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MPISD – News

The Mount Pleasant High School Cheerleaders 

Contact: Kelly Cowan

MPHS Cheerleaders place 2nd at Crandall Game Day Invitational

The Mount Pleasant High School Cheerleaders participated in their second season competition on Saturday, Dec. 3, at Crandall Middle School. 

In the 5A division, they competed against four other schools, receiving the Top Band Chant award and 2nd place overall, just .5 back of the overall winners.

The Mount Pleasant High School Cheer squad will compete again this Sunday at the Dallas NCA State of Texas Championship. MPHS Cheer is under the direction of Karissa Lopez.

The Mount Pleasant Junior High School Cheerleaders 

MPJH Cheerleaders win the first-ever competition

The Mount Pleasant Junior High School Cheerleaders participated in their first-ever competition at Crandall Middle School on Saturday, December 3. In the Junior High division, MPJH defeated teams from Lago Vista and Oakwood Middle School to claim the team championship.

The Mount Pleasant Junior High School Cheer squad will compete again this Sunday at the Dallas NCA State of Texas Championship. MPJH Cheer is under the direction of Perla Mayfield.

MPHS Speech and Debate team members at UT Austin (L to R): Gopi Amin, Angelina Hernandez, Anthony Orellana, Madeline Tumey-Simmons, Elijah Rider, Merlin Cardona

MPHS Speech and Debate competes at Longhorn Classic

The Mount Pleasant High School Speech and Debate team competed at the Longhorn Classic at The University of Texas at Austin on December 2-4. The tournament featured 111 schools from ten states. MP Speech and Debate took six team members who competed in three different categories and brought home two medals.

Senior Anthony Orellana made history in the Lincoln Douglas debate, becoming the first MPHS team member to advance to Octafinals in that event. The field began day one with 160 competitors. Orellana defeated opponents from Southlake Carroll, St. Mary’s Hall, St. Agnes, and Plano East for a 4-2 record and a 22nd seed out of prelims. Next, he defeated competitors from The Greenhill School and Westwood, and they finally eliminated him by an opponent from Prospect High School in California. Orellana finished in the top 16 out of 160 for his final appearance at the Longhorn Classic. 

The placement also secured the final points he needed to qualify for the Texas Forensic Association (TFA) State Tournament in March. Junior Angelina Hernandez and sophomore Gopi Amin also competed in LD, picking up wins and valuable national-level experience.

In Individual Events, senior Madeline Tumey-Simmons medaled as a quarterfinalist in Oral Interpretation. The field began day one with 84 competitors. After prelims, Tumey-Simmons finished in the top 32, just narrowly missing advancing to the semifinals by one rank in her final appearance at the Longhorn Classic 

Newcomer Elijah Rider also competed in Oral Interpretation, succeeding in his first national-level tournament. Senior Merlin Cardona competed in the Congressional Debate, gaining valuable experience and practice for UIL State.

MP Speech and Debate will compete in one final tournament before Christmas break and attend the UIL State Congressional meet in January.

MPISD Robotics teams compete in Sulphur Springs

Robotics programs give students hands-on experience applying essential Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) concepts to real-world problems. Students can learn how to program their robots to move, make noise, light up, and follow other instructions as directed. In MPISD, students in the elementary and middle school Robotics program construct their robots from the ground up, design what they want them to look like, program them to complete specific tasks, and learn to drive them using iPad technology.

Four teams from E.C. Brice Elementary and two from Wallace Middle School competed in the first annual Texas Youth Robotics Alliance competition on Wednesday, November 30, at the Sulphur Springs Civic Center. The competition featured 30 teams of elementary and middle school students from the surrounding area. Each group participated in three qualification matches using the Go, Go Cargo! Challenge.

Go, Go, Cargo Challenges teams to design a robot to help them gather and move Cargo, install cranes, and lay down rails. Matches consisted of a 30-second autonomous period followed by a 90-second driver-controlled period. During the 30-second autonomous period, robots move on their own according to programs entered by the students to accomplish predetermined tasks and earn points.

During the 90-second driver-controlled period, teams remotely control their robot to accomplish tasks and earn points. In the end, referees assess points and calculate the total match score. 

At the end of the qualification matches, the top 16 teams advanced to the finals tournament.

Wallace Team 1(Omar Castaneda, Adrian Nava, Ryan Hughes, and Aidan Lane) and Cowbots (Shane Dimon, Kolten Heeren, Joceylyn Martinez, Kadence Stephens, Miguel Perez, and Abraham Tovar) from E.C. Brice were named finalists at their first-ever competition. Also competing for MPISD were Wallace Team 2 (Josue Aguilar, Ian Crockett, and Christian Maldonado), Terminators (Tana Contreras, Enrique Guzman, Arianna Baron, Edgar Santiago, Esteban Garcia, and Paola Fernandez), Robotic Warriors (Samuel Smith, Demian Jimenez, Alejandro Perez, Cristofer Ruiz, Erick Castaneda, and Gavin Williams), and Creative Unicorns (Victoria Trejo, Emmalyn Thurman, Adrianna De Santiago, Andre Medina, Natalia Portales, and Myah Valdez).