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Mt Pleasant ISD News

 

Wade Stinson Scholarship Awarded to Juan Ottino

Mt. Pleasant High School senior Juan Ottino, the son of Gregorio and Cynthia Guerrero, is the recipient of the Wade Stinson Memorial Athletic Scholarship. Juan played Varsity football for two years and was awarded Academic All-District honors as a junior and Academic All-State as a senior. He has been a member of the Tiger Varsity Baseball team for four years. During his junior baseball season, he was selected for All-District Honorable Mention honors and received the Built Tiger Tough Award. As a senior, he earned the Tiger’s Defensive MVP. He has also been a member of the Tiger Track team and a three-year member of the Cross Country team. He was a Regional team qualifier for cross country during both his junior and senior years.

In addition to athletics, Juan is ranked ninth in his class and will graduate from high school with over 40 hours of college credit. He is a Texas Scholar and serves as the Vice President of HOSA. He is a member of the National Honor Society and Phi Theta Kappa honor society. His classmates chose him as the 2018 Prom King.

Juan has participated in various community service activities by volunteering at Titus County Cares, the HOSA Health Fair, Relay for Life. He attends Trinity Baptist Church.

Wade’s parents, Debbie Stinson and Wade Stinson, presented Juan with the scholarship in memory of their son Wade, who played football, basketball, and baseball. He was an outstanding athlete who played with heart in all his activities. Wade also loved riding horses, shooting guns, and going to the lake. He was an impressive young man that was a friend to everyone he met. The scholarship was established in his memory by Heath Parker, a friend, and classmate of Wade.

 

MPHS Theatre Department Presents Awards

Pictured Left to the right: Alex Rogers, Skylee Ford, Ja’Quacy Minter, Savannah Mack, and Vanessa Vasquez

The Mount Pleasant High School presented Director and student voted awards at its annual banquet.

MPHS Director of Theatre Arts Jace Sturgill presented four awards. The Technician of the Year went to Alex Rogers. Savannah Mack received the Golden Tiger Award. The [i]MPPACT Award went to Ja’Quacy Minter while Skylee Ford received the Dr. Carrie L. Klypchak Award.

In presenting the final award, Sturgill said, “I’m not a huge fan of awards that have “best” in the title, so although in a sense I am giving a ‘best actor’ award, I chose to give an award to a student that has grown an outstanding amount throughout the year.”

Sturgill said he named the award in honor of his theatre professor at Texas A&M University-Commerce Dr. Carrie L. Klypchak because she is “the essence of acting itself.” She taught me “who I want to be as a director and as a person. She taught me that mistakes are nothing if not learning opportunities. She taught me to ‘get worked up’ when I am acting. She taught me that every single rehearsal builds the show. She taught me what it is to care deeply for art, and for my fellow theatre practitioners, and for my leadership staff.” The student receiving this award exemplifies those characteristics, he added.

In the Student Voted Awards Categories, the Happy-Go-Lucky award went to Vanessa Vasquez, and the Most Improved Award went to Alex Rogers. Skylee Ford and Ja’Quacy Minter were named the Theatre Court.

Sturgill also announced the Tiger Theatre Department’s 2018-2019 Season. The season title is Clockwork and the theme Dystopian Steampunk.
The season will include “The Pied Piper of New Orleans” by Jeff Church, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, “HUSH: An Interview with America” by James Still and “Distance” by Jerre Dye. The announcements of the dates will be this fall.

Mount Pleasant Secondary Theatre Department Creative Team 2019 includes Technical Director: Jace Sturgill (Mount Pleasant High School Director of Theatre Arts), Acting Director: Crystal Francis-Peel (Mount Pleasant Junior High Theatre Director), Assistant Acting Director: Crystalla Anderson (Mount Pleasant Junior High Assistant Theatre Director), Assistant Director: Cody Morris (Mount Pleasant High School Speech/Debate Director) and Assistant Technical Director: Lea-Holli Hensley (Mount Pleasant High School Assistant Speech/Debate Coach).

 

MPHS NHS Presents “Pay-It-Forward” Scholarships

Pictured (l-r): NHS Sponsor David Clark, Janet Sharp, Rachel Sharp, Abby Sneed, Angie Sneed and MPHS Principal Dustin Cook.

The Mount Pleasant High School Chapter of the National Honor Society initiated a new scholarship, the “Pay-It-Forward Scholarship” last year and awarded it for the first time this year. Rachel Sharp and Abby Sneed are the recipients of this year’s scholarship.

According to NHS Sponsor David Clark, “The simplest way to define ‘pay it forward’ is that when someone does something for you, instead of paying that person back directly, you pass it on to another person instead. It is the concept we wanted to start. We have taken the money we raised last year and are giving it to this year’s seniors. This year’s seniors will be doing the same for next year’s seniors. Instead of giving back to us for what we did, they are Paying it forward.”

“This year’s recipients have shown their desire to give to future students through their character, service, and leadership. These two students exemplify what it means to Pay-It-Forward.”

Rachel Sharp is the daughter of Robin and Janet Sharp. She will attend The University of Texas at Austin and major in Psychology.

Abby Sneed is the daughter of Angie and the late Kevin Sneed. She will attend Southern Nazarene University and major in Elementary Education.

MPHS Calculator Applications Team Competes at State UIL

Pictured (l-r) Pornphiphat Saiboonchan, Jose Liera, Sanum Shahid, team coach Andy Speir, David Barboza

The Mount Pleasant High School Calculator Applications team competed at the State UIL Academic Meet in Austin on May 3-5 and placed fourth among all 5A schools in the State of Texas. MPHS was only 23 points behind the two teams tied for 2nd place and 73 points ahead of the 5th place team.

The team earned the right to advance to state, for the second year in a row, by placing first in the Region. Team members are Juniors David Barboza and Jose Liera and Seniors Pornphiphat Saiboonchan and Sanum Shahid. Their coach is Andy Speir.

Jose Liera placed 2nd in the State in Math, missing the top spot by 2 points.

“It would have been great to bring home top place again this year. We were up against some of the toughest teams in the State, teams that we have competed against at the state-level several times before” said MPISD Director of Communications Dr. Judi Saxton, “The future looks promising as three of these students are just Juniors with one more year of UIL competition to go. We are so proud of these students and their sponsor, Andy Speir, for the way they represent MPHS and Mt. Pleasant every time they go to another UIL Meet.”

 

Titus County Shared Services Celebrates Better Speech and Hearing Month

Pictured: Speech Therapists serving in Mt. Pleasant ISD, Harts Bluff ISD and Winfield (l-r): Lori Wright SLP, Sarah Webb SLP, Holly Kincaid SLP, Stacy Fitts SLP, Sara Muskrat SLP, Jenna Davis SLP-A and Carol Barnhart SLP.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association designates May as “Better Speech and Hearing Month!” It is the time of year when we recognize the significant role Speech-Language Pathologists play in our schools.

The need for a professional to deal with disorders of speech became known in the 1920’s; however, “speech corrections” were not introduced to the schools until the 1950’s. In the beginning, speech corrections dealt with articulation, but over the years, the field has grown to include voice, fluency, language, dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), acquisition, and oral-motor evaluations and therapies. SLPs serve students in public school systems from the age of three through the age of 21.

If a Speech therapist has made a difference in your life or the life of someone close to you, please take some time this month to thank them for the role they play in our schools.