Election Day: Election Day is this Tuesday, November 7th. School is in session that day and DeBakey is a polling location. This will cause additional traffic at our school in the morning, please plan accordingly so your student arrives at school on time (7:45 am).

New Mascot: Welcome our new mascot! I was surprised to meet our new mascot at the basketball game Friday night! Students will soon vote to give our new Viper mascot a name. 

Thank you to our PTO: We appreciate the support you provide our campus every day. Last week's Poetry Cafe was a big success and provided a creative outlet for teachers and students alike.

Physics Teacher Update: We are pleased to welcome Ms. Josephine Guillory as our AP Physics I and AP Physics II teacher. Ms. Guillory taught physics at DeBakey from 2014-2020. She comes back to us with 20+ years of education experience. Please welcome her back to our campus!

Don't forget to do your research into the local elections and cast your ballot during early voting or on Election Day. 

Reminder: As part of the TEA takeover of HISD, the elected Board of Trustees was replaced by a new Board of Managers. But, there are two HISD Board of Trustee position candidates on the ballot. The Board of Trustees currently serves in an advisory capacity to the Board of Managers. After at least two years under the TEA and when HISD meets certain exit criteria, elected trustees will begin to roll onto the Board. 

It is important that we still do our research and vote!

More information here:

https://www.harrisvotes.com/

We all have some place we are trying to get to in the mornings - let's be patient and follow the signage and traffic pattern to ensure a safe and orderly drop off and pick up for our students. 

Reminders:

No parking along Pressler.

No letting students out of the vehicle on Pressler.

No left turns into the DeBakey parking lot when approaching northbound on Pressler.

Follow directions from our HISD Officer Colunga - he is here to keep us all safe!

On Saturday, October 28th, DeBakey Robotics Vipers joined with Carnegie Vanguard DiscoBots C for a VEX Robotics Competition at Lamar HS. The "Texan Standoff" started at 8 am and lasted into the evening. The Vipers competed in eight qualifier rounds on their own and three elimination rounds with the DiscoBots C. Their hard work was worth it as the Vipers and DiscoBots C teams were ultimately declared Tournament Champions! VEX Texan Standoff competition scores and ranking can be found at 2023 VEX Texan Standoff Competition Results.

PTO is looking for a volunteer to lead this fun event and committee members to help support! The event takes place the day before Spring Break.

The DeBakey Field Day is wonderful highlight for the DeBakey Students in the spring.  Typically, the festival includes a carnival like atmosphere with lots of games, rides, food trucks, ice cream, and cupcakes.  You would be responsible to work with the administration to ensure all activities have been ordered, the food trucks have been requested, and that we have enough water, ice cream, and cupcakes/snacks for all the students.  This may require requesting donations.  This position does not require a lot of time throughout the year but is incredibly involved from approximately January until the event occurs just before Spring Break.

Interested? Contact- president@debakeypto.org

Make sure your student sees a copy of the latest edition of the student newsletter, the DeBakey Digest, link below.

DeBakey Digest, October edition

Please share some holiday spirit by donating a toy to the Interact Toy Drive. 

Collection bin at reception at school.

Enroll in the Randalls and/or Kroger loyalty programs and select DeBakey as your organization to receive contributions based on your shopping. 

Log in to your loyalty account and select "community rewards" - search for the DeBakey PTO or enter our code VX994. 

An easy way to support our school while you buy your groceries! 

HOSA dues can be paid via schoolpay.com 

Join us to learn more about what the PTO is doing to help our school and get involved! All meetings will be 6:30 pm - 8 pm.

• Nov 14 in person
• Dec 12 virtual, Home for the Holidays edition
• Jan 9 virtual
• Feb 13 in person
• March 19 virtual
• April 9 virtual
• May 14 in person, vote on new PTO board

More information will be shared as we get closer to each date.

Parents, the DeBakey PTO is offering Birthday & Celebratory Greetings.   These are messages that will be displayed on the monitors around the school. You can send your child a birthday message or tell your child congratulations for a major accomplishment.  The Birthday & Celebratory Greetings are only $20.

• The messages are posted the week of the event only, they are sent in the Friday before the event date.
• The messages MUST be received by the PTO two weeks prior to the event via the following link on the PTO website in the Fundraising section https://www.debakeypto.org/packet/38437847
• You may select a background for the message on the google form.
• Belated birthdays & ½ birthdays are acceptable.
• All messages must meet the approval of the administration.
• The message will be removed if the student asks the administration to remove the message.

Email fundraising@debakeypto.org with any questions.

Drop off at reception or ship donations of coffee, tea, hot cocoa or Keurig pods to the school for the PTO to distribute in our teacher lounges. 

Back to school season is always stressful - let's make sure our teachers feel our appreciation every single day!

Support our community by volunteering at Houston Food Bank events right on our campus. Multiple dates are available via the Sign Up Genius link below. Volunteers will be stationed outside in the DeBakey parking lot, so dress for the weather.

There is a particular need for bilingual volunteers.

Volunteer Sign Up Here

Parents, guardians, community, alumni- if you or someone you know might like to present about their interesting career to our students, please contact us for more information. This is an event for our students. We welcome engaging speakers preferably STEM, medical, finance, motivational and passionate persons willing to share. 
President@debakeypto.org

There's a new way for the Class of 2025 Parents to communicate with each other and find out what is going on with all things DeBakey! Join the Class of 2025 Parent WhatsApp chat group using the below link.

WhatsApp Class of 2025 Chat

REMINDER:  Every DeBakey student must have at least 100 community service to graduate with a DeBakey diploma.

Remember, colleges look at the community service and how you give back to your community when choosing a candidate to accept into their school. The summer time is a great chance to get caught up and to give back to the community.

Guidelines for Community Service Hours >>

Volunteer Opportunities in Houston >>