Mar 4, 2020
A group of Woodlawn High students, families, and faculty members were fortunate enough to visit the nation’s capital over the Mardi Gras holiday. Over 40 members of the Panther community traveled by bus to Washington, D.C. to enjoy some of the history that the city had to offer.
The group left Baton Rouge on February 19th and made the overnight drive to Washington, D.C. While on the trip, the group toured the city and surrounding area non-stop. They visited many of our nation’s museums, monuments, and historical buildings. Highlights included visits to the White House, the United States Capitol, Arlington National Cemetery, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, where the group celebrated George Washington’s 288th birthday. The group also visited the Supreme Court, Ford’s Theater, the Federal Reserve, the National Archives, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Lincoln Memorial, and the National Air and Space Museum.
The group left Washington on Monday, February 24th, stopping at the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, Virginia. They arrived back in Baton Rouge on Tuesday morning and returned back to school on Wednesday.
Students Harrison Breland-Triche and Yolani Dickens enjoyed the trip, stating that they stayed busy the entire trip, learned a lot, and met lots of students that they did not know before the trip. They each thanked Ms. Hauptman and Ms. Smoorenburg for spearheading the trip.
The group had support from many local businesses, and the trip could not have been as successful as it was without the help of the people at these wonderful establishments: All-Star Automotive Group, Coca-Cola of Baton Rouge, Costco, Cracker Barrel, Five Guys, Hi Nabor Supermarket, McDonald’s Valluzzo Companies, and Modern Acupuncture.
To see more pictures and trip specifics, follow @woodlawnapgopo on Twitter!
Mar 4, 2020
Junior student-athlete Lanard Harris placed second in the Division I 60 Meter Hurdles at the 2020 LHSAA Indoor Championships held in February at the LSU Carl Maddox Field House. Lanard crossed the finish line at 8.12 seconds.
Lanard’s second-place finish comes on the heels of his run in the 2020 LSU High School Last Chance Qualifier, in which he ran a 7.97. That run placed him fourth in the nation at the time of the meet.
Lanard participates in Track and Field and Football at Woodlawn High. He won the 2019 Class 4A 300 Meter Hurdles State Championship. Lanard was also named to the 2018 and 2019 All-District Football Teams.
Oct 23, 2019
Five hundred fifty-one students at Woodlawn High School completed the first nine-week period of the 2019-2020 school year with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
With an enrollment of over 1300 students, the number of students achieving at least a 3.0 GPA represented 42% of the student population. Freshmen and sophomores each had 148 students on the list, followed by seniors with 135 students on the list. There were 120 juniors with at least a 3.0 GPA.
Twenty percent of the students on the list achieved a 4.0 or higher. Students must be enrolled in an advanced class, such as Gifted, Great Scholars, Dual Enrollment or Advanced Placement, in order to achieve an additional quality point and have a GPA higher than 4.0.
Forty-five students on the list are currently on pace to be placed on the Principal’s List, which means that the student has straight A’s. Eighteen of those students currently have above a 4.0 GPA.
Sophomore Seema Kawji currently boasts the highest GPA of the 2019-2020 school year. Seema has a current GPA of 4.75. She is enrolled in six classes that give her an additional quality point.
The East Baton Rouge Parish School System releases progress reports after each nine-week period at the high school level. Grades on progress reports are not final, as the official transcript grade is cumulative based on the entire semester grading period. Woodlawn High School sends progress reports home at the end of each nine-week grading period as well as at the beginning of each month.
Oct 21, 2019
Two Woodlawn High School Seniors were recently recognized by the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board for receiving national honors.
Joshua Serio and Ray Sierra attended a reception on Thursday, October 17, 2019 before the monthly school board meeting. The seniors were then recognized at the meeting, along with other twenty-seven other EBR students.
Joshua is in the Gifted Program at Woodlawn High and currently carries a 4.3 GPA. He was recognized as a National Merit Semifinalist. There are approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the nation, and these academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered in the spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.
Over 1.6 million juniors in about 22,000 high schools entered the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
Ray, who is also in the Gifted Program at Woodlawn High, carries a 4.5 GPA. He was recently selected as the 2019-2020 Student of the Year at Woodlawn High. Ray was recognized as a National Hispanic Scholar and was also recognized as a National Merit Commended student. The National Hispanic Recognition Program recognizes approximately 5,000 Hispanic/Latino juniors each year as National Hispanic Scholars from among the more than 400,000 juniors who take the PSAT. As with the National Merit Scholarship Program, NHRP uses the junior year PSAT/NMSQT as the qualifying test. Students must carry a minimum 3.5 GPA to be considered for the recognition.
More than two-thirds (about 34,000) of the approximately 50,000 high scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT® receive Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise. Commended Students are named on the basis of a nationally applied Selection Index score that may vary from year to year and is typically below the level required for participants to be named Semifinalists in their respective states. Although Commended Students do not continue in the competition for National Merit® Scholarships, some of these students do become candidates for Special Scholarships sponsored by corporations and businesses.
In addition to their academic success, both Josh and Ray have excelled outside of the classroom while at Woodlawn High. Josh is a four-year letterman in the sports of football and baseball. Ray has lettered in the sports of football, baseball, powerlifting, soccer, and track during his time at Woodlawn High. He also is a member of Beta Club, National Honor Society, and Youth Legislature.
After graduation in May, Josh plans to attend Louisiana State University and major in Engineering. Ray expects to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology and major in Aerospace Engineering.
