May 22, 2001 - Stars arrive in the Lonestar state!
The crew arrives in Houston, Texas, ready to role.

It's day one of actual shooting in Texas, and it was a very busy day at that. We flew in to the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport on Midwest Express where we met up with a representative from Jesse H. Jones High School, Marshall's partner school in Houston. We then took a small coach bus to Houston, Texas, which happened to be a five-hour drive with lunch at Texas Burger/Subway. Here in Houston we met up with our friends from the Wisconsin DNR at the University of Houston Hilton hotel where we'll be staying until Thursday. The best part that night for everyone was dinner! We went to a local Tex-Mex restaurant, called Chuy's, where the food and the atmosphere were both wonderful. There we also met up with a wonderful teacher from our partner school in Houston, Sehba Sarwar, and her husband. Meeting them was a great privilege. The students and crew immediately loved them. And despite a little practical joke played on Mr. Homes and Ms. Sattler, everyone was in great spirits and eager to begin shooting the next day.

Since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, we started each day right with a wonderful breakfast at the hotel. This is when we discussed the plan for the day, or sometimes the lack of plans.

After breakfast we ventured to Jesse H. Jones High School to meet up with Ms. Sehba Sarwar and her students.

We were blessed with mild weather in the morning as we ate a wonderful breakfast at the Hilton's restaurant, Eric's. But it was off to work as the students, teachers and DNR reps met at Jones High School. Mr. Allen, principal of Jones H.S. greeted us at the entrance as we inspected the high school. This is where we got our first taste of Houston's air quality. Upon entering the school there was a rank smell. When looking up, you could see smoke rolling off of the roof of the building. Even though the schools are in completely different states and come from fairly different backgrounds, the similarities between the school and students in Milwaukee were amazing. We met Sehba's students after meeting with the administration of the school and we instantly bonded with them. One major difference that interested the students and teachers alike was the different academic programs. Jones H.S. has a "Vanguard" program that is similar to the "Inter Baccalaureate (IB)" program at both John Marshall H.S. and Rufus King H.S. We then met with our "Houston Resident" for the project, Emmy, a freshman from Jones. We spent the morning mingling with the students and teachers and touring Jones.

We first met with the principal of Jones, Mr. Allen and he was very pleased to have us visiting.

Before meeting up with Ms. Sarwar, three of her students showed us a gift made just for us, a chalk outline in their courtyard.

We met with Ms. Sarwar's class at Jones and had a nice discussion about the similarities and differences between Milwaukee and Houston schools. We then went on a guided tour with them through the school, where we met some interesting people.

Ms. Sarwar (left) and the Vanguard coordinator, Mary Kay Porter (second from right) with Ms. Sattler and Mr. Holmes.

It was Mary Kay who introduced us to Diet Big Red soda, which went over really well with Ms. Sattler, Mr. Holmes and Jenny Pelej from the Wisconsin DNR.

Before going to the taping site, Emmy, Jenny and Geo all practiced their lines together at Jones.

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