Announcements and celebrations

Does your school club or group have a celebration you would like shared with our community?  Please complete this form so we can share your success via newsletter, social media, or special announcement.

2025 Human Sexuality Curriculum-  Texas House Bill 1525 requires that students must opt-in to participate in Human Sexuality Curriculum.  Please see information below to access the opt-in form.   Parents should complete the google form by Apr 25, 2025 to opt in. Modules will be completed starting May 1- through PE classes.  Click here for the opt in form and for more information. 

Purchase your 2025 Veteran yearbook online at www.jostens.com. The deadline to order is May 1 to guarantee a copy. No extras will be ordered. Visit the student media website for additional information.

AVID ONLINE APPLICATION FOR THE 2056-2025 SCHOOL YEAR IS NOW UP! Please follow this link to learn more about the AVID program and how it benefits students.  Applications are due April 30th by 11:59 PM. 

MLISD for 2025-26 is now open. The payment window for families to secure their students’ district-provided laptops IS NOW OPEN. If current students pay before the end of the school year, they will be able to keep their laptops over the summer for no additional charge! Please click on this link for payment information: mLISD Laptops 2025-26.

Destination Imagination team Banana Split won a Renaissance Award for excellence in creativity for their Fine Arts performance at the Lone Star Finals state competition in Arlington on March 29. For their show, they created an eight-foot flexible cube that transformed into different minimalist artworks for each scene change, as well as a talking robot. Team members Magnolia Carroll, Sofia Malacara, Paula Martinez, Hope Nielson, and Violet Ralian will travel to Kansas City to represent Vandegrift High School at the Global Finals May 22-25.

VHS Junior Shreya Poladia Receives Prestigious Governor's Volunteer Award 

A big congratulations to Shreya Poladia, a junior at VHS, who was recently honored with the First Lady’s Rising Star Award as part of the 41st Annual Governor’s Volunteer Awards (GVA), presented by the OneStar Foundation. This award is the highest recognition for volunteerism in Texas and highlights Shreya’s outstanding contributions to communities across the state. For more information click here!  

The INCubatoredu team Travel Tress competed at the Texas A&M High School Idea Challenge on April 17th. Out of the 386 applicants, Travel Tress was selected as one of the 40 finalist teams. They received tons of great feedback and enthusiasm from the judges and Texas A&M entrepreneurship community. The team will use the experience and feedback to continue their goal of officially launching Travel Tress, an innovative hair care brand that offers water activated shampoo and conditioner tablets tailored to different hair types. Travel Tress was created and run by Madeline Bischoff, Caroline Gregory, Reagan McKinley, Camden Stille, and Natascha Strenk.

VHS INC would like to proudly recognize Better Bar for their recent results in the Innovators Pitch Competition in Bloomington, Illinois. 

Better Bar is a company seeking to produce protein bars that are not only healthy and hypoallergenic; our goal is to help our customers recover from long nights or lethargic afternoons so that they can be their best selves.

Aish Garapati

Maddie Mendoza

Olivia Coffy

Aayushi Choudary

Teams from around the world must apply and submit a short pitch video of their solution. This application is then sent through several rounds of judging. Better Bar was then recognized as a finalist by these judges and competed in a virtual live event. While these ladies did not win the event, their efforts validate the exceptional work our students are doing everyday in our Business and Entrepreneurship classrooms!

Go Vipers!

Vandegrift FCCLA Shines at the 2025 State Leadership Conference! Over the weekend, Vandegrift FCCLA STAR Event competitors and advisers traveled to Dallas, TX, to participate in the 2025 FCCLA State Leadership Conference. Seven talented teams represented Vandegrift, and we are incredibly proud of the hard work, dedication, and commitment each team demonstrated leading up to this event. We’d like to give special recognition to the following four teams who placed in the Top 5 of their event categories. *Competitors who placed 1st or 2nd have qualified to advance to the 2025 FCCLA National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida this summer! 

🏆 Top 5 Placements:

Noah Marumoto & Savannah Buchner – Interior Design Level 3 – 1st Place (National Qualifier*)

Brooke Boykin – Interior Design Level 3 – 2nd Place (National Qualifier*)

Sydney Sims – Fashion Design Level 3 – 2nd Place (National Qualifier*)

Ananya Kathalgere & Ella Hageman – Repurpose and Redesign Level 2 – 4th Place

We are so proud of every Vandy FCCLA competitor who showcased their passion and skills at this event—Way to go, Vipers!

The Vandegrift ViperBots robotic team Valor (FRC 6800) showed the world that they are ""Second to None"" in the FIRST in Texas district championships. Valor secured their slot to advance to World by being the Winning Alliance Captain and the UIL Robotics 1st place with their winning record and winning the Industrial Design Award (Apollo Division). The team worked hard this UIL season and continues to prepare for FIRST Championship which will be April 15-19th at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. The FIRST LEGO League, FIRST Tech Challenge, and FIRST Robotics Competition matches are free and open to the public and livesteamed on YouTube.

You are welcome to watch our final match in playoffs on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/N8tJ5D7-iCA?si=6nSh5_uxAUddmld7

In VHS Legacies News:

Congratulations to the new 25-26 Legacies Dance and Social Officers! Check it out here: (25-26 Officers)

In VHS Band News:  

Please congratulate our Jazz Orchestra members on earning a Superior/Division 1 rating at the Kingsville Jazz Contest on Saturday. We are also thrilled to celebrate that Ethan Huey received one of the festival's All-Star Soloist awards for his outstanding clarinet performance in our swing tune, Sing Sang Sung.

The Jazz Orchestra will perform again at UT Austin, in the Bates Recital Hall at 1020am on Saturday. Our Jazz Ensemble will perform at 900am. We hope you'll come to see both groups this weekend!

Vandy represented well this past weekend at the state science fair!  We brought 3 students to State!

Shanyu Suraparaju- Competd in Environmental Engineering.  He is trying to use machine learning to help increase the efficiency of sorting recyclable waste.

Placed 3rd- Sahana Pandey- Compete in Biochemistry,  She is working on creating a bioactive compound that will increase our health span (not just our lifespan)

Placed 3rd- Maria Van Leeuwen - Competed in Microbiology. She was working to maximize successful gene transformations by manipulating the concentration of Calcium Chloride.

Congrats to all the students who participated!

VHS Students Attend PTA Rally Day

On March 14, 2025, the Vandegrift High School (VHS) Student Council had the honor of attending the Texas PTA Rally Day at the state Capitol in Austin. The event, in partnership with the Leander ISD Council of PTAs, provided a platform for students, parents, and education advocates to engage with lawmakers about legislative priorities that impact students and staff.

Representing VHS at the rally were Student Council leaders Anya Bhandari (Vice President and Superintendent Student Advisory Council Lead) Caleb Luong (Executive Member), and Sneha Pulickal (President). The students had the incredible opportunity to meet with state senators and officials from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), advocating for educational legislation that supports the future of students across the state.

Their participation in this important event showcased Vandegrift High School's commitment to student advocacy and involvement in the legislative process. The experience provided valuable insights into how students can influence policy decisions that directly affect their education.

Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) Conference

Anya Bhandari, Core Team Leader, and Anniyah Maknojiya, members of the Superintendent Student Advisory Council, recently represented Vandegrift High School and Leander Independent School District (LISD) at the prestigious Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) Conference. Alongside other outstanding students from across the district, the duo had the opportunity to meet with school board members, state legislators, and fellow students, fostering meaningful connections and showcasing their leadership abilities.

Guided by Dr. Bruce Gearing, Dr. Sarah Martinez, and Dr. Kimberly Weltmon, Anya and Anniyah’s participation in the conference was a remarkable opportunity to share their insights and experiences with an influential audience. The event provided a platform for them to discuss important educational issues and demonstrate the value of student leadership within the district.

The TASB Conference is known for its selectivity and competitive nature, making this a significant accomplishment for these students and a testament to the commitment of LISD to empowering student voices. Their engagement at the conference highlights the strength of Vandegrift High School and the broader LISD community in fostering leadership, collaboration, and civic engagement.

Attn: NHS Seniors!

Please go into our Google Classroom and fill out the form provided for you. In it, you will let us know how you want your name to appear in the Graduation Program. If you do not fill out the form before March 31, your name will not appear in the program and you will not receive a stole to wear at graduation! If you have questions or concerns, please contact Mrs. Miller at cassie.miller@leanderisd.org or come by room 2114!

VHS DECA has returned from Dallas with solid results for the Texas State Career Development Conference!  23,000 attendees gathered at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, TX to compete in challenging business events for a chance to compete in Orlando, FL at the International Career Development Conference in April! 

Aanya Eledath & Cleo Wang earned themselves a DECA Medal as finalists in Financial Team Decision Making. 

Mireya Jawahar & Avni Singh earned themselves a DECA Medal as finalists in Financial Team Decision Making. 

And Shreya Poladia earned "DECA Glass" with her Entrepreneurship entry for Business Growth Plan! She will be representing Vandegrift in Orlando at ICDC! 

Please congratulate all of our DECA competitors as they worked very hard throughout the year to make it this far and we are very proud of their efforts!

We wish to congratulate the following students who participated in the Regional Science Fair!  Here are the results:

Sahana Pandey - Placed 2nd in Biochemistry and is advancing to State

Sanvi Kishore - Placed 3rd In Cellular and Molecular

Shanyu Suraparaju - Placed 2nd in Environmental Engineering (advancing to State)

Maria VanLeeuwen- 2nd Microbiology - advancing to State

Aarya Apte- 4th in Software Engineering

Shreya Poladia - Superintendent Award"

Destination Imagination teams Advance to State: On Feb. 8, three teams from Vandegrift competed in the Regional Destination Imagination competition that was held at Danielson Middle School. All three teams did an excellent job in preparing, competing and winning 1st and 2nd place in their category. We had some that received individual awards as well as one scholarship. The team Banana Split which  consists of Hope Nielson, Sofia Malacara, Violet Ralian, Paula Martinez, and Magnolia Carroll won first place in the Fine Arts challenge, and they also won a Renaissance award for innovation. The Spontaneous Sugar Cookies team consisting of Brooke Boykin, Shreya Poladia, Mary Bahrami, Pranavi Kanyaboina received 1st place in Improvisational Challenge and got High score in Instant Challenge. Also, Shreya Poladia got the Magellan award and Brooke Boykin got a senior scholarship. The third team consisting of Dante Leffler, Shanyu Suraparaju, Sunaina Dewagan, Siri Krishna, Cian Bogue, Leyla Oksuzler,Trisha Gupta received 2nd Place - Extreme Challenge and 3rd Place - Improvisational. Congratulations to the two teams that automatically advance to State which will be help on March 28 and 29 at the University of Texas in Arlington. 

We want to give a huge shout out to Dr. Elle LeBlanc who recently published an article in Edutopia about integrating the arts into her science class.  We greatly appreciate all the work that she is doing to reach her students in varied ways and provide a meaningful, holistic learning experience!  

James Lewey was selected to present at TCEA on starting and managing a competitive FIRST Tech Challenge team. TCEA holds a week long annual conference in Austin for Texas educators and administrators with an emphasis on technology in education. The purpose of James' presentation was guidance for new schools in starting teams and programs and understanding how to help their program to be competitive in the world of FTC competition. James was able to use many different examples from the Viperbots program including robot design and building, software and sensor integration, community outreach, fostering mentor relationships, and success in the judging room. The audience was composed of educators and administrative from across Texas and Oklahoma. 

Over the weekend, Vandegrift FCCLA Star Event competitors and advisers traveled to Corpus Christi, TX to compete in the 2025 Region V FCCLA Leadership conference. 12 teams from Vandegrift competed over the weekend, and we are so proud of ALL the hard work, dedication, and commitment each team put in leading up to this moment. We’d like to recognize the following 8 teams who placed in the Top 5 of their event category and will move forward to the FCCLA State Leadership Conference in that will take place in Dallas this April:

* Aminata Barry - Chapter Service Chapter Display Level 2 - 1st Place 

* Alexis Vanegas - Career Investigation Level 2 - 4th Place 

* Audrey Merchant - Entrepreneurship Level 3 - 1st Place 

* Sydney Sims - Fashion Design Level 3 - 1st Place

* Noah Marumoto & Savannah Buchner - Interior Design Level 3 - 1st Place 

* Brooke Boykin - Interior Design Level 3 - 2nd Place 

* Tori Johnson & Lesley Jum - Professional Presentation Level 3 - 2nd Place 

* Ananya Kathalgere & Ella Hageman - Repurpose and Redesign Level 2 - 2nd Place 

Again, we are all so proud of each and every team who competed over the weekend—Gooooo Vandy FCCLA! 

CONGRATS to VHS Choir students who have earned a spot in the TMEA All State Choir!  Kate Gregory (Chair 2),  Elli Mendoza (Chair 3) and Dhruva Vishnu (Chair 4) will join all other state winners at the TMEA convention in February.    

Students- we have created a new academic feedback form.  Please use this if you would like to anonymously provide feedback about an academic concern.  

Join the VHS PTSA!

Become a VHS PTSA Viper Club member by taking a moment to join – the list of activities and support they provide year-round to the staff, student and community is too numerous to mention. Return on your investment in dues and participation in the ‘write the check’ fundraiser is high. Visit the VHS PTSA Store to complete your membership.

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