North Forest High School preparing students for top college admissions programs

According to North Forest High School principal James Troutman, this year’s graduating class of 239 Seniors has a number of outstanding students, that are well prepared to continue their education at top tier colleges throughout the state and nation.

Students at North Forest High School are beginning to receive acceptances from colleges they have applied to this year. In a recent series of interviews, the Northeast News learned about some of the top students in the graduating class, and what their achievements and goals are for the future.

Sarah Taylor is interested in film, and plans to continue her education at either NYU in New York, or UT Austin in their Communications program. Her interest in file and theater is life long, and she looks forward to learning more and a career in this field.

Last summer she was able to further her interests by participating in a 5 week summer course in film at the University of Houston. She learned to do editing, camera work, directing, and scouting locations.

At North Forest, she is president of the theater group and a technical director, but admits she doesn’t like acting as much as the technical aspects.

She has recently directed a one act play, “Charity Case” for the UIL competition. Sara is also making a one act movie, 7 to 10 minutes long, of Shakespeare’s MacBeth, albeit a modern adaptation.

Sara is graduating number 5 in her class of 239, and her philosophy is to make the best of what you opportunities have given you. She is also vice president of the student government association.

Claiborne Jones is an athlete as well as a scholar, and interested in chemical engineering for his future. He has been accepted at UT Austin, and exhibits an extremely positive attitude. He is already a longhorn fan, and plays NF football as a wide receiver, and is captain of the baseball team.

His engineering interests stem from his involvement in the NSBE, or National Society of Black Engineers. He recently returned from a conference of this group of students, and served as board member. This group is very active at North Forest, thanks to the teacher, Ms. Valencia Dutton, and the support of Shell Oil Company.

Claiborne is also interested in music, and plays the violin and viola. His philolophy is summed up as “I like to exceed expectations.”

His advice to other students is to stay in school, and get involved in your community.

Rayshanda Massey is also interested in engineering, and has been accepted at Texas A & M. She will major in either industrial engineering, or Early Childhood Education.

Rayshanda is another member of the NSBE, and went to the St. Louis conference, where she was elected a vice president.

She indicated that North Forest High School has an Engineering Design Presentation class that has been influential in developing her interest in engineering, with computer work and AutoCad experience.

She also participates in the Dual Credit program offered by HCC-NE at North Forest, gaining college credit in English.

Rayshanda’s interests include ROTC, captain of the majorettes, and a program at TSU of the national Upward Bound experience. She has participated in this for 3 years, taking pre-calculus and visiting other colleges as part of the program. She said there are 5 students from North Forest currently in the Upward Bound program.

Rayshanda wears a TAMU sweat shirt, as she smiles and says she is definitely as Aggie. But she adds, that she sees herself as “born to be a leader.”

It would seem that this comment could well apply to all three of the outstanding students presenting themselves from North Forest High Schoool.