More
Close 
KIPP Texas Families,
We are excited to announce, for the first time, a KIPP Texas-San Antonio school will offer Pre-K! Beginning in the 2023-24 school year, KIPP Somos Primary will offer pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds! The Pre-K4 through 2nd-grade school will continue opening grade levels each year until they have an entire pre-kindergarten through 5th-grade school. KIPP Somos Primary will join KIPP Somos Collegiate, a 6th-12th grade secondary school at 8915 Callaghan Road, San Antonio, TX 78230. Student siblings and their friends will be together from primary grades until graduation, offering a family-oriented and close-knit school community. Learn more about our new San Antonio schools here.
Two KIPP 6 Awardees
Check out our school leaders from KIPP Austin Comunidad, Kelly Doyle, and from KIPP Aspire Academy, Jaime Jaen, getting some national shine! The KIPP Foundation honored Kelly and Jaime during a national KIPP School and Regional Leaders Retreat in San Diego for Persisting with Purpose for six years as their school’s champion school leader! The KIPP SIX Award recognizes the vital role that veteran school leaders play in supporting the dreams and aspirations of their students. It has also been proven that school leaders who stay with their school for more than five consecutive years lead to higher teacher retention AND better student outcomes! Thank you, Kelly and Jaime, and all of our past KIPP SIX winners for leading an incredible team of Big KIPPsters and setting the foundation for our Little KIPPsters to succeed!
Introducing our KIPP Texas Dell Scholar Recipients
Our Little KIPPsters are solidifying plans for their future post-graduation, and I am so thankful for our Big KIPPsters and our families who have supported them during this life transition. We have much to celebrate! I am excited to announce that 10 of our Class of 2023 Little KIPPsters have been named Dell Scholarship recipients! These students will receive a $20,000 educational scholarship, annual credits for textbooks, a new laptop, and ongoing academic support.
KIPP Texas Public Schools had 24 finalists and 10 recipients. Here’s a list of our Dell Scholarship recipients:
Austin
- Vanessa Bautista: KIPP Austin Brave High School
- Jazmin Martinez: KIPP Austin Brave High School
- Andres Ortiz Osorio: KIPP Austin Collegiate
Dallas
- Rene Canelo Rodriguez: KIPP Oak Cliff Academy
Houston
- Emma Abdalla: KIPP Houston High School
- Cledys Hernandez: KIPP Houston High School
- Daisy Garcia: KIPP Northeast College Preparatory
- Ashley Vazquez: KIPP CONNECT High School
San Antonio
- Oscar Milan: KIPP Somos Collegiate High School
- Adolfo Salas: KIPP University Prep High School
Read more about this year’s recipients on our blog and give them a shoutout on Facebook! Congratulations, Dell Scholars!
From Pre-K at KIPP Austin Comunidad to the University of Texas at Austin
Our Big KIPPsters prepare our students for college, career and beyond and what a testament to see a Little KIPPster from grow from kindergarten to a graduating senior.
Meet Suguey, a senior at KIPP Austin Brave who has been making headlines since 2019 when she created an Alexa skill app named “Immigration Bonds” with her learned coding skills during an in-school computer science program, Hello World. When she created the app, it was with the goal of Championing Equity and pursuing to make a more just world. She is now on her way to UT Austin with a career goal of becoming a lawyer. Our SSP Big KIPPsters heard from her during the most recent Rise Together Chat and I, along with so many others, am incredibly proud of her. Congratulations, Suguey! You are an inspiration and will create a more equitable world and insist on a more just society.
Legislative Corner
Only 42 days remain in the current session of the Texas Legislature, and the pace is really picking up! While there are thousands of proposals being debated, you can see the progress of legislation that is directly relating to public charter schools like KIPP Texas here.
It brings me joy when I see so many in our community getting involved in government, whether it is encouraging others to vote, keeping up-to-date on your own lawmakers’ actions, or participating in community meetings. Many of you have been curious about how you as an employee or how KIPP Texas can engage. We’re glad you asked! This “Advocacy Dos and Don’ts” document is a helpful resource that helps to guide our practices as a public school and a nonprofit organization, and our practices as individual KIPP Texas employees.
Just last week, a group of about 100 members of our community traveled to the Texas Capitol to meet with their lawmakers to share their own personal stories and observe their state government first-hand. Especially since officials are juggling so many issues right now, I was so proud to join with our families as they made their voices heard on behalf of our schools and our KIPPsters.
—————————
STAAR testing is around the corner with STAAR ELA testing this week. View the assessment calendar on the blog to view testing dates. Our Little KIPPsters will undeniably shine and show just how brilliant they are! Our 3rd grade Little KIPPsters will take the STAAR assessment for the first time this month and our elementary schools have been preparing them to shine! Thank you families and Big KIPPsters for continuing to Bring Joy to our students during this transition time and preparing all of our students to finish the year healthy, joyful, and strong!
With gratitude,
Sehba Ali
CEO of KIPP Texas
