The Spring Branch Educational Support Association (SBESA) awarded four separate $700 student scholarships and installed its new 2008-2009 officers during the group’s annual Installation Meeting held May 14 at the Spring Branch ISD Administration Building.

Housman Elementary School Nurse Diane Roberts was honored as one of the region’s best nursing professionals by the Houston Chronicle in its annual Salute to Nurses newspaper insert. The recognition occurred during National Nurses Week, held May 6-12. The school nurse was nominated by Principal Jerona Williams.

Trees of Houston joined forces with students and teachers at Northbrook High School this spring to add trees and a new flower garden at the high school campus, located at 1 Raider Circle. During late April, Trees of Houston planted 35 trees around the high school’s perimeter, one of several beautification projects undertaken during recent years.

Spring Branch School of Choice social studies teacher Joyce Roberta Miller-Alper was one of only 50 teachers from across the nation selected recently to receive the competitive grant, A View from Mount Vernon: Shaping the Constitution 1783-1789. The summer seminar, which includes a one-week program at Mount Vernon, is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent grant-making agency of the U.S. government.

A Stratford High student club has helped the high school campus earn designation as a No Place for Hate® school by the Anti-Defamation League’s Southwest Region. Students in the Friends of Rachel club led efforts to stamp out prejudice and bias of all kinds at the high school. So far, more than a dozen district schools have earned the group's special designation.

Cedar Brook Elementary cut the ribbon May 27 on a new “outdoor classroom” at the 2121 Ojeman campus, a community garden with a butterfly and bird habitat designed for science study and student observation. The community garden was made possible through a $2,000 Toolbox for Education grant to the school by the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation.

Spring Branch ISD, through the Health and Human Service Commission, will provide free breakfast and lunch to all children between the ages of 1 and 18 when they show up at designated schools. No proof of income nor registration is required to obtain breakfast or lunch, Monday through Thursday, at more than a dozen district schools.

Students enrolled in the Scientific Research & Design Class at Spring Branch School of Choice were awarded first place by Houston Community College’s Northwest Campus for a custom-made, scented candle project. Three students also won $500 community college scholarships.

A Stratford High School science teacher and a Memorial High School English teacher will travel to Florida and England this summer as 2008 Fund for Teachers Fellows. The Houston-based Fund for Teachers is a nonprofit organization that provides educational grants to teachers for summer sabbaticals focused on professional development, exploration and renewal.

Registration for this summer’s Community Education classes in topics ranging from dance, sewing and computers to GED, Spanish and English as a Second Language will begin soon. The summer semester begins on June 9 and will end on or before July 31. Most classes meet for eight weeks. Both online and in-person registration options are available for students.

A Business Professionals of America (BPA) student team from Stratford High finished second nationwide in the Small Business Management Team Event held during the group’s 2008 National Leadership Conference, held May 7-11 in Reno, Nev. The business students are all members of the Stratford High Academy of Finance program. In addition, a Memorial High senior placed sixth in accounting at the national meeting.

Spring Branch Middle School counselor Shannon Boyer was one of three local educators to receive the Anti-Defamation League’s annual Walter Kase Teacher Excellence Award during a luncheon held May 6 at the Westin Galleria Hotel.

Have a refreshing glass of lemonade this weekend and support breast cancer research. This Sunday, May 4, Spring Woods High School students involved in the Junior Achievement Company Program will stand outside Nordstrom department store inside The Galleria and sell pink lemonade as part of the large-scale Lemonade Day project, a community event supporting entrepreneurship and youth development.

Lindsey Braden, choir and musical theatre director at Westchester Academy for International Studies, will perform opera, musical and jazz selections during a Faculty Recital at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 2, at Westchester Theater, 901 Yorkchester. Cost is $8 at the door.