For the second year in a row, the Odyssey of the Mind team traveled to Taylor, TX to compete in the Central Texas Regional Odyssey of the Mind Competition. The team, consisting of Alyssa Claypoole, Maddie Hines, Courtney Lee, Amber Mahmood, Lauren Matthews, and Mary Kate Walker, has been working very hard since September to prepare for the competition under the supervision of their coaches Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Carter. Their hard work and dedication paid off as they won first place in their problem and division. They will move on to the State Competition in Houston on April 17. Congratulations and good luck at the state competition.

Chocolate sale fundraising continues until we sell all the chocolate we have. Now students will earn 4 free dress days for each box of chocolate they sell when they return the chocolate money to the school. Chocolate sale free dress list is below.

Harmony students participated in the Regional Science Fair with 12 distinguished projects in Math, Science, Computer, and Engineering categories. Hundreds of students from the counties of Bastrop, Brazos, Burleson, Fayette, Lee, Travis, Washington, and Williamson; and Prairie Lea School in Caldwell County, St. Stevens School in Hays County, and Dripping Springs ISD in Hays County were in Austin, on February the 25th, for the Regional Science Fair 2009 in which Harmony students did a marvelous job.

Shankar Srinivasan, Amar Gawande & Kira Metoyer advanced to the Texas State Science Fair which will be held on April the 9th thru 12th, in San Antonio.

In order to support our students’ participation in more of extracurricular activities we have a chocolate sale fundraising. Last year was a success. We sold over 400 boxes. This year’s goal is to sell 400 boxes of chocolate. Students and parents will be able to check out chocolate boxes from the front office starting next Tuesday (1/12/2010).


Some rules for the chocolate sale are below.

• Without parent approval students will be able to check out only one box of chocolate and will not be able to check out the next box until they return the money for the previous box. If chocolate check-out was not approved by parents it should be returned to the front office within one week, unopened; otherwise chocolate money for that box is to be paid to the front office within 3 weeks after checked-out.
• If more than one box checked out, all unopened boxes can be returned within three weeks but one. Multiple boxes check-out requires at least one box to be sold.
• If one or more box(es) checked-out, next time no more than the number of boxes that the money turned in can be checked out.
• Chocolate boxes are sold in boxes, opened boxes can not be returned.
• Every time you check out chocolate you will be given a receipt. Please make sure that any payment you made is entered in the receipt book at the time of payment.
• Chocolate money is due in no later than three weeks after it is checked out.


Prizes & Rewards: read more . . .
Sell 1 case or 50 chocolate bars, turn the money in to the front office, and earn a free dress day the next day. If money was turned in for multiple boxes, students will have as many free dress days on consecutives school days as the number of the boxes for which the money was turned in to the front office.

Also, you get your name in the hat 1 time for every 50 chocolate bars that you sell.
At the end of the fundraiser we will draw 4 names and each of those winners will earn
a $25 gift card from a store of their choice!

Top Seller Awards:
The top seller in each grade level earns a $10 gift card at Target!
The top selling girl and boy in the school will each earn their choice of an iPod shuffle or another item which could be purchased for about $50, or a $50 gift card at a store of their choice!!

HSA BCS robotics team participated in regional FLL competition in San Antonio and received first place in designing and third place in mission. We congratulate our robotics team and their coach, Mr. Atabayev for such a big success. The team advances to the State level competitions and will go to Austin in December the 12th.

FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is an international program that introduces students to the fun experience of solving real-world problems by applying math, science, and technology. Guided by adult mentors and their own imaginations, FLL participants solve real-world engineering challenges, develop important life skills, and learn to make positive contributions to society.

We had our third annual Science Fair on November, the 14th. This year we had 137 individual and team projects.
Parent-teacher-student cooperation made this event a huge success. All students deserve a big congratulation! for the amazing job they did prior and during Science Fair. Judges, we had around 30 of them most of which were professors or PhD students at Texas A&M, were very impressed with the talents the students presented to them.
Our PTO diligently worked during the science fair, provided breakfast and refreshments for judges, teachers and volunteers.

The Second Annual International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering & Environment) Project Olympiad (I-SWEEEP 2009) was completed successfully. Cosmos Foundation, event organizer, presented Grand Awards at the I-SWEEEP 2009 Award Ceremony. The I-SWEEEP Awards are valued at nearly $400,000 in scholarships, monetary prizes, tuition grants, and scientific internships.
Druck Green, 7th grade student at HSA BCS, received honorable mention award and a $100 prize.

HSA BCS Odyssey of the Mind team got first place in the state and will advance to the world finals which will be held in IOWA. We are proud of our team and their coaches. Hard work has just paid off one more time.