LISD Expect Excellence Newsletter

Hello Levelland ISD.

The end of the school year is coming quickly and everyone is busy with numerous activities. Congratulations to the Class of 2024 Top Twenty Graduates. Your success is deserving and is a testament to your many years of hard work. Thank you to the group of administrative professionals below. You do an outstanding job helping the day to day operations at Levelland ISD run smoothly.

I hope you enjoy the next few weeks with your students.

Go Lobos!

I hope you have a wonderful week at Levelland ISD.

Go Lobos!

Expect Excellence

Sincerely, Becky McCutchen

Dr. Birdwell and all of LHS send out a huge congratulations to the Class of 2024 Top Twenty Graduates! This is not an easy feat, and we are so proud of these graduates and the entire class of 2024. (Photo courtesy Debbie Blackshear)
https://files.gabbart.com/456/top20.mp4

Levelland ISD celebrated our Administrative Professionals Day last week! We appreciate their help in making all of our campuses run smoothly!
https://files.gabbart.com/455/adminprofessionalsdayvideo.mp4

Mykka Bihl is being surprised! Her mom, Vanessa Castillo has been deployed in the Army for nine months in Africa. Mykka is getting the surprise of her life now and just in time for graduation! It took Vanessa three days to get here, but she is so thrilled to be here and surprise Mykka and the rest of her family. Let the graduation festivities begin!

https://www.facebook.com/LevellandISD/videos/1416957575851393

Do you still remember your first cell phone? South Elementary 4th-graders just finished up a huge project on the history of Iconic Inventions and have never known life without a cell phone. Computer Teacher Amanda Underwood challenged students to research and present to their class historical devices such as phones, televisions, cameras, computers, cassette players, VHS players, arcades, Nintendo, and games. Miss Underwood even showed students her antique "Underwood" typewriter to try. They learned how people used to communicate back in the day. Boy, was that slow! Thank you Miss Underwood, for engaging your students in a wonderful historical lesson on Iconic Inventions that brought us to where we are today!
https://files.gabbart.com/461/underwoodvideo.mp4

And the end of the year festivities begin! Levelland Chamber's Sponsored Young Emerging Leaders of Levelland students met today to receive Senior Scholarships and Cords. Zachary Swain, Grason Edens and Austin Ellis all received a $1,000 YELL Scholarship. The DuckPluck Scholarship is student-led each year, with them carrying on the tradition of raising money to promote our student leaders. The DuckPluck will take place this year on May 15th! Eight students also received their YELL Cords for graduation on the 17th after completing the YELL requirements which included a Keep Levelland Beautiful Clean-Up project. Denise Larrera, Ashton Marinelarena, Austin Ellis, Alexis Gaona, Grason Edens, Alanis Valderas, Zachary Swain and Izabella Campos all earned the YELL cords this year. We are very proud of these students for wanting to learn to be better leaders in our community and wish these students the best of luck after graduation.

Last week, our Levelland Middle School Concert Band participated in the Abernathy Band Festival in Abernathy under the leadership of Band Director Evan Seidal. The concert band performed three selections of music for a judging panel. Each judge awarded the 7th-grade band a first division—the highest rating they could receive! We are very proud of our LMS band and congratulate them on their success.

It's Christmas in April at Capitol & South Elementary! Every student was gifted a new backpack and six new books from Oxy and the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation! Oxy personnel were on campus to hand out the books & backpacks to students. They told students about all the energy Oxy is involved with, encouraged students to read daily, and even read aloud to some classes. We are so lucky that every elementary student was blessed with this Home Library Event, that they can read this summer, and that they won't experience the "summer slide!" We send out a huge thank you to Oxy and the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation for choosing our LISD elementary children for this Home Library!
https://files.gabbart.com/455/oxybooks.mp4

LHS #expectsexcellence and sends out huge congratulations to our Academic UIL students and coaches who participated in the Regional UIL Competition at the end of last week. Our Accounting Team placed third and the Journalism Team placed second. Austin Ellis is advancing to State in Accounting. Ada Niederhauser is advancing to State in both Editorial Writing and News Writing. Elizabeth Hackler placed as an Alternate State competitor in Editorial Writing. Congratulations to all these LHS students who go above and beyond their studies in the classroom! We wish Austin, Ada& Elizabeth the best of luck moving on to the State UIL Competition next month! (not pictured Nathan Ellis)

ACCOUNTING TEAM - Third Place

Austin Ellis 1st - STATE

Alvaro Loza - 25

Cy Jai Mitchell - 30

Emma Pugh - 31

Calculator Apps

James Bunker - 45

Computer Science

Austin Ellis - 9th

Damien West - 25

Nathan Ellis - 26

Joshua Gipson - 29

JOURNALISM TEAM - Second Place

Editorial Writing

Ada Niederhauser 1st - STATE

Elizabeth Hackler 6 - STATE ALT

News Writing

Ada Niederhauser 1st - STATE

Mathematics

Nathan Ellis - 14

James Bunker - 23

Michelle Bustillos/William Canon tie for - 36

Number Sense

Alvaro Loza 20

Science

James Bunker - 5th

Chemistry

James Bunker -3rd

Social Studies

Christian Chagoya -15th

Keep Levelland Beautiful held its annual local art contest this spring on our campuses. There were 253 entries from South & Capitol. Winners received a Keep Levelland Beautiful certificate, Take Care of Texas Activity Book, new markers and a Keep Levelland Beautiful Frisbie. We thank Mrs. Mary Bara and Mrs. Pam Alexander for encouraging your students to participate.

Winners are:

South Elementary

1st Najaira Ramirez

2nd Kaydin Estrada

3rd Braydon Flores

Capitol Elementary School

1st Hildea Lawless

2nd Cord Obenhaus

3rd Ximena Escamilla

Levelland is an affiliate of the Keep Texas Beautiful program and the local mission is to improve the community’s appearance through partnerships, education, and action. Beautification and litter prevention is a key aspect of community development and important in welcoming visitors as well as our local quality of life. Keep Levelland Beautiful was awarded Gold Status within Keep Texas Beautiful based upon the completion of their litter prevention and beautification efforts for the past five years. In 2020, Levelland won the Governor’s Community Achievement.

Capitol PE Teacher Kristy Sanders took students on a PE field trip! Capitol 2nd and 3rd graders took their 4th annual karate field trip to Premier Martial Arts in Lubbock. They learned tips about how to be successful students and citizens. They also learned martial arts moves that reinforce the seven martial arts principles: honesty, integrity, politeness, loyalty, compassion, courage, and justice. Thank you Mrs. Sanders for continuing the physical education skills outside of the gym!

South Elementary third-graders in Mrs. Lorenz's class were treated to a special guest from Keep Levelland Beautiful this week on the study of Earth Day. They heard the book, Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera by Candace Fleming to learn how important honeybees are to keeping our world beautiful. Then they each potted their own flowers in special pots that would be planted and watered at home to make their houses more beautiful! Thank you to Keep Levelland Beautiful for this engaging activity! https://files.gabbart.com/455/earthdayvideo.mp4

LHS sends congratulations to our Lobos! They secured a playoff spot with an eleven-innings win on Senior Night last night! We are excited for our seniors as well! (Photos courtesy Veronica Muniz)

Email: rmccutchen@levellandisd.net
Website: www.levellandisd.net
Location: 704 11th Street, Levelland, TX
Phone: 806-894-9628
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LevellandISD/
Instagram: @levellandindschooldistrict