Want to watch some football?  There is an exciting game of flag football coming up on December 3 at 7PM. Coach Buck, of the Venus Administration Flag Football team, has scheduled a game between his team and the combined team of the Venus Police and Fire Departments. 
This will be an awesome game played in order to host a Toy Drive for the Venus community.  The event will take place at Bulldog Stadium @ 7PM on Thursday, Dec. 3.  Cost of admission to view this event is a new, unwrapped toy. 
We hope to see everyone come out for some fun and support the administration of Venus, the Venus Police and Fire departments, and the community of Venus. 
For more information please contact Venus High School at 972-366-8815.

Venus ISD’s current Featured Employee is VES 5th Grade Mathematics teacher, Mrs. Sarah Boldon.  She is in her 7th year of teaching and the district is most fortunate that all of them have been in Venus.  If you are the parent of a child who had Mrs. Boldon as a teacher, you can well attest that her love and dedication to her students is matched by her skill as a master educator.

What brought you to Venus ISD?
Mrs. Boldon graces VISD with her presence because Venus is the only place she ever wanted to teach.  She comes from a family with deep roots in the community; her grandfather moved to town when her father was eight for farming work.  She fondly recalls growing up and attending church in the community.  At the age of five, she remembers telling her grandfather, “I’m going to be a school teacher in Venus someday.”  Mrs. Boldon graduated from Alvarado High School and spent a year at East Texas State University (now A&M Commerce). She returned to the Venus area to find work and save money to pay for her planned return to college During this time she met her husband and would go on to spend the next 32 years as a stay at home mom.  When Texas A&M Commerce opened a satellite campus in Midlothian, her husband encouraged her to enroll and she jumped at the chance.  Upon graduating and earning her teaching certificate, she only applied for a teaching job in one place; Venus ISD.

Which coworkers need to be bragged on?
Venus Elementary School teachers Ms. Fisher, Ms. Barkley, and Ms. Williams are outstanding colleagues and educators!  Mrs. Boldon says they are a continual help to her because they are experts in their content and are able to identify the root of problems that are preventing students from learning.  VES is always supportive to her and her students.

What are you passionate about?
Mrs. Boldon is without a doubt passionate about relationships.  In any circumstance, she makes the extra effort to build lasting and productive relationships.  This is true for her family, as she spends her mornings before class checking on her mother who is in her 90’s. She drives from her home in Midlothian to Alvarado to get her mother started for the day and then heads to Venus to teach.  On weekdays, her mother tells her, “You go do a good job teaching in Venus today, those kids need to learn.”  While many might look at her situation as a burden, Mrs. Boldon sees it as a blessing because it has allowed her to deepen her relationship with her mother.

This passion for relationships naturally extends to her classroom where she endeavors to make personal connections to each of her students.  She recognizes each student comes from a different home life with varying circumstances.  Mrs. Boldon does not make assumptions about a student’s background, she instead makes a personal investment in her students. She creates an environment where her students feel comfortable to just be themselves.  Her students know that it is acceptable to have challenges and they have an advocate in their teacher.  Any time she is at VMS or VHS, her former students seek her out and reconnect with her.

What helps you to be so successful in helping your students learn?
While Mrs. Boldon is very reluctant to take any credit for the success that happens in her classroom, she knows how to help her students reach their potential. She admittedly struggled in math all throughout her own education. During student teaching in Mrs. Boone’s VES math class, she realized that she struggled because there were some concepts that she never mastered.  She made it her mission to make students feel comfortable to take chances and open up about what they don’t know.  “Knowing what they don’t know gives you a window into how to help them learn.” 

Mrs. Boldon admits that there are no shortcuts to good teaching.  She spends time to look deeper than grades and to individually take stock whether students are merely mimicking the teacher or  demonstrating signs of real understanding.  She works hard to understand common misconceptions that trip her students up.  She says, “Just getting there, or passing, isn’t enough.  I don’t want a surgeon working on me to say, if I do just this much, she’ll live.  I want him to go above and beyond so I can have a good quality of life after surgery.”  She has high expectations for herself and for her students.
There is a great difference between knowing the content you need to teach and knowing how to utilize appropriate instructional resources.  Venus ISD is proud to have a teacher that seeks out the right tools to help her students be their best. We are thankful that she listens to her students and isn’t afraid to ask for help when she needs to meet a student’s needs. 

Venus High School student and award winning baseball player, Easton Brown, has formally committed to trade Blue and Gold for Purple and White in attending Tarleton State University next Fall.  Congratulations Easton; your hard work and dedication to excellence both in the classroom and on the baseball field are paying off greatly!  We wish you well as a Tarleton Texan and know that you will see success in college just as you have at VHS.  It's a great day to be a Bulldog!

Venus Middle School's chapter of the National Junior Honor Society hosted its annual Veteran's Day Assembly, and by all accounts it was an outstanding and informative tribute to our nation's veterans.  Venus Elementary School also hosted a Veteran's Day Assembly that served to inform students about what it means to be a veteran and to honor those who have served.  Special thanks to all veterans that were able to attend.  Pictures of the assemblies are below.

Venus High School's Contemorary Media class, taught by Coach Underwood, produced a moving video-tribute to veterans. Check out the video below:

Venus Elementary Teacher, Ms. Franks and her 4th grade students are interacting with classes across the nation as a part of the Great America Mail Race, a program attempting to facilitate the sharing of information between classrooms in all 50 States.  They will learn a variety of information about how other students live and learn.  We are proud to have educators like Ms. Franks that can get their students excited about learning!

Venus High School's award winning Theatre Department will be presenting The Babysitter, a one-act thriller about a group of teenagers who find themselves caring for a child that doesn't exist. Seating is limited, and on a first-come-first-served basis. There is no charge for admission, though donations are gratefully accepted. Showings will be November 19 & 20 at 6:30PM in the Black Box Theatre (VHS Room C8).  Come on out and support your Bulldogs!

Venus High School sent 16 students to the Paradise UIL Academics Meet and 8 placed, with a few more coming very close.  Please congratulate the following students on representing VISD well!

VHS was the 2nd Place Science Team:

• David Ames placed 2nd in Science
• Julian Espinoza placed 6th in Science
• Angelica Lares placed 7th in Science
• David Ames was also recognized as 2nd place in Biology and in Chemistry

Denise Kiska placed 3rd in Prose

Malak Abdelkhaleq placed 3rd in Ready Writing

Malak Abdelkhaleq placed 4th in Spelling

Dalton Anderson placed 6th in Spelling

​Great job Bulldogs!

Our Venus Bulldog Football Team will be taking on Celina in the first round of the playoffs.  Great job Bulldogs!  Come on out and support the team this Friday, November 13 at 7:30PM.  The game will be at Frisco Memorial Stadium, located at 6927 Stadium Ln, Frisco, TX 75033.

The Venus Bulldog Athletic Boosters will be broadcasting the game through MixLR.  The broadcast will begin 10 minutes before kickoff.  To listen to the broadcast, you can navigate to http://gobulldogsathletics.com/boosters/bulldogs-live/ or download the MixLR app on your Android or iOS device and tune in via the VBAB station.  See the links below to download the app to your device. 

Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mixlr.android&hl=en

iOS:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mixlr-social-live-audio/id583705714?mt=8

The Boston Tea Party, created by Gage Beeler, Javier Lujano, Hannah Schott, and Kadyn Putty, from Dr. Garippa's Venus Middle School US History class!  The students assignment was to create a movie trailer for a historical event, and there were many outstanding assignments completed.  Check out the winning video below.