to be a leader in NCL.
“I love being involved in an organization that my daughter can contribute to for the rest of her life, and I love that we get to form a deep bond doing this work together,” she said. “I can see so many ways that [she] has grown as a person. For example, when we started out, she was really afraid of homeless people. Now, I think she is much more empathetic to them.”
To learn more about NCL and the four local Austin chapters, visit nclcaptex.org.

We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

The Westlake Jazz Ensembles are preparring for their performance on May 11.

Westlake High School’s jazz musicians will break out the big band sound at 7 p.m. May 11 and will welcome special guest, local jazz saxophonist John Mills.

The Westlake Jazz Ensembles are hard at work on pieces by composers such as Thad Jones, Duke Ellington, Bob Brookmeyer, and many others, including John Mills himself.

Mills is a member of John Mills Times Ten, a 10-piece jazz orchestra, whose recent album, “Caffeine Dreams,” is receiving critical acclaim. Mills is also a music professor at the University of Texas and has performed with artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lyle Lovett, Kenny Wheeler, Carla Bley and Willie Nelson.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the performance at the Westlake Performing Arts Center, 4100 Westbank Dr., and there will be a silent auction. The show starts at 7 p.m. and will feature a 15-minute intermission. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. Tickets can be purchased online at chapsjazz2012.eventbrite.com.
We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

At a recent fundraiser for The Nobelity Project, from left, DJ Spooky, Christy and Turk Pipkin, Heather Lang, and Feed the Peace Award winner Blake Mycoskie supported schools and water wells in Africa.

Don’t forget your chance to meet Auma Obama at a book signing Friday from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the McGarrah Jessee Building at 121 W. Sixth Street.

The event is sponsored by local The Nobelity Project and Citizen Generation and is billed as a Kenya-Texas celebration with music by Eddy Hobizal and Jeff Lofton. Obama will be selling her book, “And Then Life Happens.” Tickets are $25 and covers food and drink by Tito’s, Shiner Beer, Becker Wine and Word of Mouth Catering. All proceeds will go to finance Obama’s Sauti Kuu Youth Center in Kogelo, Kenya.

The Nobelity Project, founded by local filmmakers and authors Christi and Turk Pipkin, has developed the   Kenya Schools Fund, which builds classrooms, libraries, computer labs and clean water systems across rural Kenya, including Mahiga Hope High School-the only secondary school in that region. To reserve tickets to the book signing or to learn more about Nobelity, visit nobility.org.

Members of the CE-BAR Fire Department will have every hair in place on May 5 as they set out to raise some money for St. Baldrick’s Foundation at the newly opened 263 Restaurant and Provisions at 1705 Cuernavaca Drive. Or, maybe they won’t.

Because the 10 courageous members of the local fire department will bare it all – all their scalps, that is – to earn pledges in support of cancer research. St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity that works hard to help find cures for childhood cancer and give survivors long, healthy lives.

“We are going to shave our heads to show our allegiance with the kids who lose their hair fighting cancer,” said CE-BAR engineer Jacob Brownlee. “We’ll be giving up our hair in that same fight.”

Brownlee has already raised $500 in pledges for his promise to shave his golden locks. That puts him in second place in the CE-BAR St. Baldrick’s pledge drive, behind firefighter Cole Radar, who currently has $650 in pledges. The 10-man CE-BAR team so far has raised $3,440 in pledges toward their $5,000 goal.

The firefighters from CE-BAR won’t be alone in their scalp-bearing zeal on May 5; firefighters all over Austin are expected to hold similar events. To date, CE-BAR leads the pack with pledge contributions. The Double Dog Dare Ya team is running second, with contributions of $300. Firefighter Juan Ponce de Leon is the first from the Westlake Fire Department to join the challenge. He will be at 263 Restaurant along with his CE-BAR colleagues to raise money.

Listed among the donors to the CE-BAR head-shaving campaign is Valley View Elementary School Principal Jennifer Dusek. She said she jumped at the chance to contribute on behalf of the local fire department and all that they do for the community.

“Dusek quote . . .”

The fun starts at noon on May 5. CE-BAR and the 263 Restaurant will offer food, drinks and free music.

“People can come, donate, shave their heads or just come and watch,” Brownlee said. “There will be a fire truck there all day and plenty of entertaining things to keep everybody interested.”

To make a donation to the cause, visit http://bit.ly/Ib5zjX.

CE-Bar Fire Department is a combination career and volunteer non-profit emergency services organization located off Cuernavaca Drive near the intersection of Commons Ford Ranch Road. It provides fire and first response emergency medical services to Emergency Service District 10, including Austin Lake Hills, Barton Creek West, Patterson Lane, Crystal Creek, Crystal Mountain, Dominion Hills, Seven Oaks, Bella Lago and Senna Hills, as well as Barton Creek Elementary and West Ridge Middle Schools.

We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

CE-BAR Fire Department firefighters, back from left, Triston Wise, Cole Rador, Mark Frost and Jesse Bolles and, front from left, Brandon Burns, Teddy Roberts , Jacob Brownlee and Ryan Blake will all shave their heads May 5 to raise money for St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

“It was really clear in your conversations that not one size fits all,” moderator Diane Miller told the more than 80 local attendees in Tuesday’s session. “It was clear you felt the education experience should be diverse and beneficial to each student.”

Eanes school district curriculum and instruction head Bill Bechtol addressed the crowd, saying the district was considered the best school district in Central Texas and one of the best in the state.

“But we are always striving to do better,” he said. “Your work has been full of great ideas, things we need to consider – things we can make actionable tonight.

Attendees divided into tables to work on the major ideas coming from previous dialogue sessions.
One table focused on ideas that could create opportunities for all students, meeting the needs of diverse students with unique needs, interests and learning styles. Kennedy Harper, a Westlake High School student at the table, wanted to see the district offer more classes that accommodate a variety of learning styles. The group developed a plan to help students beginning in middle school identify individual interests through curriculum, mentors and teachers trained to assist. That profile would grow and change with the student as he or she progressed through school, helping build a background for exploration prior to college application.

Other groups focused on themes of making learning more relevant to the real world, helping students build character and teamwork skills, drawing the entire community into the education process and mentoring activities, balancing academic rigor with well-rounded experience in curriculum, more appropriately assessing areas of learning, finding new ways to support teachers and enhancing learning experiences that integrate academics and soft skills while fostering innovation.

Speaking for his table, WHS student Keyur Mehta described a plan for creating more problem-based learning in the classrooms and increasing interdisciplinary activities.

“Most tables did spectacularly,” said dialogue organizer John Havenstrite, who was surprised at the way many of the group plans seemed to fit naturally together. “It was very interesting that the group discussing life skills, the one discussing bridges to the workplace, and the one discussing the individual needs of a diverse student population came up with action plans that mirrored one another. Several groups really grappled with some meaty issues, such as one that focused on balancing and blending the hard and soft sciences. I’m hopeful we’ll pull together a good solution.”

A final meeting, scheduled for April 24, will be a brainstorming session where people can single out the highest community priorities. Besides seeing the same faces that have attended previous meetings, Havenstrite hopes new people will come that have not yet engaged.

“I honestly believe these dialogues present individuals with an opportunity to participate in something that can be transformative for the community, but only if they show up,” he said.

Notes and input from the community collected during the dialogue sessions will be reviewed by the E3 Alliance, a nonprofit intent on aligning education in Central Texas so that all students have an opportunity to succeed. E3 expects to release a report in mid-May. Havenstrite and other members of the Community Dialogue steering committee will review the report at a public meeting at a date to be announced.
We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

4 for the Future participants met at Westlake High School recently to continue discussions on how to enhance future education.

The focus of the session is an examination of how to best meet the district’s prioritized needs through effective and efficient resource allocation. Student-centered learning through the use of technology will be part of that discussion.

An open forum for anyone wishing to address the board is also scheduled. The meeting will be held in the district administration building at 601 Camp Craft Road. For a closer look at the meeting agenda, visit http://bit.ly/IlJYpR.

We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines