Pictured: members of the 2023-2024 MPHS UIL Academic team 

Contact: Kelly Cowan

MPHS UIL competes at Sulphur Springs

The Mount Pleasant High School UIL Academic team completed its final push toward the district at the Judy Tipping Memorial UIL Invitational Meet at Sulphur Springs High School on February 16-17. It was the last meeting for the entire academic team before spring break, with the district meeting scheduled for April 6 in Hallsville.

Full results include:

Calculator Applications (2nd place team)

9th grade: Karen Sandate 4th

10th grade: Julian Chancellor 2nd

11th grade: Luke Thurman 1st, Yahaira Piña 3rd, Tanner Marshall 3rd, Gopi Amin 6th

12th grade: Clinton DeBord 1st

Overall: Clinton DeBord 2nd, Luke Thurman 5th

Mathematics (2nd place team)

10th grade: Julian Chancellor 6th

11th grade: Yahaira Piña 1st, Luke Thurman 2nd, Gopi Amin 3rd, Tanner Marshall 5th, Samuel Chappell 5th

12th grade: Clinton DeBord 2nd

Overall: Clinton DeBord 4th, Yahaira Piña 5th

Spelling (2nd place team) Sophie Greco 1st, Brissia Alvarez 4th

Number Sense 

11th grade: Luke Thurman 3rd, Tanner Marshall 5th, Gopi Amin 6th, Samuel Chappell 6th

12th grade: Andrew Guerette 5th, Ethan Sanchez 6th 

Science 

10th grade: Vanessa Sampson 6th 

11th grade: Luke Thurman 5th

Current Events Angelina Hernandez 1st 

Persuasive Extemporaneous Speaking Lesly Flores 1st

Informative Extemporaneous Speaking Angelina Hernandez 1st, Sabrina Otero 3rd, Raquel Garza 4th 

Lincoln Douglas Debate Angelina Hernandez 1st, Natalia Aspeitia 4th, Raquel Garza 6th 

Journalism

Copy Editing: Brissia Alvarez 3rd, Evelyn Hernandez 5th

News Writing: Idania Castanon 6th 

Feature Writing: Idania Castanon 5th, Noemy Dorantes 6th 

 Headline Writing: Celeste Landin 5th

Ready Writing Sophie Greco 2nd  

Gina Crouch, UIL Coordinator, Spelling and Current Events; Osias Hernandez, Math, Calculator, and Computer Science; Gabrielle Robbins, Literary Criticism and Ready Writing; David Clark, Accounting and Social Studies, Lara Martin, Debate, John Whitten Journalism, Kim Cox, Journalism, Larry Russell, Science, Randy Ballard, Number Sense, and Misty McCrumby, Extemp, Prose, and Poetry coach the teams.

Nursery/Landscape Team (L to R) Michelle Ramirez, Jeseth Monreal, Xitlaly Sanchez, Ana Bonilla 

Veterinary Science Team (L to R) Genevieve Rubio, Bowdrie Priefert, Lakyn Fortenberry

MPHS FFA teams compete in Daingerfield

Mount Pleasant High School FFA members competed at the Daingerfield Invitational CDE contest held at Daingerfield High School on Monday, February 19, competing in the Nursery/Landscape division and in Veterinary Science.

MPHS Nursery/Landscape team members Michelle Ramirez, Jeseth Monreal, Xitlaly Sanchez, and Ana Bonilla placed 4th for the first time competing in the event. For this event, students must take a written exam, identify plant materials and tools standard to the industry, and evaluate groups of plants and landscape designs.

The Veterinary Science team of Genevieve Rubio, Bowdrie Priefert, and Lakyn Fortenberry came in 10th place at their first meet. In this event, students take a written exam, take a separate math application exam, identify animal breeds, equipment, and anatomy, and demonstrate veterinary skills.

“I am so proud of these two teams. This was their first time ever to compete in these events,” said Advisor Susie Hearron. “They are working and studying very hard.”

The Daingerfield contest was one of several planned invitational contests for team members to compete and prepare for the Area 6 FFA Career Development Event (CDE) on April 15-16.