From the Progress Times - Campus Chronicle

©Progress Times 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Academic UIL teams win district 30-5A meet

After three days of competition, waiting, and anxiety, the Sharyland High School (SHS) academic teams learned they had done it again—their 49th district championship. Their hard work was worth all the effort and they should be congratulated for their outstanding results.

The road to winning district began with a district win by our three CX debate teams, who placed first, third and fourth at their district tournament in February. The top team of Abdullah Usudan and Elsy Compres advanced to compete at the state CX meet in March. At district, the team of Valerie Cavazos and Ashley Guy placed third, and Itzel Martinez and Elle Romero placed fourth. The three teams’ 42 points gave SHS a head start on the district championship.

This year’s one act play, By the Bog of Cats, advanced from Zone to District to Area, gathering some notable honors with each performance. At district, lead actress Anna Fleury won the Best Actress award, and Patrick Mackie and Lidia Plaza were named to the All Star Cast. Wade Meadors and Jose Rodriguez received Honorable Mention designations. The One Act Play’s 40 points contributed greatly to our district score.

At the area contest, April 3, the cast gave one of the best performances staged in Region IV Area 3. The play was selected as the alternate to the Regional UIL Meet and individual awards went to Anna Fleury (Best Actress) and Patrick Mackie, Ashley Hughes, and Lydia Plaza (all Honorable Mention).

The District 30-5A Academic Meet was held at SHS the last week of March. The academic teams did an outstanding job and garnered more than enough points to put Sharyland on top. The winners were Accounting: Alondra Dominguez 3rd, Stephanie Del Bosque 5th, and Kedesh Ochoa 6th; Calculator Applications: Yoonha Jeong 4th (2nd Place team); Computer Applications: Roel Chapa 1st, Lourraine Flores 2nd, Diego Gonzalez 3rd; Computer Science: Caleb Watt 2nd, Daniel Medina 4th (2nd Place Team); Editorial: Kelsey Lawrence 1st, Rachel Taliaferro 3rd; Feature: Rachel Taliaferro 5th; Headline: Rachel Taliaferro 2nd; News: Rachel Taliaferro 3rd; Informative Speaking: Elsy Compres 1st, Valerie Cavazos, 3rd, Aracely Gonzalez 4th; Persuasive Speaking: Abdullah Usudan 2nd, Ashley Guy 3rd, Tyler Castille 4th; Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Bianca Rodriguez 2nd, Brenda Mata 3rd, Emily Tall 4th; Literary Criticism: Karen Villarreal 6th (2nd Place Team), Poetry Interpretation: Alex Kamel 3rd; Prose Interpretation: Katie Dunnavent 2nd; Jose Rodriguez 3rd, Paige Love 5th; Ready Writing: Richard Calzada 4th; Spelling: Angela Garcia 4th (2nd Place Team). Sharyland also earned the Top Speech Team and Top Journalism Team awards.

Those advancing to the Region IV Academic Meet in San Antonio were Roel Chapa, Diego Gonzalez, Lourraine Flores, Abdullah Usudan, Elsy Compres, Katie Dunnavent, Jose Rodriguez, Alex Kamel, Kelsey Lawrence, Rachel Taliaferro, Alondra Dominguez, Caleb Watt, Valerie Cavazos, Ashley Guy, Bianca Rodriguez, and the Calculator Apps. Team of Yoonha Jeong, Sanghan Shin, Michelle Sung, and Ana Choi.

Roel Chapa, Diego Gonzalez, Elsy Compres, Abdullah Usudan, and Rachel Taliaferro advanced to the state competition. Roel placed first and Diego placed second in Computer Applications, and Abdullah placed third in Persuasive Speaking. All of these students are ranked in the top 12 in the state in their divisions. Congratulations to all these talented students.