News

Headmaster's Quarterly Update: June 2016

7/13/2016

Dear TMI Family and Friends,

Now that we have crossed the finish line of another successful school year, I’d like to share some highlights of the last event-filled weeks with you.

ACADEMICS

Best of luck to the 81 members of the class of 2016, who graduated May 26 with more than $9.25 million in college scholarship offers! Our newest alumni were offered admission to colleges and universities including Auburn, Baylor, Boston College, Boston University, Cal Tech, Case Western Reserve, Clemson, Colgate, Dartmouth, Davidson, Duke, Emory, Fordham, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, LSU, MIT, NYU, Ohio State, Parsons School of Design, Penn State, Purdue, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rice, Rutgers, Sewanee (University of the South), Texas A&M, Tulane, U.S. Air Force Academy, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Michigan, University of St. Andrews (Scotland), UT-Austin, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, VMI, Washington University in St. Louis, and West Point. Thanks to all our graduating seniors for their class gift, which will help to support a new scholarship to TMI! Congratulations to Grace Westerman ’16, who received a corporate-sponsored National Merit Award from USAA! Grace will attend Texas A&M University; congratulations as well to TMI’s other two National Merit Scholarship competition finalists, Hector Castillo ’16, who is bound for MIT; and Saad Ehsan ’16, who will attend Rice University.
TMI won the overall first-place award at the first-ever Texas Lutheran University Spanish contest, held April 2 at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin. The contest was open to all area middle- and high-school students. TMI sophomore Alex Homma and junior Hanna Wool placed in the Top 10 in both Spelling and Grammar and Culture. Juniors Julia Wool and Austin Miller, as well as sophomores JuliaGrace Walker and James Minerve also placed in the Top 10 in Grammar and Culture; and sophomore Maram Al-Hakeem and junior Ammar Zafar made the Top 10 in Spelling.
TMI’s Foreign Language students also performed outstandingly on the National Latin and Spanish exams! Our students received many top awards in both; for a complete list of all their achievements, as well as National Junior Classical League Latin Honor Society inductees and Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) Translation Contest winners, click here.
Two TMI seventh graders, Ashton Dietzmann and Sebastian Flores received state recognition at the May 19 Duke TIP (Talent Identification Program) ceremony at Trinity University. They qualified for awards for achieving top scores among other seventh graders who participated in Duke University’s annual talent search.
The TMI Pink Panthers robotics team qualified to compete among 105 teams from 32 countries at the FIRST LEGO League World Championships, held April 27-30 in St. Louis. As World Team 45, they were recognized for their Core Values and nominated for awards in Gracious Professionalism, Inspiration, Programing and Teamwork. They also were given the opportunity to share their story with FIRST to be used in video projects to be released later this year. Team members were seventh graders Isabella Grossman, Chloe Harthan, Priscilla Lobo, Ann Mosis, Mikae Mumme and Newton Tran, coached by James Lewey. Great job, Panthers!
Congratulations to Panther Robotics Team 6221, represented by juniors Juan Pablo Martinez Cordeiro, Chad Harthan and Umer Salman '16, who won first place for the second year in a row at Black Out Battle Royale! Held May 21 at Brandeis High School, it’s a unique competition played in absolute darkness using only black lights to illuminate the field and the robots. Other TMI students participating were Master of Ceremonies Joaquin Castillo ’16 and referees Hector Castillo ’16 and Parker O’Berg.
Our annual Student Art Show was held May 12 in the Art Annex, exhibiting some of the most outstanding work from all our art classes from Middle School through Upper School. The Art Annex was transformed from a studio space to a gallery for the day to showcase all this exceptional creative work. Thanks to Art Teacher Cassie Gnehm for organizing the show and to all the students, faculty and parents who visited the show or attended the evening reception; your support is much appreciated by our visual arts teachers and students!
At TMI’s first Playwrights’ Night on May 5, we dedicated an evening in the Alkek Theater to a staged reading of plays written this school year by the students of the Playwriting class taught by Fine Arts Chair Mary Scudday. Students from the Acting I and II classes and a few others were the readers; it was a wonderful experience for these new playwrights to hear their words spoken and to get feedback from the actors and the audience.
Congratulations to all our Middle and Upper School students who won music awards, presented May 12 at our Spring Concert! Singers and instrumentalists from TMI’s band and choir received awards for performance, enthusiasm and dedication – click here for a full list of awards!
Thanks to Dr. Tom Lee, former TMI organist and choirmaster, and all who participated in or attended his May 22 organ recital in All Saints Chapel! Joining Dr. Lee in performance were a men’s choral ensemble including alumni Trent Melcher ’07 and Spencer Romo ’11, as well as former TMI Choral Assistant Michael Zuniga. Former Middle School Choir Director Dr. Aaron Hufty sang “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” accompanied on the piano in his own gospel/jazz arrangement, and San Antonio Symphony oboist Jennifer Berg played on two tangos for oboe and organ.
With 900 registrations for 26 unique classes and camps, Summer at TMI 2016 is on its way to the highest enrollment ever! There are still a few spaces left in various weeks of the Activity Camp, Young Rembrandts and Camp Einstein's Arts and Science Camp, TMI Band Camp, Girls’ Basketball Camp, Middle School Football Camp, and Land Navigation Camp; register online here or call Summer School Coordinator Sarah Marks at (210) 564-6188.

ATHLETICS

GW Bodden ’16 was invited to play in the May 21 Texas High School Lacrosse All-Star Game. An all-state attack, he was one of only for Division 2 players invited to play among athletes from 29 different high-school teams representing the sport statewide.
TMI welcomes new Head Football Coach Leopoldo “Polo” Gutierrez, who previously served five seasons as an assistant coach at UTSA! Coach Gutierrez, who also has been an assistant coach for the NFL Players Development Camp, will live on campus and take part in the Residential Life program.
Congratulations to Head Cheer Coach Amanda Quiroga and five members of the TMI varsity cheer squad who were named All American! Rising seniors Emily Gaines and Emory Gordon and sophomores Caroline Peterson, Mariana Rodriguez and Brittany Schur were selected out of hundreds of students who attended a Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) camp June 6-9 at the University of Texas at Austin. They qualified for a trip to London to perform in a New Year’s Day parade next year with top cheerleaders from around the country.
TMI baseball is still going strong in a league of its own! The team has workouts in the morning Monday through Friday and plays doubleheaders at 5:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. on Monday or Tuesday throughout June. All are welcome to attend; come out and cheer for our Panthers!

MILITARY

The Corps of Cadets was honored to be named the 2016 Order of the Alamo Princess’s Honor Guard for the 2016 Fiesta Queen’s Coronation.
The Corps led the vanguard of the 125th Battle of Flowers Parade and assisted the Texas Cavaliers by ushering the Fiesta River Parade.
The Corps of Cadets would like to thanks to the TMI class of 1966 for participating in the Change of Command Pass in Review in which Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Saad Ehsan passed command of the Cadet Battalion to Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Ana Paula Velasco.

SPIRITUALITY

Congratulations to freshman Annie Notzon for earning her Gold level award of the Presidential Volunteer Service Awards, nominated by the Corporation for National and Community Service; and to sophomore Catherine Schroeder for earning her Silver level award from the same program, nominated by the National Charity League, Alamo Chapter! Each student was nominated for appreciation of their dedicated service to their respective organizations. TMI nominated an additional 50 students at the Gold, Silver and Bronze levels for going beyond the required community-service hours; for a complete list of school-nominated recipients and details on the awards, click here.
Cheers for our Middle School Student Council and all who helped raise funds to donate recess equipment to Will Rogers Elementary School! Proceeds from a “dress-down” (no uniforms) day were used to purchase badminton equipment, footballs, jump ropes, sidewalk chalk, soccer balls and nets and volleyballs for this elementary school, where TMI parent Holly Baker Hill, Ed.D., is an instructional reading specialist and identified the need. Our students presented their donation May 6 at a “play date” with Rogers third graders. Thanks also to TMI parent Marissa Largoza, M.D., Gabrielle Largoza ’16, Middle School Division Head Victoria Banks, Associate Chaplain Father Michael Koehler and former Middle School Student Council faculty sponsor Yuxi Lin for helping to facilitate this worthy community service project.

COMMUNITY

Many thanks to the TMI Family Association for awarding Round 2 of faculty wish list items at the May 26 Headmaster’s Luncheon! Family Association President-Elect Dalia Bryan presented awards for two SMART Document Cameras for the English Department and for an extension of the Coates Hall beautification project begun during Spring Break. Earlier this year, the Family Association presented awards at the Christmas Faculty and Staff Appreciation Luncheon for compound microscopes, a constant temperature water bath and generator for the Science Department and for two outdoor benches to replace deteriorating ones. The total value of these grants adds up to $14,600 – the association’s dedication and drive makes a big difference to our students!
Stars and Spurs, the Western-themed update of our annual gala, netted nearly $140,000 for student scholarships, faculty professional development and other student programs! Thanks for all who volunteered, attended or otherwise contributed to the April 2 event, TMI’s premier annual fundraiser!
Our 2015-2016 Annual Fund campaign raised $714,361; thanks to all who donated through May 31! The seventh grade won the class participation contest with 100 percent; the class enjoyed a day at Main Event on May 6. Special thanks to Les Ballard ’52, who pledged match all alumni gifts two-to-one, up to $100,000, in his second year in a row to sponsor the Panther Matching Challenge, and to the 220 alumni who accepted the challenge and made donations to this essential campaign.

I hope you are all enjoying a fun and relaxing summer and look forward to seeing our returning and new families at the Back-to-School Barbecue on Saturday, Aug. 13.

As always, if you have questions or concerns, please let me know. Since its founding in 1893, our school has always strived to become even better, and we always welcome your input.

Sincerely,

John W. Cooper, Ph.D.
Headmaster

Back

Recent Stories

List of 5 news stories.

2018-2019 Corps of Cadets Leadership
5/4/2018
On Wednesday, April 25, 2018, the Class of 2019 was sworn in to their new non-commissioned and commissioned officer ranks.
Read More
TMI names Cadet of the Semester
4/23/2018

TMI Episcopal has announced spring Cadet of the Semester awards for two members of the Texas Military Institute Corps of Cadets, the school’s JROTC program.

Read More
TMI Spanish honor society inducts new members
4/22/2018

TMI Episcopal’s Mario Rivela Chapter of the Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica (Spanish Honor Society) inducted 26 new members in a ceremony held April 19 in the school’s All Saints Chapel.

Read More
Latin students bring home honors
4/17/2018
Latin students from TMI Episcopal brought home honors in many categories from the Texas State Junior Classical League (JCL) convention, held April 13-15 at Naaman Forest High School in Garland.
Read More
TMI students brief Rotary on leadership conference
4/17/2018

TMI Episcopal juniors Bridget Lynch and Annie Notzon spoke to the April 10 meeting of the Dominion Rotary Club about their experiences at the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Conference (RYLA), held Jan. 12-15 at the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels. The Dominion Rotary Club sponsors two students from TMI every year to attend RYLA.

Read More