december 15th 2011 issue
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Four Points News December 15th 2011 IssueTRANSCRIPT
Four Four Points Middle School students and one River Place Elementary student put their talents together some time ago to form En Fuego. They performed last Saturday at Headhunters Club in down-town Austin at a showcase of bands event from the Austin School of Music. En Fuego consists of Caro-line McKenzie is the lead singer, Kyle Legg plays bass guitar, Max Hunter plays guitar and sings back up, Eric Legg plays guitar and Tyler Lambeth plays drums. Most of the group has been to-gether since 5th grade. They perform at local venues for a fee and at charity events. The band has a Facebook page with upcoming events. This weekend they will play at a private party on the lake, and
then at the Austin Christian Fel-lowship hayride at Sun Tree Park
on Dec. 20 at 5 p.m.
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Serving Steiner Ranch, River Place, Volente, Grandview Hills, Westminster Glen and Lake TravisVolume 7, Issue 49 • 8 pages Thursday, December 15, 2011 • 50 cents
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Lake Travis students returned to class on Monday after experi-encing a lockdown on Friday. Dec. 9 Lake Travis ISD issued a lockdown for several hours at Lake Travis High School and Middle School after there were reports of a gunman on campus. A custodian at the middle school said she saw the man in one of the bathrooms and that he might have been carrying a weapon. Neighboring Leander ISD did not lockdown any campuses on Friday but took precautions. “We just kept students and staff indoors on the recommen-dation of authorities as a pre-caution. This decision was made because of the proximity of these schools to Lake Travis, again and only as a precaution because student safety is always our top
priority. Our schools were not under an immediate threat,” said Jennifer Bailey, LISD Communi-cation Specialist. The local schools affected were Bush, Steiner, River Ridge, Grandview and River Place el-ementary schools; Canyon Ridge and Four Points middle schools and Vandegrift High School. At Lake Travis on Dec. 9 no gunman was found and the search still continues for a sus-pect. Travis County sheriff 's deputies are leading the investi-gation, searching through school surveillance video to see if they can figure out who the man is. During the lockdown, depu-ties guarded the campuses and searched for the man. The description of the tres-passer is not very specific. Of-ficials say he was seen wearing jeans, a white T-shirt, and a
multi-colored jacket and is ei-ther white or Hispanic. If iden-tified he could face charges ranging from criminal trespass to a felony offense for binging a weapon on school grounds. Leander ISD has had to lock down or evacuate students for various reasons over the years. LISD has put into place a so-phisticated telephone announce-ment system to deal with these emergencies. When a threat is reported the district consid-ers its options carefully because lockdowns and especially evacu-ations cost the district consider-able sums of money to imple-ment. Costs include overtime pay for bus drivers and other dis-trict employees, and increased administration and documenta-tion costs.
Grandview Hills Elem. celebratesHolidays Around the World
Local schools affected by Lake Travis lockdown
The Hill Country Education Foundation sur-prised eleven teachers with over $24,000 in pro-gram funding during its inaugural grant patrol on Dec. 9. and 12. Dr. Bret Champion, Superinten-dent of Leander ISD, joined several HCEF board members, HCEF campus representatives and grant committee members in awarding the grant recipients. Three teachers from Vandegrift High School were awarded grants. Rad Allen received $2,272 to purchase a class set of Finch Robots for his Computer Science I Pre-AP course. Jamie Bau-erle received $1,700 to hold a FCCLA-sponsored Leadership Conference at VHS. Jody Hormann received $1,499 to obtain a 5-year license to Strat-aLogica for her World History course to provide interactive digital maps. Four Points Middle School had three grant re-cipients. Band director, Christopher Yee received
$2,500 to implement a 6th grade leadership pro-gram for band. Alicia Stansell received $2,044 to purchase 30 portable microscopes with fine reso-lution adjustments along with two digital micro-scopes and two class sets of biology slides to trans-form 7th grade biology courses. Brandi Bergeron, sponsor of the C-Squared club at FPMS, received $2,500 in support of culture improvement pro-gramming. Five elementary schools were awarded funds. Laura Lebsack from Grandview Hills Elementary, received $2,320 to purchase student profiles for Quest students in grades 3rd through 5th for the Renzulli eLearning System, which allows all stu-dents in these grades to have access to the research resources that the software provides. Colleen Welliver, a kindergarten teacher at Steiner Ranch Elementary received $2,000 to expand the Hand-
HCEF’s Grant Patrol surprises SRE Kindergarten Teacher Colleen Welliver and her students with money needed to expand the Handwriting Without Tears program.
Brandi Bergeron and her students enjoy the surprise when HCEF awards her with $2,500 to support culture improvement programming through the C-Squared club.
Education Foundation gives $24,000 in Impact Grants
HCEF, 4
Grandview Hills Elementary’s Ying Li Bonfils-Rasmussen does an Asian dance at Holidays Around the World last week.
See more photos and read the story on page 8.
Local kid band En Fuego performing in Four Points
Caroline McKenzie (lead singer), Kyle Legg (bass guitar)), Max Hunter (guitar, back up vocals), Eric Legg (guitar)and Tyler Lambeth (drums).
By LYNETTE [email protected]
An online survey has been launched to find out what area residents want to see come into Quinlan Crossing, the new
development under construc-tion at the entrance of Steiner Ranch. “We're off to a great start with almost 300 results toward our goal of a couple thousand residents,” said Paul O’Brien on
Monday afternoon. O’Brien is Co-Founder of Austin based startup GroupCharger and au-thor of the Steiner Ranch Post. He is also spearheading this survey with local volunteer Ju-
Local survey being conducted for Quinlan Crossing
QUINLIN, 8
By LYNETTE [email protected]
Steiner Ranch father of four and former IBM techie Jeffrey Grier marks his first year as owner of Fion Wine Pub & Bistro. “It has been a wild ride,” said Grier,
who took over on Dec. 15, 2010 after purchasing the bistro, wine bar and re-tail store from Josh McKay who start-ed it in 2007. Grier had his sights set on buying a business after he finished his MBA at University of Texas in 2009. “Although I’ve been a food and wine
fanatic for all of my adult life, I had never really considered the restaurant business,” he said. One of the reasons why is that running a restaurant has a well-deserved reputation for not being kind to newcomers who do not have the necessary experience.
Local Fion owner celebrates first year
FION, 4
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Flores Mexican Restaurant plans to open its new Four Points site at the Trails at 620 in
early February. “We’re building our own free standing building that is almost two and a half times bigger,” said Jose Flores, who helped his fam-ily build their four-chain restau-rant over the last two decades to include some 200 employees today. Flores has out grown its space after nearly six years located in a small shopping center near the Four Points Home Depot. The restaurant will be one of the first to open at the new Trails at 620 located across RR
620 from Concordia University Texas and near the Grandview Hills neighborhood. “We’ll have the homemade flour tortillas being made up front, customers like that. We’ll have a nice playscape for the kids,” said Flores, who has three young daughters of his own. The Flores family moved to Austin from their hometown near Mexico City, Mexico when Joes was 10. In 1993 they opened their original Flores restaurant with 10 tables in Oak Hill. “My dad was a cook for over
40 years and when I was growing up he would take me where he worked. I learned a lot about the business and so did my brother and sister. We worked every as-pect of the business, from cook, waiter, bartender to assistant manager,” Flores said. Other family members have come to work in the business too. It is a tough business and it takes a lot of work and some-times working seven days a week, Flores said. But their hard work is paying off and as they grew, they kept putting what they made back into the busi-ness. These days, almost every day the senior Flores, 65, makes his rounds to the four restaurants to check on the quality of food. In addition to Four Points and Oak Hill, they have restaurants in Lakeway and Dripping Springs. The Flores siblings trade off overseeing the various locations.
They create authentic Mexi-can dishes with family recipes handed down through the years. “We emphasize taking care of our neighborhoods. We have so many local customers, some come every day. They become kind of your family,” Flores said. Opening in February will be one year after The Trails devel-opment broke ground. Rodney Speaks and Leslie Sloan are de-veloping the project which will also feature an 11 auditorium Galaxy Theatre, Whataburg-er, Freddy’s Frozen Custard, Schlotzsky’s and Mattress Firm. Whataburger is expected to open about the same time as Flores or just before. This is the second free stand-ing restaurant Flores has built. Its first was in Dripping Springs. “I think everyone is going to be real pleased,” Flores said.
Page 2 • Four Points News, Thursday, December 15, 2011
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Flores expects February open at The Trails at 620
Recognizing that technology is an ever-evolving and critical ele-ment of our world, Leander ISD is committed to ensuring that technology is an integrated, at-tainable and functional part of our instructional curriculum. We know that students today are unlike students of 30, 20 and even 10 years ago. While some of us can remember when com-puters occupied entire rooms, our students have grown up in a world where even our cell phones have technological capabilities we wouldn’t have believed a few years ago. Indeed, we find that students are often naturally so comfortable with technology that we call them “digital natives.” Students of today will be required to use technology in their jobs and careers in ways we can’t begin to imagine. To that end, LISD is exploring new ways to blend technology
with our classroom instruction to promote “digital citizenship skills,” or the appropriate use of technology, both among our teachers and students. I’m going to highlight a few of the ways we are integrating technology into classrooms to support student learning. One tool we are piloting al-lows students to collaborate in a safe online environment through connected learning communi-ties (CLCs). CLCs are forums where students and teachers can work together to deepen their educational experience. CLCs are monitored by teachers, thereby restricting inappropriate subject matter. As a learning tool, CLCs di-rectly support several of the dis-trict’s Seven Student Learning Behaviors. Using CLCs, students produce evidence of their learn-
ing to set goals and track their progress on an ongoing basis. CLCs invite all students to engage in their learning and give students an equal voice in a classroom. In an English class, CLCs may be used to discuss a theme in a short story or in history class, to exam-ine a significant political event. CLCs can even be used to help teach students how to properly use online sourc-es for research projects. In some classes, students are submitting papers through CLCs, allow-ing the teacher to grade projects online. Their uses are practically limitless. (As LISD is currently in phase two of the pilot program, CLCs are not yet available to ev-
ery teacher.) Switching gears a little, in the digital age, many teachers are finding new ways to use a variety of media for instruction, includ-
ing video. Sim-ple animated vi-gnettes can help students under-stand complex math operations or understand the functions of the branches of the govern-
ment. Some teachers are even us-ing videos to introduce the lesson objective before a student attends class. Videos can also promote learner engagement and evidence of learning, two of the Seven Stu-dent Learning Behaviors. More and more, LISD students are getting behind the camera and shooting and editing their own
videos for class projects. Instead of the dry, typed book reports we may have done when we were in school, imagine producing a three-minute video summary! LISD’s iPad and iPod Touch pilot programs allow teachers to test and explore new teaching ideas and methods with these common user-friendly devices. At some schools, iPads are used to help students grasp subjects like geometry or chemistry in a whole new way. Other campuses use iPads to help English-language learners practice their listening, speaking, writing and reading skills. Some of our schools use iPods to support another of the Seven Student Learning Behav-iors - differentiation - and are
recording test questions for stu-dents who would benefit from hearing instead of reading exams. The use of technology through-out LISD is varied and many of our teachers are learning as they go, attempting to discern what methods work best for their class-rooms. As I said at the beginning, our students are largely “digital natives” — this is the world that they know and are most comfort-able with. It is we who are the “digital immigrants”— the rela-tive newcomers to this exciting land of technology. I look for-ward to revisiting this topic in the future, as LISD continues to inte-grate technology, promote digital citizenship and focus on student learning.
Four Points newswww.FourPointsNews.comschool thursday
December 15, 2011 • Page 3Four Points newswww.FourPointsNews.com
BRET CHAMPION
Promoting digital citizenship in LISD
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Last week, Vandegrift High School counselor Carolyn Brooks presented local parents with a new tool in their teenagers’ search for the right college match. LISD recently added the Naviance program to its Family Connection choices, allowing students to more easily access information concerning the statistics of most American colleges and universities. Once a student has secured a password and completed the system’s registration re-quirements to log in, he or she is invited to create a profile and take a survey to narrow down their career ideas. The student can post a resume listing all accolades, interests and volunteer involvement. Then, teens can access a higher education database to match potential school choices with their grades, test scores, interests and majors. Eventually, information will be collected from graduating classes at Vandegrift to determine what trends exist with regard to the direction Four Points’ graduates are taking in college (i.e. Are western colleges most popular with Vandegrift graduates? Which schools have the highest accep-tance rates of Vandegrift students?).
Parents are able to access the system and their child’s profile upon receipt of their own unique passcode from a Vandegrift counselor. “You’ll be able to line up colleges side-by-side to compare the cost per semester and things like diversity rates,” said Brooks during the evening program. “You can compare five or six colleges at once.” The online tool will help to provide infor-mation as to which other schools students applied to in addition to the particular school a Vandegrift student is looking at. Students at Vandegrift High School were introduced to the program last month. “At Vandegrift, I can already see that students are very engaged in the program,” Brooks said. “Our ninth grade students in ACE and AVID are spending a lot of time on Naviance doing college research, build-ing resumes and taking the personality in-ventory. I have spent time with several of my seniors looking at Naviance and help-ing them research colleges. Students can now access their rank and GPA any time they want. Ultimately, it will be the “go to” place for 4-year plans and course selection in addition to being a conduit to colleges and communicating with colleges.”
It is with deep pleasure that the Cedar Park Kiwanis Club announces the winners of the “SOPHOMORE OF THE YEAR AWARD” for each of the five Leander ISD high schools. Jacob Schmidt is the sophomore selected from Vandegrift High School. One of the five individual LISD winners will be recommended for further awards at the Kiwanis Division and District levels. A Kiwanis club is authorized to submit only one Sophomore of the Year application to the higher Kiwanis organizations for consideration of a $600 scholarship. Each high school winner will receive a $100 cash award for their achievement. CP Kiwanis Club will conduct the Annual Sophomore of the Year presentations on January 25, 2012.
New program makes life a little easier for Vandegrift seniors
Kiwanis Club names a Viper “Sophomore of the Year”
writing Without Tears program that is taught in all kindergarten classes to the 1st and 2nd grades. Cynthia Evans received $2,495 to purchase five iPads for her 3rd grade classroom at Laura Welch Bush Elementary. Amy Soliz re-ceived $2,500 to purchase math-ematics manipulatives for all 3rd grade classes at River Ridge Elementary. The parent volun-teer spearheading the successful Titan Gardens program at River Place Elementary, Bonnie Mar-tin, received $2,500 to expand
the program which provides interdisciplinary curriculum to grades K-6 by integrating sci-ence, mathematics, and writing. The Hill Country Educa-tion Foundation’s Impact Grant Committee consists of HCEF board members, curriculum ex-perts from Leander ISD, mem-bers from the higher education community, and business lead-ers. Grant applications were evaluated based on adherence to the HCEF mission of promoting leadership, entrepreneurship,
science, technology, engineering and math. Funding for the Impact Grants comes directly from Hill Country Education Foundation’s fundraising efforts; corporate partners, the Giddy Up Gala and membership drive. The Foundation will transi-tion the annual Impact Grant to the Spring to align with teacher’s needs for a fall semester imple-mentation. All teachers and community organizations in the Four Points area are encourage
to submit an Impact Grant ap-plication, which can be obtained on the HCEF website in January 2012. A 501(c)(3) non-profit orga-nization, the Hill Country Edu-cation Foundation enhances the educational experience of stu-dents living in the Four Points community. HCEF achieves this through the development and financing of innovative, qual-ity programs and projects for students attending or prepar-ing to attend Vandegrift High School, specifically in the areas of leadership, entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). HCEF endeavors to empow-er tomorrow’s leaders while strengthening the community as a whole, now and into the fu-ture. More information about HCEF can be found at www.HillCountryEdFoundation.org
Last weekend we saw something we’ve never seen before - a life sized Ginger-bread cottage made out of real ginger-bread cookies. This amazing piece of art in-cluded more than 50,000 can-dies, 1,000 candy canes, 100 pounds of chocolate and nearly 2,000 pounds of gingerbread - all made on site at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. Up to six people can dine in the house too really adding to the holiday experience. (We didn’t actually eat in the cottage but were tempted to take a bite out of the cottage it looked so delicious.) Days prior to seeing that sight, we made our own gingerbread house for the season. One daughter decorated one side and the other decorated the other side. I worked on the front door and the back. Even though we used the same ingre-dients - white frosting, red bead candies, licorice, sprinkles and candy cane bits - each side has its own style. We ended up putting this festive holiday cottage on a Lazy Susan in the center of the kitchen table so we could enjoy it to the max. Gingerbread is one of our Christmas traditions. We love making houses and cookies and it also goes along with our own family history (which stretches to Germany and Norway). A peak into the past reveals Ginger-bread’s history dates back to 992 when it was brought to Europe by the Armenian
monk Gregory of Nicopolis. Gregory lived in France and taught the Ginger-bread cooking to French priests and Christians.
During the 13th cen-tury, it was brought to Sweden by German immigrants. Early references from the Vadstena Abbey show how the Swedish nuns were baking gingerbread to ease indigestion in 1444, ac-cording to Wikipedia. The first documented trade of gingerbread biscuits dates to the 16th century, where they were sold in monasteries, pharmacies and town square
farmers’ markets.Gingerbread became widely available in the 18th century. The harder German-style Gingerbread is often used to build gingerbread houses similar to the witch’s cottage encountered by Hansel and Gretel in the story pub-lished in 1812. Since then these houses, covered with a variety of candies and icing, have become popular Christmas decorations. The people of Bergen, Norway, have built a city of gingerbread houses each year before Christmas for the past de-cade. Named Pepperkakebyen, which is Norwegian for gingerbread city, it is claimed to be the world’s largest such city. One day it would be awesome to see that but for now we’ll be content admir-ing our own gingerbread centerpiece.
Four Points newswww.FourPointsNews.comoPinionthursday
Page 4 • December 15, 2011Four Points newswww.FourPointsNews.com
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LYNETTE HAALAND
Letters to the Editor:Four Points News welcomes all Letters to the Editor. All letters must be signed and include phone number for verification. Deadline is Friday before publication. Four Points News reserves the right to edit letters for clarity, length and for libelous or objectionable statements. Letters containing more than 400 words will be edited for length.
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Our gingerbread tradition expands this year
Josh Collmann Steiner Ranch
Brooklyn Decker because she is a good actor and nice looking.
Who is your favorite celebrity and why?Four Points oF View
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Matt Damon because of his roles in ‘The Adjust-ment Bureau’ and ‘Ocean’s Twelve’.
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Bonnie Martin joins a first grade class at RPE’s outdoor learning center as she accepts a grant award on behalf of the PTA. Money will be used to expand the successful Titan Gardens program. First grade students are pictured with their teacher Jes-sica Phillips (left), Bonnie Martin and RPE Principal Niki Prindle.
HCEF, FROM 1
Correction:The Dec. 8 redistricting article on available board spots in Precinct #2 incorrectly referred to an open seat on the Board of Commissioners. It should have announced open seats on the Travis County Emergency Servic-es District Boards for ESD #2, ESD #4 and ESD #6. ESD Boards: #2 the Wells Branch portion, #4 the Long Canyon/Westminster Glen portion, and ESD #6 the Steiner Ranch/Comanche Trail portion.
FION, FROM 1
When he came across an ad for an “upscale wine pub,” he requested more information al-most as a lark. “When I saw that it was Fion, and right around the cor-ner from my home in Steiner Ranch, I knew I had to look into it further. One thing led to another, and here we are,” Grier said. Prior to Fion, Grier worked at a local translation company and played in various bands around Austin before working at IBM. He held various roles in technical support at IBM during his near 15 year career there. “Most people are surprised at the sharp turn in my career,” Grier said. But he is finding similarities. Tech support is mostly customer service, so that aspect of the restaurant business he already knew. He has changed little at Fion because feedback from cus-tomers it that one of the things they love most is the friendly neighborhood atmosphere. “That hasn’t changed and won’t change,” he said. But veteran restauranteur General Manager Melissa Hale did see some opportunities to tweak. So Fion started training sessions to improve the staff ’s wine and beer knowledge and
brush-up their service skills. One of their goals is that the customer experience should be constantly improving. Fion also started having spe-cial events such as wine dinners on a more regular basis. Ex-ecutive Chef Albert Hollis and his team enjoy the challenge of creating of the perfect menu to highlight certain special wines, Grier said. Fion’s founding chef Paul Petruzzi moved on at the time of the sale and his sous chef Hollis took over as Execu-tive Chef. Fion’s big annual events in-clude the New Year’s Eve cel-ebration, St. Patrick’s Day party, Crawfish Boil in May and Ok-toberfest. For these events, the parking lot is usually blocks off for more space outdoors. There are challenges to run-ning a business: “sometimes it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of details involved in keeping two restau-rants running,” he said. But Grier is grateful for the encouragement from his wife and four sons, who attend Lau-ra Bush Elementary and Steiner Stars swimmers in the summer. “They have all been so help-ful and supportive through the ups and downs of the year and I can’t thank them enough,” he said.
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Dance Institute Performance Academy officially kicked off its competitive season with the entire team of 30 plus dancers attending Nuvo Dance Convention in Dallas this past weekend. The Convention consisted of
classes with the likes of Sonya Tayeh, Mia Michaels, Stacey Tookey, Tra-vis Wall, Kim McSwain and special guest Melanie Moore, So You Think You Can Dance winner. Dance Institute top scores went to Austin Meiteen's Solo Skin plac-
ing 3rd Place over all, DIPA Jemis (age 7-10) placing 1st overall with Scream Shout, DIPA Teen Elite plac-ing 3rd overall with Come Home and DIPA Seniors receiving a Studio Pick award for Beautiful Monster and an invitation to perform in the
Nuvo closing show. In addition to placing well in the competition, scholarships were awarded to Antonia Denison, Dan-non O'Brien and Kelsey Oliver for Jazz, and Jenna Simons for Ballet.
Right: Austin Meiteen, Skin
Left: Studio Pick Beautiful Monster, left to right on the floor, Kelly Goetz, Emma High-land, Tayor Schmuelgen, Elyssa Meiteen, Isabel Fink, Standing, Dannon O'Brien.
Concordia University Texas presented a benefit concert Dec. 5 to support victims of the recent wildfires in Bas-trop. Under the direction of Dr. Pasha Sabouri, Dr. Kim Perlak and Dr. Patricia Burnham, the University's string and guitar ensembles performed a program of hymns, classical standards, a sing-a-long Gospel and favorite holiday music. More the $600 was raised and the com-munity is encouraged to continue to give by sending donations to: First Baptist Church in Bastrop 1201 Water St., Bastrop, TX 78602, ATTN: Raymond Edge.100 percent of proceeds go directly to the families af-fected by the wildfires.
Camp Mabry-based U.S. Ma-rines along with Hoang-Kim Cung, 2011-12 Miss Collegiate Texas, a junior at University of Texas, will be at the Oasis Texas Holiday on Ice to support the Toys for Tots toy drive on Dec. 13 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Oasis Texas at 6550 Coman-che Trail is a drop site for new, unwrapped toys for the drive.
Each toy donated receives $1 off a skate ticket. Hoang-Kim is also a member of the Chaparral Ice Girls so will be showing her skills on the rink. This is the final push for Toys for Tots, an annual nationwide toy drive sponsored by the Ma-rine Foundation.The toy drive will end at Oasis on Dec. 16th.
Dance Institute brings home top honors at Dallas competition
Toys for Tots Marines at Oasis Holiday on Ice Dec. 13
JT Graham - SeniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Basketball: My favorite part about playing basketball at Vandegrift is the team. We are all friends and that means a lot to me. Playing basketball at my last school was a drag because there were fights every day and nobody was a friend to anyone. We are family here.
BASKETBALL
StarS of the WeekthurSdayPage 6 • December 15, 2011
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Kelsee Pitman - JuniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Basketball: Playing with the team and shooting the rock!
Christopher Jensen - SeniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Soccer: I like that we have had 3 years together to build a team, and we have a lot of great players that can make this team one of the best in state.
SOCCER
Megan Steichen - JuniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Soccer: My favorite part is that I love all the girls on my team and we have potential to do really well this year.
Brook Asher - JuniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Swimming: I love getting a good workout in bright and early, so that I feel better all day. Also, I love Coach Raff, because she motivates me to do my best.
S W I
M MiNG
Parker Moses - SeniorFavorite part about being involved in Viper Wrestling: I like wrestling because it is better than every other sport combined! My goal is to qualify for state this year.
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4A Division:1st place team – Vandegrift2nd place team – Cedar Park3rd place team – Alamo Heights
5A Division:1st place team – Austin High2nd place team – Westlake3rd place team – New Braunfels
Individual results:4A Division:1st place - William Martinez (Vandegrift)2nd place – Cory Brown (Cedar Park)3rd place – Thomas Hoch (Lake Travis)
5A Division:1st place – Stratton Nolen (Westlake)2nd place – Matthew Perrine (Westlake)3rd place – Alex Levy (Austin High)
Twenty teams from as far away as Dripping Springs converged on the Vandegrift High School “Viper Pit” for this area’s first competitive basketball tourna-ment for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade boys. 4Points Basketball Associa-tion in conjunction with Van-degrift Boys Basketball Booster Club hosted its first Kick Off Classic Basketball Tournament the first weekend in December. There were seven Viper teams participating, one of which cap-tured the Championship for the 6th grade division in the final game against Dripping Springs
Hoops. “We are extremely excited about the success of the tour-nament. Bringing tournament play to our neighborhood has always been one of our missions since forming our organization a year ago,” said Peter Fernandes, speaking for the 4PBA board. “We are thrilled that we were able to provide so many of our local boys the ability to partici-pate and experience the excite-ment of tournament basketball,” Fernandes said. Andy Giles, President of the VHS Basketball Boosters, be-lieves that it is a natural fit for
our two organizations to work together to build a strong youth basketball program that will feed highly skilled players into the Vi-per program. “Our goal is to provide an op-portunity to have a youth and high school basketball program that is the envy of the state. We thank the community volun-teers, local sponsors, and VHS Head Basketball Coach, Cliff El-lis, for all of their support,” Giles said.
For more information go to 4pointsbasketball.org or Viper-Hoops.com.
2011 Marble Falls Fall Classic Dec. 3 Results
From left to right: Hunter Huang, Kennedy Grimes, Chase Phillips, Skyler Young, William Martinez
Kick Off Classic Basketball Tournament a hit
Above:Below:
Right: Vandegrift post Jasmine Mobley (#13, senior) gets fouled on a layup.Below: Vandegrift guard Sophia Duffield (#3, junior) takes a jump shot over the Cedar Park defense.Bottom Right: Vandegrift guard and team co-captain Paige Lichtenberger (#11, senior) defends against Cedar Park guard Zia Carter.
John Lichtenberger
John Lichtenberger John Lichtenberger
Cedar Park beat Vandegrift 47 - 35
in district play Dec 12.VHS is 0-1 in district.
1. What has to happen for your team to be successful this sea-son?
Being successful and winning this year will be a by-product of doing the little things better than our opponents. We will continue to stand by our three core principles of effort, enthusiasm, and execu-tion both on and off the court. Two of those “little things” that will make a big difference in our success this year will be ball con-trol and rebounding. 2. What is your biggest concern of the season?
Rebounding is always our biggest concern, both offensively and de-fensively. We struggled last year at times securing rebounds and finishing possessions. This year we have worked hard at becom-ing a better rebounding team and hopefully the hard work we have put forth in rebounding will change the “concern” into one of our greatest strengths.
3. Who is Vandegrift's biggest
rival or biggest game to prepare for and why?
The kids say Rouse. I guess it is because we both opened as new schools and have been in the same district since we started. I would have figured they would say Cedar Park since that is the school most of the players went to as freshmen and still have friends at. From a coaching stand point they are all rivals and deserve to be planned for accordingly when we enter into district.
4. Is there a hidden treasure on your team might be unknown right now, but could have a ma-jor impact on your season?
I hope so, but we won’t know for sure until the football season comes to an end. We will have to keep the readers waiting.
5. Do you have a story to share about a funny moment at prac-tice, an interesting tid bit or a coaching habit or team habit that most don't know about?Any moment coaching with
my assistant, Chris Dietzmann, around is always funny. The kids and I will just look at one anoth-er and crack up at his antics or off the wall comments.
6. What motivates you as a coach and why did you choose the sport you did?
Motivation for me as a coach is easy…I truly enjoy the sport of basketball, the competition na-ture of sports in general, and the ability to make a positive impact in young men’s lives both on and off the court. The last of those be-ing by far the most important to me as a coach.
Returning statistical leaders:John Hirschhorn 13.6ppg 4.2rpg; Nick Florence 10.9ppg, Dakota Prukop 7.4ppg 6.8rpg
Top newcomers:Clive Muka, Ryan Brewster, Zach Hartman
2010 Vandegrift Record, over-all and in district play: 10-23, 1-11
Viper Boys BasketBallFour points newswww.FourPointsNews.com
thursdayDecember 15, 2011 • Page 7
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District play starts Dec. 20 against Vista Ridge and contin-ues through February 14. All Varsity games can be heard on KMAC Sports at kmacsports.com.
Left: Viper senior Matt Dang runs the ball down court during the season opener against St. Andrew’s.
#1 MATT MEYERS 5’11” SR#2 JOHN HIRSCHHORN 6’2” SR#3 MATT DANG 5’8” SR#4 ZACH HARTMAN 5’11” SO #5 CODY WITT 6’0” SR #10 RYAN BREWSTER 6’2 SO #11 RAINE HOFFMAN 6’1” SR#12 NICK FLORENCE 6’2” SR#13 CAMERON HARRIS 5’11” SR#21 DAKOTA PRUKOP 6’2” SR#22 CLIVE MUKA 6’2” JR #23 TYLER EYRE 6’4” JR#24 GUNNER LINHART 6’0” SO#35 JT GRAHAM 6’6” SR
2011-2012 Vandegrift Vipers BoysBasketball Varsity Roster
Date Opponent Location 9th JV VarsityDec 16th San Antonio Reagan SA Reagan 6:15 5:00 7:30Dec 20th Vista Ridge* VHS 11:00 12:30 2:00Dec 27-28th Kerrville Tivy Tournament Tivy HS TBAJan 3rd Leander Leander HS 5:30 6:00 7:30Jan 6th Lake Travis* Lake Travis HS 5:15 6:30 7:45Jan 10th Dripping Springs* VHS 5:15 6:30 7:45Jan 13th Marble Falls* Marble Falls HS 5:15 6:30 7:45Jan 17th Cedar Park* Cedar Park HS 5:15 6:30 7:45Jan 20th Rouse* VHS 5:15 6:30 7:45Jan 24th Vista Ridge* Vista Ridge HS 5:15 6:30 7:45Jan 31st Lake Travis * VHS 5:15 6:30 7:45Feb 3rd Dripping Springs Dripping Springs 5:15 6:30 7:45Feb 7th Marble Falls* VHS 5:15 6:30 7:45Feb 10th Cedar Park* VHS 5:15 6:30 7:45Feb 14th Rouse* Rouse HS 5:15 6:30 7:45
2011-2012 Vandegrift Lady Vipers Basketball Schedule
&QA
with Viper Basketball Coach Cliff Ellis
Head Coach: Cliff EllisAssistant Coaches: Chris Dietzmann, Je’ron CurtisStudent asst: Ryan Newell, Keorrest Hooker, Brad JonesAthletic Coordinator: Drew SandersAthletic Trainer: Stephanie Keiningham, Cody Boling
2/20-21/2012 Bi-District 2/23-25/2012 Area 2/27-28/2012 Regional Quarterfinals
3/2-3/2012 Regional Tournament 3/8-10/2012 State Tournament
Play-Offs:
Photo Texas Photography
Leslee Bassman
CMYKPage 8 • Four Points News, Thursday, December 15, 2011
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Grandview Hills Elementary celebrated its 3rd annual Holi-days Around the World with fun for the whole family. “The event showcased the rich diversity of the Grandview Hills campus with booths from all over the world,” said Karin Crump Samman, President, Grandview Hills Elementary PTA. Guests enjoyed presentations, food, music, dancing and games
from Poland, Mexico, Germany, Columbia, China, India, Per-sia and New Orleans and had the opportunity to learn about Christian, French Catholic, Hin-du, Jewish and Muslim holiday traditions, as shared by Grand-view Hills families. “It was a beautiful evening that was enjoyed by all,” Crump Samman said.
lie Ballengee who helped write it. Launched on Sunday night, the survey at http://bit.ly/stein-er-survey is being conducted by a small group of residents who met with the Quinlan Crossing broker recently. The survey focuses on collect-ing data about the dining hab-its of area families among other things. There are 13 questions and the survey will take approxi-mately 5-10 minutes to complete. Survey organizers want Steiner Ranch, River Place, Grandview Hills and other are residents to weigh in. The intro to the survey states that restaurants are hesitant to es-tablish sites in this area, due to a perceived lack of lunchtime busi-ness and low volumes for evening dining. The breadth and population of Steiner Ranch and the area makes it difficult to get a real pulse on the community, O’Brien said. “This survey is critical to com-municating to restaurants and business owners what Steiner residents will welcome and, frankly, what we'll shun,” he said. O’Brien expects to see a “tre-mendous demand for Austin's culinary best.” “Why a neighborhood of 15,000 area residents still isn't home to one of our fantastic lo-cal breakfast places is astounding but it's the lack of a great cafe for a salad that frustrates a surpris-ing many,” he said. For data accuracy purposes, only one survey may be complet-ed per Internet connection or IP address. All personal information will be kept confidential and only re-ported in statistical groupings. “This is about making the ex-citing Quinlan Crossing develop-ment really part of our commu-nity,” O’Brien said.
QUINLAN, FROM 1
Grandview Hills Elem. celebrated Annual Holidays around the world
Alejandro Diaz is surely telling Santa all that he hopes for and likely why he deserves it!
Ruess Rolloff and his mom, Kim explore Holiday traditions from around the world.
Right: Erin Houchins shows a crafty candy cane she just made.
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