Dr. Andy Martire and Dr. Ed Trusty were invited for the annual First Grade Super Reader caping ceremony. Dr. Martire and Dr. Trusty both shared with the students some of the different types of material they read, and they also shared some reading strategies. Dr. Martire read the book Super Duck to the students, and Dr. Trusty read an original poem entitled "Super Time Travel."
The students then received their charge to be Super Readers and were given their red reading capes!
Over the last three weeks, the debate team competed at two strong local tournaments and traveled to Chicago.
The Kinkaid debate team took advantage of the long weekend by traveling to Chicago to compete at the New Trier Township High School tournament. New Trier THS hosted a 'mid-major' of high school debate. There were 102 teams in attendance representing 36 schools from 14 states. The tournament only offers a policy division, and the top 8 teams receive bids to the prestigious Tournament of Champions (TOC) sponsored by the University of Kentucky.
The team found significant success including:
The same weekend, Kinkaid took a big team, both middle and upper school, to the local tournament sponsored by Cypress Lakes High School. Thirty competitive schools from throughout Houston attended the tournament. Jason Courville coached the team to significant success including:
Finally, on the weekend of September 26-27, the team went to Cypress Woods HS, one of the most competitive local tournaments. There were 58 schools in attendance. The team’s successes were:
Next weekend, the team splits up to travel to three locations - Bronx High School of Sciences (NY), St. Marks School (Dallas), and locally at Bellaire High School. Tyler Gamble will be representing Kinkaid at the Bronx HS of Sciences round robin, largely considered the most competitive Lincoln-Douglas round robin in the country.
Thanks to everyone who supports the team including, but not limited to, the staff who ensured our safe travel, the teachers who teach the debaters, the coaches who work with the students, and the parents who provide endless well wishes and snacks.
-- Eric Emerson, Upper School Debate Coach
Kinkaid eighth grade science students participated in a rocket launch outside on Thursday and Friday, October 16th & 17th, 2014. The skies were clear, and the weather was nice outside during these two days.
The students modeled their designs using rocket simulation software prior to building and launching. They then assembled their rockets from parts rather than building from kits as in previous years. The students then measured the height of the rockets after launch. Lastly, the students discussed some variables that led to more successful rocket launches.
On Saturday, November 1, READ3Zero, the literacy non-profit organization, honored students nationwide at a luncheon and book-signing event for this year’s winners of the I Write Short Stories by Kids for Kids contest and celebrated the organization’s fifth anniversary. The luncheon was emceed by Deborah Duncan of Great Day Houston, and parent of Kinkaid alumni Neil Bush ’73 (fs) served as the keynote speaker.
Two Kinkaid students Sofia Bajwa ’20 and Gina Guerra ’15 entered the creative writing contest and their pieces were selected for publication in the anthology. For Sofia this is her third piece of writing that was included in the annual publication. Gina received the Editor’s Choice Award for her short story Snow Problem.
Congratulations to Sofia and Gina!
Dr. James McLurkin, robotics engineering professor at Rice University, recently visited the Middle School assembly to speak on the nature and significance of swarm robotics. He gave a demonstration with a dozen small robots that highlighted the behaviors of multi-robot systems.
Dr. McLurkin's robotic "swarm" is inspired by real-life social insects like ants and honeybees. He explained to the students that the robots run algorithms and that an algorithm is similar to a recipe; each step builds on the next step to create the desired behavior.
Dr. McLurkin also spoke about the possibility of robots being able to solve problems that humans were ill equipped to tackle such as large-scale exploration of Mars and discovering and rescuing survivors in buildings after an earthquake.
At the end of the assembly, Kinkaid science teacher Mr. Gessell encouraged students interested in learning more about Robotics to join the Robotics club that meets after school on Fridays.
On Monday, November 3, 2014, Kinkaid Middle School eighth graders gathered to participate in a Skype video conference with Peter Vesterbacka, one of the creators of the Angry Birds game. Middle School students have been working on a science unit on physics in conjunction with learning about the physics involved the Angry Birds game.
Mr. Vesterbacka talked about the history of making the game. In 2009, the original game had 63 levels, and now the game has 500 levels. He mentioned that the Angry Birds game was the 52nd game that the company made, and there are 2.5 billion Angry Birds games downloaded worldwide. He also said the company is still working hard on keeping things exciting and fresh.
After a period, the company has expanded its focus to the area education. Mr. Vesterbacka believes “learning should be fun” and that successful lessons in the classroom can include games.
At the end of the Skype talk, Mr. Vesterbacka asked for questions from the students. One 8th grader asked about what Mr. Vesterbacka thought about the physics involved the Angry Birds game. While Mr. Vesterbacka said that while the physics in the Angry Birds game wasn’t perfectly accurate, the physics are indeed consistent throughout the game.
At Monday’s Middle School assembly, three Middle School students (Ethan Fang, Suraj Pandit, and Noah Rubinson) gave preview presentations for their TedX talks. The topics of the presentations included striving for peace, tai kwan do, and special needs children. The students displayed tremendous confidence and poise while giving their presentation to the audience of the entire Middle School faculty and student body.
These students, along with two Kinkaid Upper School students and one Kinkaid Lower School student, will give "TED talks" at this year's TEDx @ ISAS conference at Episcopal High School on November 15th, 2014.
To watch their talks live on Saturday, November 15th, 2014 between 8:00 am - 2:00 pm, visit the following link: http://new.livestream.com/ehs/events/3557010?origin=event_published&mixpanel_id=f1e6cfbed47e5-05afeec62-43681f0a-2ee000-f1e6cfbed5c28&acc_id=5313150&medium=email
Footage will be available after the event for later viewing.
At the end of the talk, Clare fielded questions from the sixth grade students. Fifth, seventh, and eighth grade students also had the opportunity to hear from Clare during her time on campus.
With innovation and technology, lower school students are working with BeeBots and they will soon work with Sphero robots.
In Music, the Third graders have been preparing for their upcoming Grandparents’ Day program entitled, "Texas, Our Texas."
In Spanish, the first-grade students have learned the alphabet in Spanish, the numbers from 1 to 20, and to recognize pets and colors. At the end of October, Lower School students have learned about Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) – a Mexican holiday.
To read more about learning with the Lower School specialists, please visit the Lower School blog page.
On Saturday, November 15, six Kinkaid students from all three divisions presented at Episcopal High School as part of TEDxYouthEHSHouston. This event was part of the fifth annual TEDxYouthday where students gather at sites around the globe to share their passions and spread ideas to spark deep conversations and connections. The theme of this year’s event was “Worlds Imagined.”
Ethan Fang '21 shared why it is important to remember the past and challenged the audience to make the world a better place through the elimination of war and by treating each other with respect. Noah Rubinson '20 shared a personal story and asked students to create connections with people with special needs in order to learn more about yourself. Suraj Pandit '21 discussed the other side of martial arts and how the non-fighting aspects of this activity support traits exemplified by Kinkaid’s core values. Our youngest presenter, Baley Metclaf '23, asked us to see the world through the eyes of reptiles and reconsider their role in our lives. Zach Roubein '16 challenged the age-old notion that we should read instead of watch tv, making the argument that dramatic television allows students to grapple with many moral and ethical dilemmas via the storylines these shows develop. Lastly, Bradlee Few '16 asked us to imagine a world without childhood obesity and provided some alternatives to help combat this issue.
Within a few weeks, these student talks will be posted so that members of the Kinkaid community and the world can view. Congratulations to all of these students!
This weekend 19 Model UN students competed at Central Texas Model UN (CTMUN) in Austin. All students competed well and three students won the award of "Commended Speaker" for their performances. Congratulations to:
Kaveh Badrei ’16 for playing the role of Lin Biao in The Chinese Civil War
Noah Pintar ’17 for playing the role of US Senator Maria Cantwell
Zubair Mukhi ’17 for playing the role of Li Zongren in The Chinese Civil War
A small group of the Model UN group will be traveling to Budapest for a Model UN Conference hosted by Yale University over the Thanksgiving break. Good luck to those students!
Kinkaid eighth grade science students recently built mousetrap cars from a basic kit. Some of the students modified the car design a little. The students measured distances and times to help them review the concepts of motion including the forces exerted by the mousetraps to make the cars move. With this activity, the students reviewed all of the concepts covered during the first semester of science in a very practical application. The students ran the cars and they measured the distances on the sidewalk outside the cafeteria on December 5th & 8th, 2014.
Zoom, zoom!
- Middle School Science teacher Shari Hiltbrand
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, eight Model UN students, Aliza Kajani ’16, Neeshali Odhav ’16, Jeel Mehta ’16, Mary Caroline Scofield ’16, Kylie Lohrenz ’16, Welcome Wilson ’16, Tarun Srinivasan ’16 and Rahul Popat ’17 and their teacher sponsors, Mrs. Wainright and Ms.Ellis, headed across the Atlantic to attend the Yale Model Government Europe Conference in Budapest, Hungary.
The students did an excellent job representing one of the three American schools at the conference and came home with a greater understanding of how European governments function after role playing various European politicians and a US NATO representative.
Aliza Kajani was selected to write for the conference Press Corps. This was an amazing experience, as the students were also able to enjoy some of the nearby sights during their stay. A highlight of the trip was a visit to Bratislava, Slovakia. 
Kinkaid recently learned that Emily Paul ’15 performed extremely well on her AP Spanish Language and Culture exam in May 2014. As many know, Advanced Placement Exam scores are reported on a five-point scale, where five is the equivalent to a grade of A in the corresponding college course. Emily not only received the top score of five – but she answered every multiple-choice question correctly and earned full points on the free-response section of the exam. She is one of only 91 students in the world to do so on the AP Spanish Language and Culture exam!
Please congratulate Emily on this extraordinary feat!
Twenty nine Kinkaid seniors were inducted into the Cum Laude Society on Monday, March 2. The Society seeks to annually recognize superior scholarship and excellence of character among members of the school community.
The Cum Laude Society was founded by Dr. Abram W. Harris, Director of the Tome School in Maryland. The Kinkaid Chapter began in 1960 and was renamed in 1980 in honor of Headmaster Emeritus John H. Cooper, who was a founding member of the original chapter.
Sam Waldman '95 gave the address for this year's induction. Sam is a Senior Sensor Engineer for Space Exploration Technologies. He has over 15 years of experience in laser interferometry, precision measurement and low background particle physics. Sam holds a BA in Physics from Harvard University, received his PhD in Applied Physics from Stanford and completed his post-doctoral studies at Caltech.
Please congratulate the following members of the class of 2015 for their achievements:
Emily Nicole Ashworth
Natalie Elisa Barden
Carolyn Mary Bell
Stephanie Ann Bell
Horatiu Nicholae Calin
Amy Nicole Das
Ashley Katrine Davis
Montana Gabriella Suzie Dawley
William Michael Gaus
Emily Ann Grinstead
Nicholas Zhiming-Tri Ho
Jennifer Marie Howie
Nina Kalluri
Madeleine Lovett Kohn
Neil Thacker Kumar
Rachael Levy
Grant James Martin
Claire Guanyu Gannon McCarthy
Ashley Elizabeth McGaw
Mathew Paul Morico
Emily Alexandra Paul
John Monroe Pederson, Jr.
Caroline Garrett Powers
Reece Meyer Rosenthal
Emily Catherine Short
Lauren Adrianne Siegel
Harriet Tieh
Eric R. Yu
Phoebe Bourget Zipper
On Wednesday, March 4, the World Affairs Council of Houston presented the Academic WorldQuest event. Nineteen
Houston-area schools formed 34 teams comprised of 8-10 students for the competition.
Topics covered included current international events, geography, economics, world cultures and global politics. Kinkaid’s small team of three students, Arman Badrei ’18, Zachary Roubein ’16 and Eric Yu ’15, placed third out of the 34 teams!
Please congratulate these three boys on their incredible achievement!
Tarun Srinivasan '17 was selected as one of five finalists for the International Space Station Science Competition, Genes in Space. The contest requires students in grades 7 through 12 to design an experiment to solve a real-life space exploration problem through DNA analysis. The winning experiment will be performed aboard the International Space Station (ISS) using a miniPCR machine.
Tarun's experiment tests the compositional changes to bacteria in an astronaut's body before, during and after a journey to space. The five finalists will receive mentoring from R&D sciences from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and will present their proposals to a panel of scientists, educators and technologists at the ISS Research and Development Conference in Boston on July 7.
For more information on the competition, click here.
Congratulations to Tarun on this amazing achievement!
This summer Upper School Science Teacher Stephanie Toro spent four weeks on the E/V Nautilus participating in the California
Borderlands Deep Sea Research, which involved the work of many scientists including Dr Peter Girguis of Harvard University, Dr Lisa Levin of Scripps Institute and Chris German of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
The Ocean Exploration Trust performs oceanographic research each year from April through October. Ms. Toro served as a Science Communications Fellow and was responsible for communicating the explorations live and online as they performed the dives in the ocean using Remotely Operated Vehicles that collected water, sediment and biological samples, as well as recorded video footage.
Additionally, she interacted with several schools and museums including The Kinkaid School, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Aquarium of the Pacific. Ms. Toro even conducted a 45-minute podcast with the Smithsonian as they dove to the USS Macon.
Ms. 
Toro has been using this experience to bring back data to incorporate into her marine science course and independent studies for students.
To view the podcast with the Smithsonian, please click here.
Over the summer, Middle School Science Teacher Shari Hiltbrand was selected from across the nation for the 
prestigious LiftOff Summer Institute held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. This program is sponsored by NASA’s Texas Space Grant Consortium and selects teachers from across the U.S. to increase their knowledge of space education. The theme of this year’s Institute was Exploration: Past, Present and Future. The competitive week long institute featured a series of workshops, hands-on activities, field investigations and presentations by NASA scientists and engineers working on various missions.
Mrs. Hiltbrand had the opportunity to interact with astronauts, flight directors and engineers affiliated with the Apollo, Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs. She toured research facilities at JSC exploring comets, meteor impacts, Lunar rocks and Mars, seeing the most up to date information being processed by the “Curiosity” rover. Speakers included: Apollo 13 astronaut, Fred Haise; Apollo 13 (and other Apollo and Space Shuttle Missions) Flight Director, Gene Kranz, who is known for his vests; “The Ordinary Spaceman” Clayton Anderson; and senior engineer, Norman Chaffee, who is known for directional engines on both Apollo and Space Shuttle vessels. Scientists and engineers from the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Program and the Mars Rover Program also spoke to the group of teachers.
In between speakers, Mrs. Hiltbrand worked with other teachers doing hands-on activities to reinforce ideas and concepts being explored during the week “creating” a comet, comparing the Earth and the Moon and other planets, making mini-spectroscopes and other activities that can be used in the classroom. Besides doing hands-on activities, teachers shared a lesson with the group that teachers can then take back to their classrooms. Mrs. Hiltbrand presented her “Physics of Angry Birds” lesson as it helps students better understand how things move, which is important for objects moving in space. The group of teachers also toured the training facilities that are used by astronauts and scientists in preparation for ISS missions, going into “badge only” areas including Mission Control and Robotics and Neutral Buoyancy Lab where astronauts train for ISS missions. Wrapping up the week, Mrs. Hiltbrand went through a NASA certification process that allows her to check out Lunar and Meteorite samples for use at Kinkaid with students.
