Wobbling through the doors weighted down by Spider-Man and Justin Bieber backpacks, some students at Adams Elementary were greeted in the halls Monday by an imposing figure they had never before met. Not Principal Lesley Rhodes, who certainly has a commanding presence. That other imposing figure: Arlington Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Marcelo Cavazos.
"Welcome back to school," Cavazos said to a trio of little ones, who knew he was someone important but just didn't know who, or how important. The clicking of cameras gave it away. "You guys ready for the new school year?"
Cavazos certainly is. He was in the first few minutes of what might best be described as a whirlwind of a day: campus hopping to see how things were going on the first day of school and then tweeting about his every move. A chat with cafeteria workers? Tweet it. A discussion on the importance of math to junior high students? Tweet it. Being stopped by a rather desperate parent not certain what class - or what school, really - his child should be attending? Why not tweet it?
In all, Cavazos would walk the halls of 9 schools during this "Tweet-Along Tour," in addition to the Arlington Fire Training Center where he met with two AISD High School Fire Academy graduates.
UT Arlington President Dr. Vistasp Karbhari and TCC Southeast President Dr. Bill Coppola met up with Cavazos at the second visit, a chat and Q&A session with Michelle Davda's Biomedical Engineering class at Martin High School.
At Martin, UTA's Karbhari explained how and what the students were learning in the class - research and academic investigation, mainly - would be beneficial at UT Arlington.
"This is the exact thing we do at UTA - we don't give you the answers, but you have to figure them out," he said. "You're learning how to do that right here, right now."
TCC's Coppola spoke of the academic program that prepares students for four-year universities and the partnership with AISD that allows students to take college courses, or dual-credit hours. Asked who was taking advantage of the dual credit courses, a number of hands shot into the air.
Cavazos and colleagues would also visit an actual dual-credit class led by TCC Professor Kyle Allbitton at Bowie High School, and make pit stops at Boles and Nichols junior high schools and Pearcy, Roquemore, Anderson and Duff elementary schools.
The final Tweet-Along stop was the Fire Training Center where Cavazos sat down with Brent Bousquet and Blake Cretsinger, Martin High School graduates currently taking EMS training to become full-fledged Arlington Firefighters.
The young men appeared overwhelmed by the superintendent's visit - and Cavazos appeared equally impressed.
"So proud of you two," he said of their two-year accomplishment. "So proud."
Certainly worth tweeting.
Arlington ISD, Tarrant County College, UT Arlington
Education, News