DSISD trustee joins leadership class

Dripping Springs ISD trustee Mary Jane Hetrick joined 34 other school board members from across Texas February 16-18 at the third session of the Leadership TASB class of 2017.

Mary Jane Hetrick, DSISD trustee

Selected by the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), the group is participating in a yearlong education leadership study program. These trustees represent school districts of all sizes, with student populations of 1,000 to 159,000, and reflect a similar range of property wealth.Meeting in Austin, the trustees began their session by hearing featured speaker Mark Elberfeld, president of the Gabriel Center for Servant-Leadership in Atlanta, Georgia. Elberfeld is a recognized authority on leadership training and focused on characteristics of leaders as servants. Other speakers included Kelly McDonald and Harvey Kronberg. McDonald spoke on critical interpretations from the census data and how they impact school decisions, and Kronberg addressed happenings from the 85th Legislature. The class also visited KIPP Austin and learned about one of the state’s largest charter schools.

TASB is a voluntary, nonprofit association established in 1949 to serve local Texas school boards. School board members are the largest group of publicly elected officials in the state. The districts they represent serve more than 5.3 million public school students.

Seely Haas

Hass moves to State

Dripping Springs High School student Seeley Haas won the regional Texas Association for Pupil Transportation (TAPT) Bus Safety Speech contest. She delivered a memorized, six minute speech on the topic “My Driver- My Safety Hero” and received a $250 scholarship. She now will advance to the state tournament in April.

Women’s Club Scholarship

The Dripping Springs Women’s Club will award two $500 college scholarships for female students in May. Applications are due by April 10 and can be found at www.dswomensclub.com or by contacting womenofds@gmail.com.

PEC scholarships

Pedernales Electric Cooperative is offering scholarships to high school and home-schooled seniors in its service area. Applications for the 2017 school year are now available at pec.coop/scholarships. Recipients will be selected based on their applications, including an essay, academic performance, community involvement, extracurricular activities and financial need. This year’s essay prompt asks students: What are some of the biggest challenges teenagers see in their community? What changes or programs would you implement to improve the community in which you live?