Students at Bellaire Elementary soar to success

Bellaire Elementary students got a special send-off from Bell Helicopter employees recently as they celebrated their achievements as a Gold Ribbon school.

On May 22, all 752 students were treated to a special pep rally complete with a purple helicopter that landed in a field at the school. Bellaire’s color is also purple, and the teachers wore purple and held signs saying “We are gold.”.

The children cheered as the model 505 helicopter landed, and the cheers grew even louder when they learned that they would get free Kona Ice.

“We have so many friends around here who love and care about us,” Principal Mick Sandoval told the students as they stood near the helicopter.

“On the count of three, I want you to thank the teachers. They come early and stay late. They work on weekends and on their summer vacations.”

Sandoval told the students they were recognized as one of the top ten Gold Ribbon schools in Tarrant County for their high STAAR test scores last year. A nonprofit organization called Children at Risk established the Gold Ribbon program

“I’ve charged our staff that we’re not just about test scores,” Sandoval said. “We want kids to be safe and secure in their learning.”

George Havrilla, who presented a plaque to Sandoval congratulated the students for their hard work and told them they would also receive model helicopters like the one that landed at Bellaire.

Havrilla, a project lead at Bell, is also involved with a mentoring program called BLADES or Bell Leadership Association for Developing Excellence. He said 20 volunteers spend time mentoring the students at Bellaire and visit the students during lunch and talk to them about their homework and about how things are going in their lives.

“We are a friend and an ear for them as well as a role model,” Havrilla said.

Andy Garcia, who teaches fifth-grade language arts and social studies at Bellaire said that 92 percent of the students are on free and reduced lunches, and that Bellaire has the highest number of immigrants of any campus in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district.

She said Bell Helicopter, Moritz Kia of Hurst and Kona Ice have worked with the school for years.

“The students deserve every chance we can give them. We look at growth and how much they have learned,” Garcia said.

This story was originally published June 12, 2017 at 11:44 AM with the headline "Students at Bellaire Elementary soar to success."