Jewell Simpson Houston, center, received a standing ovation from the audience at the Jan. 14 meeting of the Aldine ISD Board of Education after trustees named the newest intermediate school in her honor. Jewell Simpson Houston Academy will open at the beginning of the 2003-04 school year and will be located in the Carver area. Mrs. Houston devoted 34 years of her life to the children of Aldine serving as a teacher and a counselor.
During the Jan. 14 Aldine ISD Board of Education meeting, trustees unanimously approved the naming of the new intermediate school in the Carver area after Jewell Simpson Houston. Board Vice President Dr. Viola Garcia, who chairs the boards school names committee, said the committee reviewed several names that were submitted by the community and decided on naming the school after Mrs. Houston because of the more than 50 years she served the district and the Acres Homes community. The school will be named Jewell Simpson Houston Academy and will serve fifth and sixth grade students.
Mrs. Houston began her teaching career in 1951 as a teacher at Carver Elementary School. In 1966, she served as a counselor at Carver High School where she guided hundreds of students over the course of eight years until 1974 when she accepted a counseling position at Eisenhower High School. She remained at Eisenhower until her retirement in June of 1985. She served the district for 34 years.
In addition to her years working in Aldine, Mrs. Houston has also served on numerous state and civic associations including the Houston League of Professional and Business Clubs, the Ferguson Street Civic Club and the Acres Homes Multi-service Center.
She has been honored at the local, state and national levels for the significant impact she has made in the lives of children.
Aldine ISD graduate and former U.S. Rep. Floyd Flakes once honored her on the House floor by saying, I rise to pay tribute to a woman who has spent the greater part of her life working to mold the lives of young people through her unselfish and tireless work as a teacher, counselor, community, and church worker, and friend.
Mrs. Simpson, who received a standing ovation from the board and members of the audience, said she was thrilled to have a school named after her.
I am proud, and I am thankful, because this is quite an honor, she said. Tonight I am excited about what the Aldine Independent School District has become.
Mrs. Houston said she will be on hand when the doors of Jewell Simpson Houston Academy open on the first day of the 2003-04 school year.
I hope when my school opens that the children will just come excited every day. Let it be a school that glows, she said.
The board also named the new elementary located on Bammel North Houston Road, Aldine Elementary School. Both schools, along with another elementary school on Airline Drive, will open at the beginning of the 2003-04 school year.