MPISD – News

The MPHS Goin’ Gold Band Drum Majors and Color Guard officers L to R:

Joshlyn Paloblanco, John Gregory Rodriguez Hernandez, Jenifer Deciga, Nia Jackson, Taryn Thurman, and Nick Segovia 

Contact: Kelly Cowan

Mount Pleasant High School Goin’ Gold Band triumphs at THE contest

The Mount Pleasant High School Goin’ Gold Band competed at the University of Arkansas at Monticello Marching Contest on October 8. Of the 17 bands competing, MPHS earned eleven awards, including the title of Best Overall Band of the Day, as well as Best Overall Color Guard of the Day and Best Overall Percussion of the Day.

Also, the band earned four Best in Class awards: Best in Class Band, Best in Class Color Guard, Best in Class Drum Major, and Best in Class Percussion. Rounding out the eleven trophies brought home by the band were first divisions in Band, Color Guard, Drum Major, and Percussion.

The band’s show, titled “Vampyre,” is loosely based on the Twilight series of books and the movie “Underworld” and features popular music by Evanescence. 

Dr. Theodus Luckett, III, is the director of the Goin’ Gold Band, and his assistants are Jamey Sterrett, Alicia Hargett, Karen Luckett, and Sheri Sullivan. Marty Newman is the coach for the Color Guard and assisted by Jorge Banda and Presley McClendon. The band will compete in the UIL 5A district marching contest on Tuesday, October 15, at Sam Parker Field and will perform at 5:00 pm. 

 

Front row L to R: MaKayla Houchin, Reese Ball, Hannah Harvill, Katie Ochoa

Back row L to R: Jack Welborn, Caleb Ball, Jacob Elliott, Ryan Sharp, Sam Sloan

MPHS Swimmers compete in Lufkin

The Mount Pleasant High School Swim Team opened its season on Saturday, October 5, at the Pineywoods Community Academy Meet in Lufkin. The meet featured ten schools and a total of 168 swimmers. Individual results were as follows:

Boys 200 medley Relay: the team of Ryan Sharp, Jacob Elliott, Jack Welborn, and Sam Sloan—6th place

Girls 200 Free Relay: the team of Katie Ochoa, Hannah Harvill, Reese Ball, and MaKayla Houchin—4th place

Boys 200 Free Relay: the team of Caleb Ball, Sloan, Elliott, and Sharp—4th place

Boys 50 Freestyle: Sharp—1st place, Sloan—9th place, Welborn—11th place

Girls 100 Butterfly: Houchin—2nd place

Boys 100 Butterfly: Sharp—2nd place

Girls 100 Freestyle: Ochoa—7th place, Harvill—10th place, R. Ball—16th place

Boys 100 Freestyle: C. Ball—10th place, Elliott—11th place

Girls 100 Breaststroke: Houchin—8th place, Harvill—9th place, R. Ball—13th place

Boys 100 Breaststroke: Elliott—12th place, C. Ball—15th place, Sloan—15th place

Girls 100 Backstroke: Ochoa—5th place

Kristi Houchin is the coach for the MPHS Swim team. They will compete again at the Grace Community School Invitational on Saturday, October 26, in Tyler. 

 

 

The new members of the E.C. Brice Chapter of the National Elementary Honor Society.

E.C. Brice inducts students into National Elementary Honor Society

Twenty-six E.C. Brice Elementary School 4th graders became members of the National Elementary Honor Society (NEHS) as the Brice Chapter held its induction ceremony on October 3. NEHS recognizes 4th-grade students for their outstanding academic achievement and demonstrated personal responsibility. The organization seeks to provide meaningful service activities for students to both the school and the community and to develop essential leadership skills in elementary school students.

Mount Pleasant High School sophomore, Connelly Cowan, was the guest speaker for the event. Cowan, who attended E.C. Brice and was the President of the Brice NEHS when she was a 4th grader, congratulated the students on achieving membership in NEHS. She spoke about having to work hard to achieve the goals they will set and her own recent personal experience in UIL extemporaneous speaking. She said, “In January, I was struggling to give 4-minute speeches. But I knew I really wanted to go to state in extemp. So, I started practicing. I got 3rd at district and barely made it to regionals. I got 3rd at regionals and barely made it to state. And then in the month between regionals and state, I practiced some more. I gave multiple speeches a day. And at the end of May, I won the state championship! I knew as a freshman, I would be competing against students with two and three times my experience. But I worked hard anyway.” Cowan encouraged the new NEHS members to be leaders at E.C. Brice, to find and pour into supportive friends, and to find an activity they love. She told them to “go all in to build your skill set and reach your personal goals.”

Brice Principal Craig Toney said he was incredibly proud of the students inducted into the school’s NEHS chapter. He also thanked the parents for their continued support of their students and of E.C. Brice. “We are very proud of these kids and their accomplishments,” said Toney. “They are the very best of E.C. Brice Elementary School.”

The 2019 E.C. Brice Elementary School NEHS Inductees are Alexander Andrade, Erik Banda, Michelle Bautista (Parliamentarian), Leslie Benavides Fernandez, Hannah Carr, Alexa Castañeda, VictorManuel Contreras, Raif Fielder, Isabella Furnish, Fabiola Garcia, Julie Anna Garcia (Secretary), Blakely Garrett, Michelle Garrett, Oscar Gomez (Historian), Hayden Harvill (Treasurer), Mario Hernandez, Grayson Hunter-Gonzalez, Melany Jimenez, Kennedy Jones (Vice President), Ryne Mitchell, Lynndsie Phann, Yaretzi Prado (President), Asia Salters, Erick Torres, Valeria Vera Cortez, and Dakota Williams. Rachel Findley advises the E.C. Brice chapter of NEHS. 

 

The P.E. Wallace Running Club

 

 

 

Wallace Middle School running club honors veteran’s birthday

In September, the P.E. Wallace Middle School P.E. department started a running club that meets every Thursday after school. Students run or walk around the track for 45 minutes. The club has grown each week, nearing almost 100 participants. 

World War II veteran James South of Watauga, TX near Fort Worth, will celebrate his 100th birthday on October 7. When asked by his son what he wanted for his birthday, South requested 100 birthday cards. To date, he has received over 60,000. To honor South, the Wallace Running Club ran 100 combined laps and made a happy birthday banner. Wallace videoed the event and contacted the family and nursing home to give him the banner and a copy of the video. You can view the video on the MPISD Facebook page. 

Running club members are signed up to run in the Everything Texas Ranch Run as well as the Suzanna Grigsby event later in the month. All Wallace students are welcome to join the running club. Information is available in the Wallace front office. 

 

P.E.Wallace Middle School

First Six weeks “A” Honor Roll

 

Fifth Grade: Jannely Aguilar, Adriel Bagsic, Dalia Balderas, Zacharii Banda, Carson Bell, Kaelyn Carrillo, Zoei Craig, Drew Cross, Valeria Cueto, Taylor Ellis, Lia Esguerra, Maritza Estrada, Irlanda Gasca, Jaslenne Gonzalez, Monserrat Gonzalez, Ka’ronica Hatten, Angeli Hernandez, Isaac Hernandez, Alexis Herrera, Caydon Johnson, Conley Johnson, Jayden Loewen, Gael Lozano, Thi Luong, Aileen Martinez, Eilene Martinez, Ariel Mendez, Brayden Odom, Gabriel Palomares, Aurian Peoples, Diego Ramirez, Cooper Rider, Christian Rojas, Santiago Santos, Anna Sellers, Denise Serrano, Mary Snyder, Mayci Stoker, Tony Telles Ayala, A’london Thomas, Christerpher Toon II, Adan Torres, Keith Ulayyet, Edgar Vasquez, Aidan Veasley, Ty’ree Williams, Maggie Wilson, Kimberly Zuniga. 

Sixth Grade: Brooke Alexander, Misael Almendarez, Brissia Alvarez, Alberto Avila, Lucero Ayala, William Baker, Joshua Bello, Christopher Canada, Valerie Cassio, Alyse Cervantes, Julian Chancellor Judson Colley, Carter Cook, Aaliyah Delarosa, Manuel Dorantes, Ava Fite, Mayte Flores, Juan Gallegos, Emily Garcia, Javan Garcia, Audrey Garrett, Jamie Garrett, Esther Gonzalez, Yanita Gordan, Alessandro Greco, Aylin Hernandez, Mariana Hernandez, Marisol Hipolito, Emileigh Hobbs, Skyler Hopkins, Celeste Landin, Ana Lara, Marely Lopez, Katelyn Manns, James Means, Carter Moody, Denisse Moreno, Claire Muskrat, Zuleymi Nava, Jaqueline Pena, Alex Perez, Esmeralda Perez, Alayza Police, Ailin Quinonez, Peyton Robinson, Alondra Ruiz Lara, Alondra Santos, Madison St. John, Matthew St. John, Kortland Stovall, Abraham Tolentino, Jazmine Urbina, Wendy Valdez, Angel Vazquez, Bennett Wall, Nathan York, Nathan Zavala, Grace Zittel.