Crosby High celebrates Class of 2024: 400+ Graduates, Dual Degrees

Hello East Harris County and Crosby ISD families,

It’s graduation season in Crosby ISD! Congratulations to the Crosby High School Class of 2024! The commencement ceremony is set for Friday, May 31 at 7:30pm at Cougar Stadium. We will celebrate our 400+ high school graduates. 43 of our graduates have already gone through a college commencement ceremony to receive an Associate’s Degree or Industry Certification!

Our Class of 2024 Dual Credit graduates from Lee College are: Litzy Barbosa, Brenda Cortez, Kaylie Hill, Katelynn Lopez, Daniela Sanchez, Carson Sills, Taylin St. Romain, Wedy Tellez, Kinya White, and Katelynn Zavala. Emmanuel Acevedo, Jorge Alonso, Daren Dornak, and Albert Saravia earned welding certifications, and Kayla Rouse earned a process technician certification.

Our Class of 2024 Dual Credit graduates from San Jacinto College are: Dana Abulawi, Falisha Ards, Victor Armenta, Emma Buchanan, Andrew Canada, Paola Davila, Michaela Earnest, Ayden Edwards, Austin Eilers, Alexis Greenlee, Aidan Guiting, Tania Hernandez, Savannah McKinnerney, Amelia Morrelles, Hailey Ramirez-Bolt , Bentley Starr, Ronghua Tan, Wyatt Tobey, Janivette Torres, Fernando Vaca, and Miranda Valdes. Ivan Andaverde earned an electrical tech certification. Gavin Brown is a certified diesel trainee tech, while Je’Zyrie Frank, Emmanuel Laguna, Ashley Pantaleon, Mechell Smith, and Viviana Toler are all certified cosmetologists. Way to go everyone!

This month, we welcomed students, staff members, administrators, community members, faith leaders, and business partners to an End of Year Banquet to celebrate school year achievements. I had the pleasure of delivering updates on our bright financial future and the upcoming groundbreaking on the Crosby High School expansion. We also highlighted our 2023- 24 Teachers of the Year from each campus: Mr. Corbett Thompson, Crosby High School; Mr. Kevin Fontenot, Crosby Middle School; Ms. Natasha Loggins, Crosby Elementary; Ms. Dovie Williams, Drew Elementary; Ms. Diedre JohnBaptiste; Barrett Elementary; Ms. Cindy Herrera, Newport Elementary; and Ms. Ana Hartley, Crosby Kindergarten Center. Two of these educators will be selected as the Crosby ISD Elementary and Secondary Teachers of the Year at our End of Year Staff Convocation. They are already winners in my book!

The Board of Trustees and I saluted dozens of students, organizations, businesses, and volunteers during this month’s Spring Salute at Crosby High School. From Rodeo Art winners to students who volunteered at the Coleen Walker Relays, we celebrated students who gave their all in individual or team sports, academics, art, and community service. For instance, the Crosby High School Varsity Baseball Team completed 1087 acts of community service this school year. The Crosby High School Varsity Softball Team celebrated 13 shutouts this season and 16 players earned Academic All District with 90 or above GPA’s. Maintaining classroom focus is tough enough, but forging academic excellence while balancing a busy athletics schedule is always impressive.

The clock is ticking fast as we approach summer. Our last day of school will be Thursday, May 30. This summer will be an incredible time for activities. The Crosby ISD Athletics Department is offering summer camps in June and July. www.crosbyisd.org/summercamps. The Precinct 3 Commissioner’s Office is hosting free camps each Wednesday from June 5 – July 17 at the Crosby Community Center. Registration is now open for the Barrett Youth Enrichment Summer Camp at the Riley Chambers Community Center. The camp is free and available to students entering 1st through 6th grade. The camp runs from June 10 – July 26. We appreciate our communities coming together to provide educational and instructional opportunities for our students during the summer break.

June and July are the perfect time for families to keep instruction going and avoid the so-called “summer slide,” when students lose a little of what they learned the prior year. We encourage all students to read for 20 minutes a day during the summer months. Reading 20 minutes a day exposes students to 1.8 million words each year. It also works for our youngest students to be read to. Reading translates to success in all content areas, not just English Language Arts. Reading plays a huge role in processing, sequencing, and solving math problems. See our summer reading lists here: www.crosbyisd.org/ summer reading. For parents of elementary readers, the Crosby Branch Library is offering prizes and more for students who read between June 3 – August 3. Families can register here: www.hcpl.net/ summer-reading-program/ I want to take a moment to thank our Crosby / Barrett Station veterans as we approach Memorial Day. Crosby High School’s JROTC cadets and the Big Red Machine are performing at the Sterling-White Funeral Home and Cemetery community event on Monday, May 27 at 10am. God bless our veterans.

I wish you all a wonderful graduation season and a relaxing summer. Thank you to the parents, students, teachers, staff members, families, and community partners who helped us reach the finish line. May our graduates return as alumni to assist our unending efforts to uplift our communities. There’s no place like home!

We are Moving Forward! Go Coogs!

Paula Patterson
Superintendent