The Answer - A blog about Education, Preparation, and Commitment.

YES Prep’s Sr Director of College Initiatives Accepts State President Post for TACAC

April 07, 2011 by Jeremy Jones

YES Prep's Senior Director of College Initiatives, Donald Kamentz recently accepted the Presidential post for TACAC.  The Texas Association for College Admission Counseling or TACAC is the state association for the National Association for College Admission Counseling and "is dedicated to supporting the work of counseling and enrollment professionals as they advance student access to postsecondary education. NACAC is committed to promoting high professional standards that foster ethical and social responsibility." 

Kamentz has been a member of TACAC since he started his professional career in college counseling in 1999 and has served in several capacities in the state association including:

• TACAC/ACCI Summer Institute High School Faculty Chair (2007-2010);
• TACAC/ACCI Summer

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YES Prep Alumna: Our teachers challenged us academically and pushed us to be the best we could be

April 06, 2011 by Tenesha Villanueva

Patricia Hernandez was YES Prep's first valedictorian and a member of the first graduating class in 2001.  She attended Stanford University where she majored in English with a minor in Classical Studies and graduated in 2005.  She had this to share about her time at YES Prep and her experience in college.   

What is your favorite YES Prep memory?

The class of ’01 had camping trips spearheaded by Mr. Desrosiers every summer before the school year started.  Each trip helped the bond between my class grow stronger. I remember going down the Guadaulpe River in tubes, completing ropes courses, and sleeping under the stars.

 Name the teacher/staff member who had the greatest impact on you and why. 

Mrs. Pagani Hines encouraged my love of reading and taught me to be an analytical

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Fine Arts Thrives at YES Prep Amid Talk of Budget Cuts

April 05, 2011 by Jeremy Jones

In a climate where “budget cut” is heard more often in newscasts than the local weather, special programs in the public school system seem to be shrinking or disappearing all too quickly. As a professional musician, I can’t help but wonder what the future for music holds. What will happen to orchestras when there are no students growing up with music in the schools? What will happen to students as an important part of their cultural education disappears?

Luckily, charter schools seem, even with all of the budget issues facing the nation, to be taking this fight head on. At YES Prep West, every student learns to take an instrument. 76% of our students participate in orchestra. When it comes to the future of our orchestra, there was little doubt who I should talk to about creating a

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April Unbalance will Bring May Exemplary Ratings

April 04, 2011 by Jeremy Jones

Since April is a month at YES Prep that is inherently unbalanced and since as of last Friday we are, as hard as it is to believe, already in the month of April, this short essay on balance by Mark Buchanan seemed especially appropriate. Big Shout Out to Robert McBurnett, our CFO, for finding it and sending it our way!

I have long believed that “balance” is a mirage that we chase wanting to believe it will satisfy our longings, but it is illusory. Our age has its own cherished myths, and one of the most hypnotic is the myth of balance. I hear it everywhere, from old and young, city dwellers and country folk, carpenters and lawyers, students and homemakers. Everyone seeks balance. Everyone longs for that magical combining of rest and play and work that, once found, will make life

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YES Prep Brays Oaks Student Receives Award for His Essay on “The Beauty of Cultural Diversity”

April 01, 2011 by Sarah Straub

“When your children are sitting in the chair with you at the end of the day while you are watching the news and they say that a serial killer is out and is in your city, this story is the story that your child will think about when he or she goes to sleep. It makes children go to sleep scared and this fear becomes a part of our society. This is why we should focus some more on good news.”

So states “The Beauty of Cultural Diversity” Essay submission by YES Prep Brays Oaks 6th grader Kenneth Murray for Ms. Sarah Straub’s Media Elective in which students work on yearbook projects, creating advertising campaigns, and creative writing essay contests. Kenneth and the rest of his class were entered into this essay contest, “The Beauty of Cultural Diversity” which is the United Nations’

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