Students to compete in Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

FFA and art students will compete at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in animal, judging, and Rodeo Art events from Feb. 28 to Mar. 18.
According to FFA sponsor Melanie Ressler, there are multiple students involved in Rodeo competitions. 
“We have about four students taking their heifer projects, one who will show a steer, one who will show a turkey and about 40 who will compete in judging competitions,” she said. “The students showing heifers are competing the weekend before spring break, the steers, turkeys and some Ag. Mechanics projects we are taking will also be there during spring break. Judging competitions fall in that range depending on what team is going what day.”
While judging competitions give material awards, animal competition awards can be monetary, according to Ressler.
“All the judging competitions give trophies and those types of rewards,” she said. “The heifer shows give some monetary awards, and there are some ribbons and banners and stuff like that. For a steer and a turkey, their goal is to get auctioned. If the animal is placed at the top of their class then they go to auction in front of a live audience. The grand champion can be sold for $200,000. All that money doesn’t go directly to the student, some of it goes to a scholarship fund. There is a cap for how much the students will receive, which varies depending on what contest the students enter.”
Junior Cody Rogers will be taking his heifer to be judged, and has competed in events before such as calf scrambles.
“This won’t be my first show, I’ve shown her a bunch of times before,” he said. “I’ve been preparing since I got her. The reason I wanted to show a heifer is because I want to have my own herd of cows [eventually].”
Other students, such as seniors Tien Dang, Jungah Park and Tingjie Huang are competing in Rodeo Art.
“The due date to turn the art in was early January, and the district judging was in the middle of January,” Dang said. “The district show was on January 17 where we found out our results. The actual show of all the winning pieces is the duration of the rodeo show down at Reliant. I got Special Merit, which means my piece moves on to the Rodeo and is judged again to decide if it gets auctioned, which I will find out March 3.”
Dang, who has competed  before in elementary school, middle school and high school, has never got this far.
“I guess I wanted to enter the competition to see how I would do,” she said. “I entered a colored pencil piece titled ‘Beyond the Countryside.’ It was inspired by one of my best friends and one of the most country people I know, Stephanie Carter.”
Rogers said he has gained  from his experience with his heifer.
“You get the experience, which is a reward,” Rogers said. “You get buckles, banners, you can even get scholarships. For the Fort Worth Calf Scramble and the Houston Calf Scramble you have to do a scrapbook for your whole experience, and you can get scholarships through it.”
Rogers acquired his heifer six months prior to the competition and has raised her since then. He said he has enjoyed the hard work involved with raising her regardless of its difficulty.
“You’ve got to walk her every day, you’ve got to feed her right and listen to your Ag. teacher and your breeder,” he said. “The best reward has been getting a better bond with my parents.”

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Gum-chewing increases brain power

Recent studies show that gum-chewing increases brain power and improves test scores. Four math classes led by Dr. Craig Johnston from Baylor College of Medicine were tested on math and reading skills. Two of the classes chewed gum and the other two did not. After 14 weeks of chewing gum, the results showed that there was a three percent increase in standardized test scores for those who chewed gum.
Researchers at Wrigley Science Institution tested the performance of students in a real-life classroom setting. The research found that students chewing gum had better concentration and stress management than those not chewing gum.
“It’s as if when I chew gum, all the answers come to me,” freshman Alexis Brewer said. “It helps my brain start working. I can really feel it stimulating my mind.”
In a study conducted at the University of Northumbria in Britain, gum-chewing proved to enhance memorization skills for test takers. The experiments involved a random sample of 75 people. After completing a memory test, gum chewers had a score 26 percent higher than those non-chewers.
Senior Aziz Rajan agrees with this study and claims gum chewing can definitely bring better memorization skills.
“It’s better to chew gum because doing nothing is a non-thinking process,” Rajan said. “Chewing gum requires some brain power. And if the brain isn’t doing something like chewing gum, it’s going to start wandering. Focusing your brain power on chewing will give it something to do instead of wandering off and not keeping focus.”
The students in study at Baylor College had the same results. Students in the test reported an improvement on scores and concentration tests by 86 percent.
“I’m definitely not distracted by it at all,” sophomore Sydney Loggins said. “I chew gum during tests and quizzes. I can definitely concentrate better and it keeps me awake.”
Freshman Michelle Inciarte claims to have problems with gum despite the benefits. She said that gum-chewing can be very messy.
“While gum chewing could benefit students by helping them concentrate, littering and sticking gum under tables is still a major issue,” Inciarte said. “When I was in first grade I chewed gum. I loved gum. My teacher almost caught me so I put it in my hand. After that, she told us we had to go to P.E. I forgot the gum was in my hand and rubbed my head. Sadly, the gum got caught in my hair. I did the entire exercise as if I was stretching my arms by putting both my hands on my head to hide the gum. I made it through the entire day. When I got home I used peanut butter to try and get it out.”
Like Inciarte, Loggins thinks littering and chewing gum can be issues.
“I think it should be allowed, but you don’t want it on the carpet or furniture,” Loggins said. “I guess that’s the main reason it’s not allowed.”
Rajan argues that students should get a chance to chew gum at school.
“If it’s allowed then it’s less likely to be placed under chairs.” Rajan said. “It can be a privileged system to where if you are caught sticking gum under chairs, then you are no longer allowed to chew it.”
Biology teacher Kim Moore argues that chewing gum carries disadvantages, especially in her class.
“It’s unhealthy,” Moore said. “It contains a lot of sugar and germs can get into it while working on labs.”
Sugar free gum may be an alternative to the sugary gum Moore describes. Brands such as Trident are sugar and gluten free gum that can help prevent cavities.
The benefits caused by gum chewing has not been determined.

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Copy Cat: Cheating increases as academic intensity progresses

According to Michael Hartnett, author of “The Great SAT Swindle” 98 percent of college students admit to cheating, a significant difference when compared to 20 percent in 1940.
By middle school, according to “Cheaters: Kindergarten to high school, college to working world” from onlinemastersdegree.com, two out of three middle schoolers find cheating normal and 90 percent admit to copying another’s homework.
“I think homework is something people should help each other on,” senior and National Honor Society president Daniel Mejia-Cruz said.  “I always ask my friends for homework, but homework doesn’t count, that’s what you’re supposed to learn from, it’s why teachers assign it and sometimes you need help.”
Junior Kurt Lantion agrees with Mejia-Cruz, but said there is a difference between those he helps on assignments and those he does not.
“If it was a friend, maybe, if it was not a big deal like a single question,” Lantion said. “I trust [a friend] more. I wouldn’t expect them to tell their teacher that I let them copy.  As long as you’re helping them learn and you’re not like ‘oh here’s the answers’ it’s ok. But if it were someone I barely knew, then no, but I would try to make it not obvious that I don’t want them to cheat.”
However, Mejia-Cruz said the severity and punishment for cheating should be determined by the importance and influence of the assignment.
“I think cheating on a major grade deserves more punishment than cheating on a daily grade because it’s worth more of your grade and therefore impacts your GPA more,” Mejia-Cruz said.
Apart from inconveniencing classmates, NHS sponsor Clay Huggins said cheating also personally affects teachers.
“If a student cheats in my class, I see it as a personal offense that they care so little about my class that they would cheat rather than learn.”
 According to a 2007 poll by CollegeHumor.com out of 30,000 responses 14.5 percent of participants copied over someone’s shoulder, 11.1 percent stored information into their calculators, 9.2 percent received answers from a friend and 45.6 percent combined the methods. Though these are the most popular forms of cheating, still others find more extreme ways.
“When I taught in Egypt, we had to take a student to the emergency room because he climbed onto the roof of one of the school buildings, gained entrance and tried to climb on top of the false ceiling tiles to get to a classroom and take a copy of a test,” Huggins said. “He fell through the tiles and cut his head open. He was lucky that a janitor came through the room, because it was after hours and otherwise he may have died.  I couldn’t believe someone would risk life and limb over a test.”
Consequences of getting caught increase with the level of education.
“Cheating in high school is really bad because you’ll be into the habit of it and when you get into college if they ever catch you doing that you’ll be expelled,” freshman Christian Carr said. “Once you get expelled from one college that pretty much ruins your chances of getting into other colleges.”
“Cheaters: Kindergarten to high school, college to working world” stated that half of societies’ top raking business people polled have cheated in their academic career. The article claimed that 56 percent of MBA owners, 54 percent of engineers, 48 percent of educators and 45 percent of lawyers admit to cheating. The same can be said for high-ranking high school students according to surveys by U.S. News and World Report showing 80 percent of them admit to cheating.
“People who are under pressure of doing well may [be more prone to cheating],” senior Sarah Ma said. “Why would [students who] don’t care in the first place care if they get an F or if they get an A?”
Cheating, according to Lantion, is promoted by technology and the Internet. Its prevalence allows students to receive a variety of information and shortcuts to completing assignments. A 2010 article by Online Educators Database common paper mill websites receive an average of 8,000 hits per day.
Websites such as Turnitin.com allow educators to cross check assignments against those on the web. In Mississippi the implementation of such data forensics dropped cheating by 70 percent. However, this cannot limit all cheating. The best way to do so according to Carr is through peers.
“Kids listen to kids just being like ‘no dude, don’t do that’ would help,” Carr said.

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Apple ventures into digital textbook market through app

Apple recently began publishing textbooks via its iBook application. According to the Global Equities Research, within three days of the app launch, consumers had downloaded over 350,000 textbooks. Apple has currently only released textbooks for grades K-12, with college textbooks planned for the future.
According to campus instructional technology specialist Rachel Boyd, the innovation opens up exciting doors for technology into the classroom.
“I think it’s awesome,” Boyd said.“As long as the lessons are still designed well and are not about the technology but about the learning, the technology will make the lessons a more engaging and richer experience for the student.”
For junior Joey Courville, the thought of incorporating Apple technology into classes is not only interesting, but logical. 
“The district should implement iPads into schools so they won’t have to print all those books out and waste all the money on actual books and just have electronic books so the students won’t have to carry them around,” Courville said. “I really don’t have a preference of real book or iBook. I like the feeling of having an actual book to read but I like the convenience of having them all on my iPhone.”
The release of textbooks has also brought along Apple’s new iBooks Author. Just as iOS users could create their own applications, they can now write their own textbooks. The free app provides authors with templates to easily create their own textbooks. For Boyd, this is an especially appealing development.
“Most teachers cannot agree on textbooks, and even one teacher will not say ‘I love this textbook from beginning to end’,” Boyd said. “What teachers really need is to be able to pull from the best sources and also have rich media like video and simulations.”
Despite the logical reasoning behind purchasing iPads for students, Courville admits the potential downsides they could bring, but proposes simple solutions already taken on campus computers.
“iPhones and iPads would be really distracting in school, but if there was a way to block all the games that people have on their phones I think it wouldn’t be a distraction at all, it’d be very beneficial,” Courville said.
According to sophomore CJ Maxwell, aside from the convenience of iBooks, introducing them into the classroom would change the way students learn.
“It would be a lot better because there would be a lot of videos and activities, and it’d be more effective than just reading the textbook,” he said. “The iPad would let students be more interactive with learning.”
For freshman Jenny Barra, switching to iPads would provide students with not only new learning techniques, but convenience as well.
“Textbooks are heavier and [iPads would take away] having to keep up with all of my books,” Barra said. “And books get damaged over time. I think that if everyone had their own iPad it’d be a lot easier.” 
For the price of $14.99 per book, the iPad presents itself as the reasonable choice. With the average price of a high school textbook ranging from $75 to $100, Maxwell said he sees switching to iPads as an economically effective move.
“I know to some people it’d be easier to just buy the textbook, but I think once you buy the iPad it’d be easier to just put them on the iPad,” Maxwell said. “It would be a lot.”

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Closing parking lot gates frustrates students, benefits teachers

In order to relieve traffic within the faculty parking lot caused by pick-up and drop-off of students, the gates leading to the teacher parking lot closed on Jan.17. This change sparked student frustration and teacher appreciation.

“We noticed over the last several years that there was an increase of parents dropping off students in the faculty lot,” associate Principal Steve Matheson said.  “It became a very dangerous situation where you had pedestrian traffic from the students, faculty members arriving and attempting to park and parents circling through the lot dropping off students. When you put the factors together it caused a potentially dangerous situation. When we closed the gates we eliminated the parent’s issue, and now the faculty can park more quickly.”

Sophomore Kim Halbert said the change inconvenienced her.

“I was pretty mad,” Halbert said. “My mom drops me off every day. I was thinking ‘well, why would they change something that’s been working for the past so many years?’”

Like Halbert, senior Diego Guala said he felt angry about the change.

 
“My first thoughts were ‘oh my god, what are you doing’,” Guala said. “I always come in through the side and my parents drop me off in front of the band hallway doors. The closing just makes driving so much more difficult.”

In addition to exasperating students, Halbert said her entire family feels the repercussions of this change.

 
 “It’s affected our driving a lot,” Halbert said. “My parents used to drive later because it would only take me a couple minutes to walk to class but now it takes a couple minutes longer. They drop me off by the entrance to the football fields. I have to walk to Geometry which is on the complete other end.  That means my parents have to get ready faster. I have to get ready faster. It’s a hassle.”

According to Guala, the change has affected the front drop-off circle more than the actual parking lot.

 
“I guess they were worried about the safety of students walking by but that just seems silly,” Guala said. “The change totally threw off the front circle. If they reopen the gates, it would be more convenient for everyone that gets dropped off in the front. I don’t really see there being much of a problem with people driving through the teacher parking lot.”

 
While the change negatively affected students, Math teacher Liz Salinas said the change was to the teacher’s advantage.

“It affected me more the other way,” Salinas said. “Before, if I got here at a little bit past 6:45 or 6:50, they wouldn’t let us turn into the bus parking lot so the teachers had to go up into the student parking lot and it took forever to get back to park. This way I can get into the bus parking lot and not worry about being stopped.”

Despite student complaints Matheson believes the new arrangement to benefit all and praises the students for their help.

“Our kids, as always have responded wonderfully, we really feel like it’s a much safer environment and a lot of that goes to the kids being flexible and accepting of the change, so kudos to the kids,” Matheson said.

The gates are unlocked after school once the busses leave campus.

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8 choir, orchestra, band students make All-State ensembles

Eight choir, band and orchestra students advanced to the 2012 University Interscholastic League All-State level.
Four choir students and two band students were certified to All-State after try-outs on Jan. 7, and two orchestra students were certified last November.

“I didn’t think I was going to make it,” senior Jacob Edwards said. “I thought I sounded terrible but I actually came out as the highest ranking bass player in our region. It feels amazing.”

Edwards was chosen to play for the All-State philharmonic orchestra, the highest  orchestra ensemble after ranking as the 22nd best upright bass player in the state. Edwards said his new-found mobility provided him with a means to refine his playing.

“I drive to school and have the option to stay after school as opposed to years past,” Edwards said. “So it was really just a matter of being able to practice at school with my instrument. And without my lessons teacher, Mr. Lee, I wouldn’t be comfortable with the instrument that I play. If anyone else has the option to take lessons, they definitely should.”

Three choir students, senior alto I Megan Curtner, juniors soprano I Michele Higgins and second-time All-Stater tenor II Justin Dresner, made the All-State mixed choir and one, junior second soprano Natalia Alamdari, the female choir. More students were accepted into the All-State choir this year than any other school in the district..

“We started with 60 kids auditioning and had four [students] make it all the way to All-State, so it’s a big deal,” head choir director Kasey Pope said. “Their success is all about their amazing talent and dedication to practice. Each of them has a real, innate sense of initiative. When they sing, they’re not just singing notes and rhythms, they’re expressing emotions and that’s very unique to find at this age.”

Students who make All-State are invited to perform at the 2012 Texas Music Educators Association clinic/convention in San Antonio on Feb. 11.

“[As far as band goes,] it’s a four-day convention where [we] re-audition, are placed in an ensemble and get to rehearse with amazing conductors from top conservatories,“ senior  Lindsay Laird said. “This year Carl St. Clair from the Pacific Symphony will be conducting. It’s a life-changing experience.”

Laird was certified to All-State for her Oboe playing.

“I know that hard work brings success now,” Laird said. “If there’s something in the future that I want, I know that all I have to do is work really hard to get it. It’s what I want to do forever, to be a professional musician. It’s made me who I am, which is really cheesy, but it has.”

Students who make it to All-State attract the attention of universities and scholarship foundations, according to band teacher Barbara Streit.

“The area that we’re in includes three urban areas, so it’s very difficult to make all-state in our area,” Streit said. “There are quite a few colleges that will be interested in you if you make it to area and some may offer you a scholarship just by going to try-outs.”

Laird said that she believes that students’ full potential are not being reached.

“We could probably have more [All-Staters from the school],” Laird said. “The Woodlands high school had like 10 kids make it. Making All-State is a very big deal because our area is probably the toughest area in the state. But we have the resources of Houston, a giant art metropolis, so I think we could be getting more students in.”

Laird, Edward and Pope all said they attribute this year’s results to the student’s diligent practice.

“I would say their success is about their talent and their work,” Pope said. “Their willingness to learn, to be taught, their amazing talent and their overall work ethic is what got them so far. We think they’re thebomb.com.”

Senior Dyland Ilseng became the 38th string bass member of the Concert band. Laird and junior flute player Cathryn Blackman’s bands have yet to be determined. Senior Kevin Dean was chosen as the second- alternate for the men’s choral ensemble. 

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HOSA members advance to state competition

On Dec. 2, Health Occupation Students of America members across the state participated in the preliminary online test to advance to the area competition. Of the students competing, four members have advanced to the state competition on March 31 in San Antonio.
“[Students] have to go above and beyond what they normally do in class,” Health Science teacher Joan Mooney said. “Our area, [which] is very competitive, goes from Atascasita to Tomball to south Houston to Conroe so there are hundreds of students competing so [they] have to work really hard.”
Students must rank in the top three in their specific test in order to advance straight to state. Senior Josh Hughes advanced to state after placing first in medical terminology.
“I didn’t have any real strict study sessions,” Hughes said. “[I mostly studied] while I wasn’t doing anything in class. Having a health science class helped because then [I got to] look it over.”
Senior Sean French, who will compete at state for pathophysiology, the study of human diseases, said that he felt it was his hard work studying that helped him most on the online test.
“We have an hour and a half to take [a 100 question test] and it took me about 20 minutes,” French said. “I have a book that’s about 1,500 pages long and it has all known diseases [in it]. I literally read the book cover to cover.”
Also advancing to state is junior Raveena Patel in medical math. Patel said that after not advancing in a team event last year, making it to state as an individual served as a big accomplishment.
“I felt that math was my strong point so I decided to do medical math,” Patel said. “I had to study formulas and conversions and drug dosages. Everyone told me medical math was really hard so I didn’t think I’d get second.”
According to Mooney, the amount of work put into the competition varies from student to student. The sense of accomplishment from making it to state is well worth the work.
“It’s a big honor because there are thousands of students competing across the nation,” Mooney said. “To get to state and certainly to nationals is a very big honor and it certainly looks good on a resume.”
For French, the competition was a chance to prove himself his senior year.
“My mom is a doctor so it gives me a chance to make her proud,” French said. “Last year I wanted to test myself just to see what I knew, and I ended up going to state. I was one place away from making nationals. Because of that, I [am] determined to go to nationals this year.”
Hughes said that making state made all of his hard work worth it.
 “[Making state] means all these facts and figures and words that I know aren’t quite as useless as they seem right now,” Hughes said. “That obviously they’re valuable and ultimately useful. And [means] that I’m the best at [medical terminology].”
Also advancing to state is junior Clarissa Sanchez in current events. The HOSA area competition is the weekend of Jan. 27 at Tomball High School for students who have not advanced to state. Competing students will participate in tests and presentations in order to advance.

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Survey says: Time to bed correlates with quality of sleep

According to yearly surveys by the American Psychological Association conducted from 1999 to 2004, going to bed earlier and getting a larger amount of sleep helps the body regenerate so that a person can stay alert and in-tune with their everyday activities.

Surveys show that the time a person goes to sleep has a direct   affect on the quality of sleep that a person receives. In other words, the more sleep a person gets, the better the quality of sleep they will have.

“Psychologists say that [teens should sleep] eight hours, but it is hard to say because everyone has different sleeping needs,” AP psychology teacher Mike Lum said. “Six hours for one student may be too much for another.”

For example, sophomore Brooke Gardner said she feels ready to wake up in the mornings because she is used to being alert so early.

“I usually go to bed around 9:30 or 10, depending on how much homework I have,” Gardner said. “It is not really [difficult to wake up in the morning], even though I wake up at 5:30.”

According to Lum, because everyone’s bodies are built differently, each is set differently as to what time they are able to wake-up and go to sleep. Problems with sleep may originate from this as their everyday schedule may not fit their sleeping schedule.

“Work or school start times cannot be adjusted to fit a person’s sleep schedule,” Lum said. “People who have trouble crawling out of bed probably have an inner clock set to late wake-up and sleep times, a condition known as phase delay.”

Sophomore Talon Zimmerman said he receives a minimal amount of sleep, but manages.

“I’ve had problems sleeping for many years, [but] I don’t think much of it,” Zimmerman said. “I [always] feel like I want to get [more] sleep, [although] I get less sleep on the weekends, but I still manage to stay energetic [and awake].”

While students like Zimmerman can live off minimal sleep, sophomore Nariah Holmes said she has trouble focusing when she receives little sleep.

“When I don’t get enough sleep I [don’t] want to get up in the morning,” Holmes said. “I end up rushing to get ready, and my day starts all wrong.”

The use of electronic devices like computers or cell phones also causes lack of sleep.

“Your brain will take the images into your sleep patterns,” Lum said. “The brain could take some time to sort out all of that information and as a result, it could take longer to move into the different stages of sleep.”

While Lum said he believes this to be true, junior Megan Williamson disagrees saying she finds no difficulty sleeping after using any type of electronic.

“I fall asleep after using a computer and I do not find it any more difficult after using [it],” Williamson said. “Sleep just comes easily to me.”

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Big brother sees all: 2008 district bond adds 80 new security cameras to campus

Through funds set aside from the 2008 bond, Klein ISD purchased new security equipment for all district schools. The school received 80 new security cameras this year. According to assistant principal David Chaney, the new cameras help cover areas such as staircases, certain hallways and the outside of the school.

“We had some dead spots where the cameras didn’t overlap to cover a specific area, so you might have had half of a hallway covered [by one camera] and the camera at the other end maybe picked up just a third of [the hallway],” Chaney said. “The new cameras pick up on those missing areas.”

Communications and planning assistant superintendant Judy Rimato said that from 2007 to 2008, a committee comprised of students, parents, district employees and community members met in order to apportion the bond money. According to the Klein ISD bond plan, out of $646.9 million, $6.1 million was set aside to go towards security measures for the district.

“Bond funds are used to build and renovate facilities and purchase technology, security equipment and buses,” Rimato said. “As the district and the community place the safety of our students and employees very high, it was natural that a portion of these bond funds would be used to purchase and install items that will serve to make our schools safe.”

According to Chaney, the school has access to 130 security cameras on campus, as well as those at the Ag Barn. For English teacher Laurie Marek, the cameras instill a sense of safety and provide a means of keeping track of students at all times.

“Students should not be out of area or out of their classrooms for an extended length of time,” Marek said. “We need to know where everyone is because we are responsible for their safety and well being while they are on campus. Whether it’s during a fire drill, or to give them notes from the offices, we need to know where our students are.”

Senior Daniel Mejia-Cruz said that he would rather have the district purchase security cameras as opposed to other technology items.

“I think that the installation of [the] cameras points to the fact that they are not just for superficial use but that they are actually needed, which in my opinion is a reflection of the changing environment that KC is undergoing, whether it be for the better or not,” Mejia-Cruz said.

Junior Zoe Matranga on the other hand feels the cameras were unnecessary.

“As far as things to spend money on, it’s not the greatest thing ever,” Matranga said. “As far as administration, it’s probably a good move. I don’t think it’s necessary but I understand why [they were purchased].”

According to Chaney, faculty members monitor the cameras throughout the day, which are on at all hours.

“The [cameras are] motion sensitive, so at night if there’s nothing going on they won’t record, but the second there’s motion detected they start [recording],” Chaney said.

Because of this permanent documentation, both Chaney and Marek said that the cameras have been postive for the campus.

“I think the camera is beneficial when we’re looking at possible incidents that may or may not have occurred to go back [to] and see proof, did something actually occur, was someone provoked,” Marek said. “As long as they have the visual aspect, it gives us proof. You can’t deny that someone is there or not if [they were] filmed.”

Aside from this, according to Marek, the new cameras provide students with a sense of safety and security.

“Who wants to go to a school where [they] feel unsafe walking through the main doors?” Marek said. “[School] is supposed to build not only academics, but [also students] as [citizens] and the only way [we] can do that is if [we] have a safe, welcoming, nurturing environment and I think we’ve fulfilled that with [the new cameras].”

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Houston turns 175

With the Texas War of Independence in full swing, brothers Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen struggled with their new business. As real estate entrepreneurs, they bought land hoping it would increase in value when sold later on, so with an inheritance received by Augustus’ wife, Charlotte Allen, their business got the boost it needed. On Aug. 30, 1836 the bothers purchased 6,642 square miles of land with the intention of establishing a city, and at the suggestion of Charlotte Allen, they named the city for the hero at the time, Gen. Sam Houston.

In August, Houston celebrated its 175th anniversary. In 1901, the same year oil was discovered at the Spindletop field near Beaumont, the city’s population doubled from the previous decade, becoming the largest city in Texas. The 2010 U.S. census stated Houston had a population of 2.1 million people, making it the fourth most populous city in the country. Houston ranks as one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the nation. The city grew 25.2 percent in population between 1990 and 2000, adding more than 950,000 people, while the nation grew 13.2 percent over the same period.

The economy continues to grow along with the population. Twenty-three Fortune 500 companies call Houston home. Only New York City boasts more Fortune 500 companies. The city also has a broad industrial economy in aeronautics, energy and technology industries. Houston finds itself among world leaders in the chemical industry. The Port of Houston ranks as the sixth largest port in the world and in 2003 was named the first in the nation for total foreign shipments as well as second in total shipments. In fact, if Houston became an independent nation, its economy would rank worldwide at number 30.

Aside from the city’s size, Houston holds many attractions such as NASA’s Johnson Space Center, which houses mission control. The Theater District located Downtown falls second only to the New York Theater District. In addition, the Texas Medical Center possesses the title of the world’s largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the largest in the world, takes place each March. The museum district, one of the city’s largest attractions, draws seven million people each year.

The University of Houston recently became a Tier One research university, making it the third, along with the University of Texas and Texas A&M, in the state. The University of Houston holds the top spot in Texas for its graduate creative writing program. Actor James Franco currently attends classes at the university for this program. According to the Princeton Review, Rice University, located in downtown Houston, has the happiest students in the nation. Also, the buckyball, the third form of carbon, was discovered at Rice University in 1985.

Houstonians have four major league teams and one minor league. The city’s current football team, the Houston Texans, played their first game in August 2002 at Reliant Stadium after the Houston Oilers’, now the Tennessee Titians, departure to Nashville, Tennessee in 1999. The Houston Dynamos, the city’s soccer team, were the MLS champions in 2006 and 2007. The Houston Rockets basketball team accumulated two NBA championships in 1994 and 1995. The Astros competed against the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 major League Baseball World Series, and play at Minute Maid Park in Downtown. The Aeros hockey team, part of the American Hockey League share their arena with the Rockets.Aside from the city’s sports, Houston also hosts an array of other sporting events. Reliant Stadium hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 and the Final Four in 2011.

The 175 years of Houston history shaped it into a diverse city. Houston’s economy, population and attractions make it unique.

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