This week San Saba ISD will be sponsoring "Show your Colors"! This will take place on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. What is "Show your Colors"? Show your Colors is a day that we will all be talking about College. We will all Show our Colors and wear our favorite College Attire, paint our face to show our favorite college, whatever it takes to show that we all want our kiddos to go to college. When we talk about wanting our students to go to college, we don’t mean that we think that every single person should be a four-year college graduate. What we mean is that our students must begin thinking about life after high school. What this means is that some type of training whether it be in a 4-year university, a two year trade school or a year long training program, our students must think now about their future. Soon, a new state assessment will be implemented that will measure college readiness at grade 3! That’s right, we will begin looking at a students preparedness to attend college as early as third grade and be able to track their success through out their assessment career. On Wednesday, March 9, we are encouraging all students to wear something that illustrates a college, this could be a t-shirt, a cap, a sticker, a logo, whatever it takes to cause students to have conversations about college. Teachers and staff will share their college/training experiences and help encourage students to determine what they want to become and study after high school. If we can begin helping students understand that they must be prepared for the competitive job market when they graduate from high school, we have won half the battle. Too many times, students are not successful in their college program because they did not pursue something they love and enjoy doing. We need to begin now helping students discover what they really enjoy doing and try to move their love into a career. Did you know learners with a college degree earn 49% of all the income in the US? Did you know that the public high school graduation rate in Texas has increased by 6.8% over the last 10 years while the national rate has only grown by 2.8%? College is a very real reality for our kiddos…..grants, scholarships, first generation tuition exemptions are all available for students who want to go to college.

San Saba Elementary School sponsored an event this past Saturday that introduced some of our elementary students to the University of Texas at Austin. Students and sponsors traveled to UT where they visited the different academic departments, students made snow, dressed in germ suits, toured the football stadium even getting to go on the 50 yard line, participated in science experiments and much, much more! It was a great day for these kiddos and it was their first opportunity to be on a college campus.

Please visit www.san-saba.net to view events and find information you need to know about SSISD. As well, don’t forget to sign up for the "alerts" available from the website, and don’t miss the opportunity to sign up for the Parent Portal giving parents access to grades and attendance. Parents, let us know how we can help you the first day of school all the way until the last day of school!! If you have any question about this article or any other question about school happenings please contact me at 325/372-3144 or email me at lglaze@san-saba.net . We are San Saba! We are together!