MPHS TPSA competitors and Advisors
Contact: Kelly Cowan
Twelve Mount Pleasant High School Public Safety students competed at the Texas Public Safety Association (TPSA) Region 2 conference in Mansfield on Saturday, February 11. MPHS students competed in six events, including Building Search, Law Enforcement Agility Course, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), Inmate Processing, Fingerprint Collection and Analysis, and Fire Search and Rescue.
Four MPHS students placed in their events and advanced to the state contest. Those going to state include senior Jazmine Palma, who placed 1st in Fingerprint Collection and Analysis. Senior Yadeline Perez placed 1st in Fire Search and Rescue, senior Lolita Solis placed 3rd in Fire Search and Rescue, and junior Araceli Landaverde placed 1st in Law Enforcement Agility Course. Also competing for MPHS were Luis Bernardino, Jose Escobar, Raquel Garza, Abigail Guerrero, Kayla Hernandez, Erik Liera, Marlyne Mendez, and Abigail Retana.
Mount Pleasant High School offers a four-year program of study in Public Safety, including Principles of Public Safety, Law Enforcement I, Law Enforcement II, and Forensic Science. TPSA advisors are Elizabeth Bailey, Sadonna Parker, and James Nelson. The State competition will take place on April 3-5 in Allen.
MPHS art students advance to state VASE competition
Hernandez: Stephanie Hernandez, with her state-advancing piece, Eternal Youth
Moss: State qualifier Valerie Moss with her work, Into the Woods
Saavedra: Cassandra Saavedra with her state qualifying piece, Never Gonna Give You Up
Vega: Josue Vega qualified two pieces for state, Cowboys, and Tree
Eternal Youth
Into the Woods
Never Gonna Give You Up
Cowboys
Tree
MPHS VASE participants
MPHS VASE participants
MPHS art students at the VASE competition
Thirty-six Mount Pleasant High School Art students entered 52 art pieces in the Region 8 Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) competition on Saturday, February 11, at Chisum High School. Art pieces were scored as a 4 (Excellent), a 3 (Strong), a 2 (Developing), or a 1 (Emerging). Thirty-nine MPHS pieces received gold medals and the highest rating of 4, with 12 pieces scoring 3s.
The student’s piece must earn a rating of 4 to advance to the state. Then, they judge all 4s in a particular division a second time and award state advancements on an allotment, roughly 10% in each. Five pieces by four MPHS students advanced to the state Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) competition. Only 18 items out of 285 in the entire region qualified for the state, so MPHS students made up over 25% of those advancing.
Earning scores of 4 (Excellent) and moving on to state are junior Stephanie Hernandez for Eternal Youth, sophomore Josue Vega for two pieces titled Cowboys and Tree, and freshmen Valerie Moss for Into the Woods and Cassandra Saavedra for Never Gonna Give You Up.
Gold medalists also earning scores of 4 (Excellent) are Luis Avilez, Ana Bonilla, Hannah Bowles, Rafael Calderon, Judson Colley, Ailyen Delarosa, Yair Gonzalez, Litzy Gonzalez, Evelyn Hernandez, Stephanie Hernandez, Kami Labutis, Allyssa Latimer, Jose Lopez, Jaydy Martinez, Rebeca Martinez, Valerie Moss, Alyssa Narvaez, Ayden Osterdock, Tisha Patel, Dayanara Pulquero, Juan Ramirez, Cassandra Saavedra, Makayla Spigner, Silvia Sustaita, Diego Ugalde, Hayden Tennison, and Jordan West.
Earning scores of 3 (Strong) are Elise Alcibar, Rafael Calderon, Saray Delarosa, Kami Labutis, Jose Lopez, Emilia Marino, Jaydy Martinez, Moises Perez, Miriam Rojas, Diana Vargas, and Daniela Zuniga, with Mollie Luck earning a 2 (Developing) for her work.
“This is a special year because we have finally gone back to a normal year of competition,” said MPHS art instructor Laura Kirkland. “Because of COVID, it has been online for the past few years. It is really nice to get it back to the way it should be. My students really enjoyed the interaction with the jurors and students from other schools. We took 52 pieces of artwork and received a total of 44 medals, and we have five pieces of artwork going to state. I am tremendously proud of each of these students for having the diligence to put in the hard work and showing up to represent it at VASE. I believe their hard work has paid off!”
The state Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) competition will be at San Marcos Consolidated High School on April 28-29. The MPHS Art program is under the direction of Laura Kirkland.