Salwa Choucair Lanford

Writer/Editor

My Latest Work

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Pieper Warrior Company Named 2024 Navy League Most Improved Unit in the Nation

July 18, 2024 - The Pieper High School Navy National Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC) was awarded the 2024 Navy League Most Improved Unit in the Nation by the Naval Service Training Command (NSTC) on July 10.
This national award is quite an honor for the program and school which has been in existence for only three years just recently graduating its first senior class. This is the second year in a row that the program was nominated for this award.
“This is quite an accomplishment for these young lead...
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Recent Smithson Valley Graduate Surprised with Texas Armed Services Scholarship

July 16, 2024 - A recent Smithson Valley High School graduate, Briana Crosby, was surprised Monday morning with a personal visit from Texas State Senator Donna Campbell, M.D. who arrived in front of her home with a police escort, flowers and a special announcement.
Crosby was named the recipient of this year’s Texas Armed Services Scholarship from Senate District 25, which encompasses seven counties.
“We had a lot of applicants, but you outshined all of them,” Senator Campbell said. “I personall...
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Financial Sharks: Comal ISD Students Win Stock Market Game, InvestWrite

July 1, 2024 - Elementary and middle school teams from Comal Independent School District swept the competition in both the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 Stock Market Game Competition for Central Texas. In addition, a Comal ISD student won the state InvestWrite Competition and placed second in the nation in the 4-5th-grade division.
Two teams from Oak Creek Elementary won first and second place in the Fall; two teams from Johnson Ranch Elementary won first and second place in the Spring; and one team...
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Comal ISD Esports Receives PlayVS Award for School District of the Year

June 26, 2024 - The Comal Independent School District’s esports program was presented with the first PlayVS Award for School District of the Year on June 5 in a virtual ceremony.
“We are excited to present the first PlayVS Award for School District of the Year to Comal Independent School District in Texas,” said Jon Chapman, CEO of PlayVS, the platform which hosts the national esports league which enables Comal ISD to compete against schools around Texas.
“Comal ISD ensures that every high schoo...
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Annual Academic Banquet Honors Students and Teachers

June 5, 2024 - Comal ISD hosted the 23rd Annual Jan Heckendorn Academic Recognition Banquet on May 9, honoring this year’s top graduating seniors along with an honored educator selected by each student.
In addition to honoring these students and educators, the Jan Heckendorn Scholarship is presented during the event. This year, the scholarship committee chose to award two students with the Jan Heckendorn Scholarship. They are Tatum Rios from Pieper High School, and Konnor Schneider from Smithson...
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Comal ISD Hosts Eight Graduations for Class of 2024

June 4, 2024 - The Comal Independent School District celebrated the achievements of 2,096 high school graduates during its record-number eight graduations for the class of 2024. The ceremonies took place over the course of several days beginning May 22 and ending May 25. This marked the first graduating class and ceremony for two Comal ISD campuses - Hill Country College Preparatory High School and Pieper High School.
Combined, the class of 2024 accepted $25.3 million in scholarships from a vari...
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Big Art Day Projects Engage Students, Staff, Community

March 22, 2024 - Two Comal ISD campuses hosted Big Art Day events earlier this month that involved students, teachers and the community, helping make connections through creativity and fun.
Danville Middle School art teacher Jennifer Massey and her students set up an all-white scene on the campus’ stage which happens to be in the cafeteria – the perfect spot to engage everyone in the school with its ‘Obliteration Room.’
Once everything was painted white, including an old couch, chair, table, sto...
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Equipment Fair Offers Hands-On Learning To Smithson Valley Students

November 29, 2023 - Smithson Valley High School students received hands-on learning during the campus’ first Equipment Fair which featured a mini excavator, skid steer and concrete pump truck.
With the help of local construction companies, career and technical education (CTE) and architecture teacher Dalton Rudloff, gave students in his classes the opportunity to step into the driver’s seat of these machines and see what it is like to operate them.
“I hope this helps students understand that in...
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Veterans Honored Throughout Comal ISD

November 10, 2023 - Students of all ages celebrated local veterans Thursday at Comal ISD campuses with special programs that included choir, cheer and dance performances as well as JROTC and band, orchestra and more.
Annually, campuses throughout Comal ISD invite local military veterans to attend special programs on Veterans Day. These programs center around student performances and recognize fathers, mothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and family members who have served in the United States mi...
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Superintendent Dr. Chapman Becomes Student for a Day

Oct. 27, 2023 - The seventh-grade class at Church Hill Middle School grew by one student on Wednesday, Oct. 25, when Comal Independent School District’s Superintendent of Schools Dr. John E. Chapman III joined the class as a student for the day.
“Stepping into the shoes of a student for a day, is a great way to remember what is feels like to be a kid and to sit in a classroom, walk the hallways, eat in the cafeteria and ride a bus,” says Dr. Chapman, who recently celebrated one year as Comal ISD...
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UPDATE: After-School Aide Recognized For Going The Extra Mile

UPDATE Sept. 15, 2023 - The story featuring Mary Gomez, the recent Comal ISD 590 honoree, caught the eye of one of her former first-grade students who is all grown up now and works as a producer at KSAT-12 in San Antonio. MJ Ienatsch stopped by Freiheit Elementary to visit with Ms. Mary and featured her in a KSAT-12 segment which is included here. This is truly a testament to the many lives that Ms. Mary has touched over the years.
 
 
Aug. 29, 2023 - For two decades, she has encouraged, taught...
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Third Annual 9/11 Stair Climb Honors First Responders

Sept. 11, 2023 - More than 150 students, staff members and families joined the Pieper High School JROTC and local first responders in the Third Annual 9/11 Stair Climb this morning at Pieper High School stadium.
Together, with firefighters from the Bexar-Bulverde Volunteer Fire Department wearing full gear, they climbed 2,071 steps to commemorate the 110 flights of stairs of the towers of the World Trade Center. As they walked, names of the 343 firefighters, 23 police officers and 37 Port Author...
Magazines of the Schools at UT Health San Antonio •

ICU Nurse Finds Career Later in Life as Pandemic Strikes - Magazines of the Schools at UT Health San Antonio

Tribute

By Salwa Choucair

Just a month into her first job as a nurse in the Medical-Surgical Intensive Care Unit of Methodist Hospital, Brenda Backlund-Pearson, BSN Class of 2019, RN, began questioning her new career path which she had just spent two years studying to achieve and two decades finding.

At 47, Backlund-Pearson found herself starting her third career during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I wondered if I should quit and start over once the pandemic is over,” she says. “...
Magazines of the Schools at UT Health San Antonio •

Casa Mia Provides Hope to Mothers, Their Babies - Magazines of the Schools at UT Health San Antonio

Tribute

By Salwa Choucair

On a quiet street in a predominantly historic neighborhood near downtown San Antonio sits a two-story house filled with laughter, baby bottles, diapers and toys. Called Casa Mia, this house is a refuge for mothers with opioid use disorders and their infants and toddlers. With its fresh garden in the back and clean beds to sleep on at night, it is a far cry from the streets where these women formerly resided.

“We helped 32 women and 26 children in 2019,” says Lisa Cle...
Baylor Magazine, Winter 2019 | Baylor University •

Mastering Ethics for Work & Life

Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle proposed virtue ethics as a theory of moral decision making, believing good habits are developed by practicing virtuous acts regularly. Christians agree but use Christ’s life as their guide with prudence, justice, temperance, courage, faith, hope and love (charity) as their guiding virtues.

While the philosophy behind ethics may help one build a foundation on which to base decisions, when it comes to making ethical choices in a boardroom, conference room or c
Baylor Magazine, Spring 2017 | Baylor University •

Room for Growth

Reminders of hope and compassion welcome all at the entrance of the new home of Baylor’s Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic in the Cashion Academic Center.

Scripture references at the doorway and in the reception area signal the heart and compassion to be found within the clinic:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6 NIV]

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord,