Bellaire High School (Bellaire, Texas)
Encyclopedia
Bellaire High School is a secondary school of the Houston Independent School District
Houston Independent School District
The Houston Independent School District is the largest public school system in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and insular municipalities...

, and its campus is located in Bellaire, Texas
Bellaire, Texas
Bellaire is a city in southwest Harris County, Texas, United States, within the metropolitan area. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city population was 15,642 and is completely surrounded by the cities of Houston and West University Place....

 (USA).

The high school serves the incorporated city of Bellaire and the Houston community of Meyerland, as well as other Houston neighborhoods.

Lynwood Abram of the Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...

said in 2006 that Bellaire is "academically acclaimed". Each year the school has about thirty National Merit Scholars.

In 2009, the school was rated "recognized
Texas Education Agency accountability ratings system
The Texas Education Agency accountability ratings system rates all public schools, charter schools, and school districts in the State of Texas.The criteria are the same for schools and districts, and are discussed below...

" by the Texas Education Agency.

About the school

With over 20,000 high schools in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the school ranked number 80, 86, 112, 109th and 100th in Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...

's 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008, respectively, lists of the top high schools, meaning Bellaire's academic program ranks in top 0.5% in the country. The Challenge Index ranks schools by the number of AP and IB tests taken by students at a school in 2002 divided by the number of graduating seniors. 323 students at Bellaire High School in the 2004–2005 academic year earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board
College Board
The College Board is a membership association in the United States that was formed in 1900 as the College Entrance Examination Board . It is composed of more than 5,900 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations. It sells standardized tests used by academically oriented...

 in recognition of their achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement Program Exams.

In the past several years, Bellaire has produced several international science competition winners: a finalist in the Siemens Competition in 2008, a Third Award in Molecular Biology in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the largest pre-college scientific research event in the world, and is owned and administered by the Society for Science & the Public a 501 non-profit organization based in Washington, DC...

 in 2007, an honorable mention (research paper) in the 2006 First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics
First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics
The First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics is an annual international competition in research projects in physics. It originated and is based in Poland.-Participants:...

, a silver medal in the International Biology Olympiad
International Biology Olympiad
The International Biology Olympiad is a science olympiad for students in sixth form . The first academic international Olympiads after the International Mathematical Olympiad were launched under the auspices of the United Nations in the 1960s...

 in 2005, a U.S. delegate to the ExpoScience International in 2005, a Third Award in Zoology in the ISEF
Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the largest pre-college scientific research event in the world, and is owned and administered by the Society for Science & the Public a 501 non-profit organization based in Washington, DC...

 in 2002, and a silver medal in the International Chemistry Olympiad
International Chemistry Olympiad
The International Chemistry Olympiad is an annual academic competition for high school students. It is one of the International Science Olympiads....

 in 2001. The science fair
Science fair
A science fair is generally a competition where contestants present their science project results in the form of a report, display board, and models that they have created. Science fairs allow students in grade schools and high schools to compete in science and/or technology activities...

 team places high in the Texas Science and Engineering Fair and the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston each year. In the 2005 Siemens Westinghouse Competition
Siemens Westinghouse Competition
The Siemens Competition is a science competition funded by the Siemens Foundation and administered by the College Board.- Eligibility requirements :The Siemens Competition is open to high school students who are citizens or permanent residents of the US...

, Bellaire had a regional finalist (only 36 regional finalists in individual projects are selected each year from over thousands of projects).

The school's baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 program, which has been ranked first in the first regular season Easton Sports National High School baseball poll in 2004, won the Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 High School Baseball championship seven times with several former or current Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 players. Seven students made it to the World Finals Qualifiers in the 2006 Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind, often called OM , is a creative problem-solving competition involving students from kindergarten through college. Team members work together at length to solve a predefined problem ; and present their solution to the problem at a competition...

 competition under the leadership of teacher Debra Jones.

Bellaire also has a wide variety of music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

, and fine arts programs; for example, 6 students made it to the 2005–2006 Texas All-State Orchestra. The orchestra ranked Second Place in the 2003 TMEA High School Honor Orchestra. The debate
Debate
Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...

 team has a long history of success, with at least one (and usually many) national qualifiers every year since 1957. Winners at the National Forensics League national tournament include Alan Haufrect (1959 Dramatic Interpretation), Eugene Keilin (1960 Boys Extemporaneous Speaking), Sharon Marshall (1961 Girls Extemporaneous Speaking), Camille Waters (1964 Dramatic Interpretation), David Zarefsky (1964 Boys Extemporaneous Speaking), Brent Mintz (1967 Dramatic Interpretation), Don Peters (1968 Boys Extemporaneous Speaking), Annalee Jefferies (1972 Dramatic Interpretation), Amir Halevy and Ralph Shain (1979 C-X Debate), Team Sweepstakes (1984), and Louise Lu (2010 Congressional Debate). In 2005, Bellaire had 9 national debate qualifiers. In 2006, Bellaire Debate had a team place 6th & 15th in the national tournament and was one of five schools in the nation to receive an Excellence in Debate award from the National Forensic League. In 2008 and 2009, Bellaire won first place in the National Public Policy Forum Debate. The Bellaire Theatre Department won 1st place at the state UIL
University Interscholastic League
The University Interscholastic League is an organization that creates rules for and administers almost all athletic, music, and academic contests for public primary and secondary schools in the American state of Texas....

 One-Act Play Competition in 2004. Carillon, the school yearbook team, has won numerous Gold Crown awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association
Columbia Scholastic Press Association
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association is an international student press association, founded in 1925, whose goal is to unite student journalists and faculty advisers at schools and colleges through educational conferences, idea exchanges, textbooks, critiques and award programs...

 and won an Honorable Mention in the 2005 National Scholastic Press Association "Design of the Year."

During both the 2006-2007 school year and the 2007-2008 school year the Bellaire Choir achieved rankings of "outstanding" for Men's Chorale, Women's Chorale and for the Mixed Choir. There have also been a number of performers that have achieved personal accomplishments in recent years. Jeremy Yang earned the right to perform with the All State Choir in the 2007-2008 school year as one of 8 basses for that year. Many members of the choir participated in UIL Solo & Ensemble Competition. Twenty-six soloists made it to state with eight of them gaining an outstanding rating and one student, Daniel Rossiter, also achieved a ranking of "Outstanding Soloist."

In the 2006-2007 school year, 52 students achieved the title of National Merit Semifinalist. In 2005 and 2006, five students scored perfect scores on their SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...

's, two students scored perfect scores on their PSAT's, and one student scored a perfect score on her ACT
ACT (examination)
The ACT is a standardized test for high school achievement and college admissions in the United States produced by ACT, Inc. It was first administered in November 1959 by Everett Franklin Lindquist as a competitor to the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test, now the SAT Reasoning Test...

. In the 2005–2006 school year, 40 students earned the title National Merit Scholar. In the same school year, 57 students scored a perfect 800 on at least one of the three sections (critical reading, math, and writing) on their SAT I Reasoning Tests, and 78 students scored a perfect 800 on at least one of their SAT II Subject Tests. Class of 2002 had 63 National Merit Scholars, the highest number of such recognition in the school's history. In the 2007-2008 school year, 32 Bellaire students were named National Merit Scholarship Program Finalists, 3 were named National Achievement Scholarship ProgramFinalists, and 11 were named National Hispanic Recognition Program Finalists. Bellaire led the Houston Independent School District in number of National Merit Program Finalists.

A mathematics teacher, Ed Mazzoni, was awarded the American Star of Teaching from the United States Department of Education
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...

 in 2005, the highest honor a secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 teacher can receive. After competing with thousand of students in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, a student won Third Place in the 2005 National High School Essay Contest. The Bellaire economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

 challenge team won first place at the 2004 National Economics Challenge in the West Region, third place in the 2006 National Economics Challenge, and second place in the 2010 National Economics Challenge. In December 2007 a Human Geography teacher, Ann Linsley, was selected to participate in Polartrec's research program, traveling to Antarctica to spend 2 months working on a project entitled "Monitoring the Effects of Human Activities at McMurdo Station, Antarctica".

As of 2008 Bellaire's yearbook
Yearbook
A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...

, the Carillon, frequently wins high school yearbook awards.

Special programs

Bellaire High School is denoted as a Magnet school
Magnet school
In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...

 for foreign languages, offering a wide array of languages taught from Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

, Hindi, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, and Latin. All languages are available at the IB level, and AP courses are taught in Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Latin.

In 2005, over 900 students tested for a space in the Magnet program; Bellaire had only 150 available spots. In the 2004–2005 school year, the TAKS passing percentages for all Magnet students in reading, math, science, and social studies were 100%, 99%, 96%, and 100% respectively.

Bellaire High School has Advanced Placement and IB Diploma Programme
IB Diploma Programme
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a two-year educational programme for students aged 16–19that provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education, and is recognised by universities worldwide. It was developed in the early to mid-1960s in Geneva by...

 (International Baccalaureate) programs. Bellaire High School has been an IB World School since September 1979. In the last examination session, students completed the following exams (in both standard and higher levels): Biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

, Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

, Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...

, Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

, English A1, French B, Geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

, German B, Hindi B, Italian B, Latin, Mandarin B, Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

, Music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

, Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

, Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

, Russian B, Spanish Ab., Spanish B, Theory of Knowledge
Theory of Knowledge (IB course)
Theory of knowledge is a course in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme which is, in essence, similar to Epistemology courses offered in university.-Course description:...

, and Visual Arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...

. In the 2005–2006 school year, there were 24 students who successfully received their IB Diplomas.

Issues with the academic environment

According to an October 2004 Whatkidscando.org report called "Students as Allies in Improving Their High Schools," in many of Houston ISD's top high schools, including Bellaire, over one half of students are enrolled in high-level courses. According to the surveys given by the organization, many of the students at the schools cited academic pressure issues. 82 percent stated that they do not miss school during illnesses, stating that the makeup work would be too difficult.

History

Bellaire opened no later than 1953.

In September 1991 Bellaire was one of 32 HISD schools that had capped enrollments; in other words the school was filled to capacity and excess students had to attend other schools.

In January 1987, Bellaire was offering the Arabic language
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 for the second year.

Cathy Mincberg, an HISD trustee, said in 1993 that "There isn't a private school in Houston that can beat Bellaire High School."

In February 2006, a stabbing involving two male freshmen occurred in a school stairwell. The victim survived the stabbing while the perpetrator was arrested and prosecuted.

During the same year Todd Spivak of the Houston Press
Houston Press
The Houston Press is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in Downtown Houston....

reported about the magazine's feature "These Kids Go to the Best Public High School in Houston." Spivak said that Bellaire High School had "strong, consistent leadership and a diverse student population" but that it received a lower rating due to a "surprisingly high dropout rate." Spivak said that the survey indicated that Bellaire graduated two thirds of its students. Dr. Robert Sanborn, president and CEO of the Children at Risk organization, said that at Bellaire an achievement gap existed between the top-performing students and the lowest-performing students.

In 2007 13 percent of high school-aged children zoned to Bellaire chose to attend a different Houston ISD school.

In 2010 Magnet Schools of America, a nonprofit, released a report recommending that Bellaire's magnet program be abolished, due to overcrowding of the school.

In 2011 the Brays Oaks
Brays Oaks, Houston
Brays Oaks is a district in Houston, Texas, United States. The Brays Oaks Management District , also known as the Harris County Improvement District #5, governs the district. Much of the district includes the Fondren Southwest community. Other areas in the distruct include Westbury...

 district expanded. A small portion of Bellaire High School attendance zone became a part of the district.

Location

Bellaire High School is located at 29°41′31"N 95°28′06"W inside the city of Bellaire
Bellaire, Texas
Bellaire is a city in southwest Harris County, Texas, United States, within the metropolitan area. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city population was 15,642 and is completely surrounded by the cities of Houston and West University Place....

, which is mostly residential. Bellaire High School is surrounded by single family houses. Bellaire High School is only about 2 minutes away from Meyerland Plaza
Meyerland Plaza
Meyerland Plaza is a large shopping center located in southwest Houston, Texas, United States.Meyerland Plaza is located in the Meyerland neighborhood of Houston and is just outside of the 610 Loop.-History:Meyerland Plaza opened on October 31, 1957...

, an outdoor shopping center in the Meyerland neighborhood of Houston. The city of Bellaire is an enclave of the southwest area of Houston. Bellaire City Library and the Bellaire Fire Department are a few blocks away from the school.

Student body

Bellaire High School had 3,392 students during the 2006–2007 school year.
  • 19% were Asian American
    Asian American
    Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...

  • 28% were Hispanic American
    Hispanic and Latino Americans
    Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...

  • 39% were European American
    European American
    A European American is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe...

  • 14% were African American
    African American
    African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

  • Less than 1% were Native American
    Indigenous peoples of the Americas
    The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

    .


In the same school year, 28% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch.

As of 2006, Bellaire is the only comprehensive high school in Houston ISD where White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic students each represent more than 10% of the student body. In the 2003–2004 school year, according to the Houston Independent School District
Houston Independent School District
The Houston Independent School District is the largest public school system in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and insular municipalities...

, Bellaire students had a 95.0% attendance rate, 0.9% dropout rate, 748 graduate counts, and 602 Texas Scholars.

Many students in other parts of Houston ISD transfer to Bellaire to escape home schools that do not have good academic performance, causing the attendance figures of those schools to suffer.

Clubs and organizations

There are somewhere around 90 (and growing) clubs at Bellaire High School. The clubs include
Academic Challenge Team,
Academic Decathlon, African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 Association, American Field Service, American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...

, Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

, Anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 Club, Antares, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 Club, Art Club, Avid Readers Society, Bellaire Astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

 Club, Bellaire Badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

 Club, Bellaire Chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 Club, Bellaire Film Society, Bellaire Interfaith Club, Bellaire Color Guard and Marching Band, Bellaire International Students Association (BISA), Bellaire LULAC Youth, Bellaire Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

n Club, Bellaire MS-150 Club, Bellaire Men's Lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

, Bellaire Mock Trial, Bellaire Sewing Arts Club, Bellaire Thai
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 Club, Bellaire Women's Lacrosse, Best Buddies, Birdkeepers, Booster Club, Business Professionals of America (BPA), CAD (Connie, Ashwin, David), Cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 Awareness Club, Chinese Chess Club, Chinese Honor Society, Chinese Language
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 Club, Christian Student Union (CSU), DECA, Family, Career & Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), Feed Houston, Fellowship of Christian Athletes
Fellowship of Christian Athletes
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is a non-profit interdenominational Christian organization founded in 1954 and that has been based in Kansas City, Missouri since 1956. It falls within the tradition of Muscular Christianity. Although established by evangelical Protestants, the concept has...

, Filipino–American Student Association, Foreign Film Club, French National Honor Society, National FFA Organization
National FFA Organization
The National FFA Organization is an American youth organization known as a Career and Technical Student Organization, based on middle and high school classes that promote and support agricultural education...

, Gay Straight Alliance, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 Club, German National Honor Society, Go Club, Habitat for Humanity, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 Club, Hindi National Honor Society, Hindu Student Council, Interact, Investors Business Daily, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 Club, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 Club, Japanese National Honor Society, Jewish Student Union, Junior Achievement, Junior Classical League (JCL), Kid's Way, Knitting and Crochet Club, Latin Language Club, Leo Club, Literature Club, Live Music Club, Magic Club, Math Club, Math Masters (formed by David and Brian), Model UN, Music Uniting Societies Everywhere (MUSE), Muslim Student Association, Name That Book, National Honor Society
National Honor Society
The National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...

, Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind, often called OM , is a creative problem-solving competition involving students from kindergarten through college. Team members work together at length to solve a predefined problem ; and present their solution to the problem at a competition...

, Origami
Origami
is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD at the latest and was popularized outside Japan in the mid-1900s. It has since then evolved into a modern art form...

 Club, Photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

 Club, Photoshop Club, Poetry Club, Quidditch Club, Reach Out, Ritmo Latino, Robotics Club, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 Club, S2S Club, Science Bowl Team, Science Connection, Science Fair Club, Slavic Honor Society, Societa’ Onoraria Italica Giuseppe Tornatore Chapter, SOS Club, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 Club, Spanish National Honor Society, Students To Foreign Universities Bellaire Integration of Listening and Language (STFUBILL), Student Government, Students for Environmental Awareness & Animal Rights Knowledge (SEA-ARK), Table Tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

 Club, Tai Chi Club, Texas Association of Future Educators (TAFE), Ultimate Frisbee Club, Vietnamese Student Association, West Asian Student Association (WASA), Yoga Club, Young Democrats, and Young Republicans.

Neighborhoods served

All pupils in the city of Bellaire are zoned to Bellaire High School. Several parts of Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

 that are around the city of Bellaire, including Meyerland, Braesmont, parts of Braeswood Place that are west of Stella Link and parts that are south of South Braeswood (including the subdivisions of Ayrshire and Braes Terrace), Linkwood, Knollwood Village, Woodshire, Woodside, Westridge, Maplewood, Maplewood North
Maplewood South/North, Houston, Texas
Maplewood South/North is a group of subdivisions in Houston, Texas.It is southwest of Downtown Houston and south of Uptown Houston.S.K. Bardwell of the Houston Chronicle said that Maplewood South "has one of the largest, most powerful civic associations in Houston, and its residents reap the...

, about half of Westwood, Flack Estates, and a small portion of Willow Meadows, are zoned to Bellaire High School. A small portion of Southside Place
Southside Place, Texas
Southside Place is a city in west central Harris County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,546 at the 2000 census.As of 2000, Southside Place is the 13th wealthiest location in Texas by per capita income....

 is zoned to Bellaire High School.

Transportation

Houston ISD provides school bus
School bus
A school bus is a type of bus designed and manufactured for student transport: carrying children and teenagers to and from school and school events...

es for students who live more than two miles away from the school or who have major obstacles between their houses and the school. Students are eligible if they are zoned to Bellaire or are in the Bellaire magnet program. A METRO
Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas
The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County is a major public transportation agency based in Houston . It operates bus, light rail, future commuter rail, and paratransit service in the city as well as most of Harris County...

 bus stop (Maple at South Rice) is located at the school's entrance. Bus line 33 (Post Oak Crosstown) stops at Maple at South Rice.

Feeder patterns

Elementary schools that feed into Bellaire include:
  • Lovett

Partial:
  • Braeburn
  • Condit
  • Cunningham
  • Herod
  • Horn
  • Kolter
  • Longfellow
    Longfellow Elementary School (Houston)
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Elementary School is an elementary located on 4000 Norris St. in Houston, Texas, United States with a ZIP code of 77025 that serves Pre-K through 5th grade....

  • Red
  • Roberts
    Roberts Elementary School (Houston)
    Oran M. Roberts Elementary School is a primary school in Houston, Texas, United States. Roberts serves grades pre-K through 5 and is a part of the Houston Independent School District...

  • Shearn
  • Twain
    Mark Twain Elementary School (Houston)
    Mark Twain Elementary School is a public primary school located at 7500 Braes Boulevard in Houston, Texas, United States.Twain, which serves grades Kindergarten through 5, is a part of the Houston Independent School District...

  • Whidby


Middle schools that feed into Bellaire include parts of Cullen, Fondren, Johnston, Long, Pershing
Pershing Middle School (Houston)
John J. Pershing Middle School is a secondary school located at 3838 Bluebonnet in Houston, Texas with a zip code of 77025.Pershing, located in the Braeswood Place neighborhood, serves grades 6 through 8 and is a part of the Houston Independent School District.Pershing has a neighborhood program, a...

, and Ryan
Ryan Middle School (Houston)
James D. Ryan Middle School is a secondary school located in Houston, Texas, United States.Ryan, which serves grades 6 through 8, is a part of the Houston Independent School District....

. All pupils zoned to Johnston, Long, and Pershing Middle Schools may apply to Pin Oak Middle School
Pin Oak Middle School
Pin Oak Middle School is a secondary school that is located in Bellaire, Texas, United States. Pin Oak, which serves grades 6 through 8, is a part of the Houston Independent School District. It is located near the intersection of the 610 Loop and U.S. Route 59...

's regular program; therefore Pin Oak also feeds into Bellaire High School.

Many pupils who are in the Vanguard program and attend middle school at Lanier
Lanier Middle School (Houston)
Sidney Lanier Middle School is an internal charter middle school located at 2600 Woodhead Street in Houston, Texas, United States, with a ZIP code of 77098...

 or T.H. Rogers choose to go to Bellaire High School. Some students who are enrolled in private schools in the 8th grade choose to go to Bellaire for high school.

Notable alumni

  • David Biespiel
    David Biespiel
    David Biespiel is an American poet who was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, raised in Houston, Texas, and educated at Stanford University, University of Maryland, and Boston University...

     (poet)
  • Laurie Bricker (former HISD Board Member; founder of the Jewish Women's International Annual Prejudice Awareness Summit)
  • John Carter (member of the United States Congress
    United States Congress
    The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

    )
  • Jeff Cohen (vice president and editor of the Houston Chronicle
    Houston Chronicle
    The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...

    since 2002)
  • Bubba Crosby
    Bubba Crosby
    Richard Stephen "Bubba" Crosby is a former Major League Baseball outfielder who played with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees...

     (athlete, Major League Baseball)
  • José Cruz, Jr.
    José Cruz, Jr.
    José Luis Cruz, Jr. is a retired Major League Baseball outfielder. Over his nine year playing career, Cruz played for eight different teams. Standing 6'0" tall and weighing 210 pounds, Cruz was a right-handed switch hitter...

     (athlete, Gold Glove outfielder for the Houston Astros
    Houston Astros
    The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...

    )
  • Jeff DaVanon
    Jeff DaVanon
    Jeffrey Graham DaVanon is a retired Major League Baseball outfielder.DaVanon came up through the Oakland Athletics system before being traded to the Anaheim Angels as a minor-leaguer in ....

     (athlete, Major League Baseball)
  • Yuliana Gallegos, author of Mi Sueño de America/My American Dream
  • Annalee Jefferies
    Annalee Jefferies
    Annalee Jefferies is a stage actress.-Biography:Jefferies started acting at the Twelfth Night Community Theatre in Brisbane, Australia when she was 10 years old...

     (stage actress)
  • Bob Kelly (Former Mayor City of West University Place)
  • Chuck Knoblauch
    Chuck Knoblauch
    Edward Charles "Chuck" Knoblauch is a retired Major League Baseball player. He played all or part of twelve seasons in the majors, from until , for the Minnesota Twins , New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals...

     (athlete, former MLB All-Star second baseman)
  • Richard Linklater
    Richard Linklater
    -Early life:Linklater was born in Houston, Texas. He studied at Sam Houston State University and left midway through his stint in college to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the rig he read a lot of literature, but on land he developed a love of film through...

     (director of Dazed and Confused
    Dazed and Confused
    "Dazed and Confused" is a song by Jake Holmes, which was covered by The Yardbirds, and later reworked by Led Zeppelin who hold a separate copyright on the song.-Jake Holmes:...

    )
  • John Lucas III (athlete, National Basketball Association)
  • Cole Mohr
    Cole Mohr
    Cole Mohr is an American model from Houston, Texas, signed with Request Model Management. Notable for work with Dior Homme, H&M, Burberry, Valentino, Barneys, Costume National, Marc Jacobs, Levi's, Tommy Hilfiger, and Andrew Buckler...

     (model, named top ten male model by Forbes in 2009)
  • Emeka Okafor
    Emeka Okafor
    Chukwuemeka Ndubuisi Okafor, abbreviated as Emeka Okafor , is an American basketball power forward and center for the New Orleans Hornets of the National Basketball Association. Prior to the NBA, Okafor attended Houston's Bellaire High School, and the University of Connecticut.-Early life:Okafor...

     (athlete, New Orleans Hornets center
    Center (basketball)
    The center, colloquially known as the five or the post, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...

    ; 2005 NBA Rookie of the Year
    NBA Rookie of the Year Award
    The National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year Award is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1952–53 NBA season, to the top rookie of the regular season. The winner receives the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy, which is named in honor of the Philadelphia Warriors head...

    (Charlotte Bobcats
    Charlotte Bobcats
    The Charlotte Bobcats is a professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association. The Bobcats were established in 2004 as an expansion team, two seasons after Charlotte's previous NBA...

    ) )
  • Cindy Pickett
    Cindy Pickett
    Cindy Lou Pickett is an American actress best known for her 1970s role as Jackie Marler-Spaulding on the CBS soap Guiding Light; her role as Dr. Carol Novino on the hugely popular television drama St...

     (actress)
  • Dennis Quaid
    Dennis Quaid
    Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...

     (actor, best known for his roles in feature films like Inner Space, The Right Stuff, and The Big Easy)
  • Randy Quaid
    Randy Quaid
    Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid is an American actor perhaps best known for his role as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, as well as his numerous supporting roles in films, including his Oscar nominated performance in The Last Detail, Independence Day, Kingpin and Brokeback Mountain...

     (actor, best known for his quirky roles in oddball comedy films like Kingpins and Independence Day)
  • Steve Radack (elected Harris County
    Harris County, Texas
    As of the 2010 Census, the population of the county was 4,092,459, White Americans made up 56.6% of Harris County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 33.0% of the population. Black Americans made up 18.9% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.7% of Harris County's population...

     Commissioner of Precinct Three in 1988)
  • Robert Randall Onstead, Jr. (business, the son of Robert Randall Onstead
    Robert Randall Onstead
    Robert Randall Onstead, Senior was founder of Randall's Food Markets in Houston and served as chair of the board from 1966 to 1999....

     (the founder of the Randall's
    Randall's Food Markets
    Randall's Food Markets operates 112 supermarkets in the Houston, Austin, and Dallas-Fort Worth areas under the Randalls, Flagship Randalls, Tom Thumb, Flagship Tom Thumb, and Simon David banners. Randall's employs more than 10,000 associates and is the Texas division of Safeway Inc. The Texas...

     grocery store chain) - President and CEO of Randall's from 1996 to 2003)
  • Thomas Schlamme (Emmy winning television director and producer of The West Wing)
  • Mike Sowell
    Mike Sowell
    Mike Sowell is a sports historian and the author of three baseball books, including The Pitch That Killed about Ray Chapman and Carl Mays. Named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times in 1989, and winner of the CASEY Award for best baseball book of 1989, The Pitch That Killed tells the...

    , sports historian and journalist
  • Brent Spiner
    Brent Spiner
    Brent Jay Spiner is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of the android Lieutenant Commander Data in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and four subsequent films. His portrayal of Data in Star Trek: First Contact and of Dr...

     (actor, played Data
    Data (Star Trek)
    Lieutenant Commander Data is a character in the fictional Star Trek universe portrayed by actor Brent Spiner. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek...

     from Star Trek: The Next Generation
    Star Trek: The Next Generation
    Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...

    )
  • Trey Wilson
    Trey Wilson
    Donald Yearnsley "Trey" Wilson III was an American character actor known for playing rural, authoritarian type characters, most notably in comedies such as Raising Arizona and Bull Durham.-Early life:...

     (actor)
  • Kelly Wunsch (former MLB player with the Chicago White Sox)
  • Chris Young (athlete, Arizona Diamondbacks)
  • Cindy Yen
    Cindy Yen
    Cindy Yen is a Taiwanese-American singer, songwriter, actress, Composer and producer. She was the first artist to be signed to Jay Chou's company, JVR Music, in 2009. In October 2009 she released her first self-titled album: Cindy Yen 袁詠琳...

    (Chinese Pop Singer)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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