Honor Rolls

Tyler Scott Franklin, GHS Valedictorian
Parents: Mike and Kathy Franklin of Colleyville

• National Merit Scholar
• AP Scholar
• National Honor Society
• GHS Spanish Honor Society
• Community Scholar Ambassador
• GHS Tennis Team
• Fillies Honor Guard
• Co-Founder and President of GHS Ultimate Frisbee Club
• Participated in church youth organization and went on several mission trips
• Attended GCISD schools throughout public education: Glenhope, Cross Timbers and the Grapevine High

Tyler plans to major in Aerospace Engineering through the Honors Program at the University of Texas in Austin. He would like to work for a company such as Boeing or Lockheed Martin, or become a test pilot. Tyler says GHS teacher Lori Cleveland has provided him with the best educational experience. “Mrs. Cleveland is a teacher who easily relates to her students and understands the priorities in her students’ lives. The method by which she teaches corresponds to her connection with her students, in that she leads a focused lesson and then gives students a chance to do their homework in class to reinforce the new material…Further, if I ever had a problem or a question, Mrs. Cleveland was always available.”

“Receiving this honor will encourage me to continue to strive for excellence and never settle for mediocrity. Becoming Valedictorian reinforces my confidence that I can achieve any goal for which I strive and will push me to follow my dreams.”

Anjali Datta, GHS Valedictorian--Three-Year
Parents: Deepak and Shraboni Datta of Grapevine

• Candidate for Presidential Scholars Program
• Founder and President of Mu Alpha Theta, GHS chapter
• Captain of GHS World Quest team
• Accomplished Chess player and represented the U.S. in World Youth Chess Championships in Crete and Greece
• Volunteer Chess coach at Southlake and Colleyville Library Chess Clubs
• Attended GCISD schools for four years: Cross Timbers and Grapevine High

Anjali plans to major in Biomedical Engineering as a Dedman Distinguished Scholar at the University of Texas in Austin. She hopes to obtain a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering or a M.D./PhD. with the objective of a career in research in academia or industry. Anjali notes that she has had many excellent teachers in GCISD, including Angela Annis, Stephanie Bakintas, Dave Parson and Ann Turpin.

“Being the highest ranking graduate gives me the confidence that I will be able to take on challenges in the future.”

Brigit Holland, GHS Salutatorian
Parents: Bill and Mary Holland of North Richland Hills

• National Merit Finalist
• National Honor Society
• Spanish National Honor Society
• Volunteers at a nursing and rehabilitation center
• Attended GCISD schools throughout public education: O.C. Taylor, Cross Timbers Middle and then Grapevine High

Brigit plans to be a Pre-Med or Chemistry major at the University of Oklahoma, and pursue a career as a doctor or chemist. She says GHS teacher Margaret Telford has provided her with the best educational experience because she is friendly, understanding and interesting.

“Being the Salutatorian helped me to get into the Honors College at the University of Oklahoma.”

WOW! Way to Go! Congratulations to the GHS Theatre Department
At the 8th annual Betty Lynn Buckley awards, Grapevine High School showed the area that "it is not like this everywhere."

The awards are as follows :

1st Place Betty Buckley Award Winner for the Best Musical of the Year!
1st Place Betty Buckley Award Winner for the Best Student Orchestra of the Year!
1st Place Betty Buckley Award Winner for the Best Scenic Design, Level II, of the Year!
1st Place Betty Buckley Award Winner for theBest Lighting, Level 2 award
1st Place Betty Buckley Award Winner for the Best Costumes Design.
click for pictures
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Ryan Savage placed 5th in Computer Applications this past week-end at the UIL State Academic Meet in Austin.

He is the first student from GHS to place in this event at the State Meet.

click for pictures

Congratulations to the following students who were elected Class Officers for 2008-09

Class of 2009
President Emily Parker
VP Reece Garrett
Secretary Erica Doty
Historian Jessica Brooks
Treasurer Tiffany Avary

Class of 2010
President Miles Hensel
VP Kristin Devahl
Secretary Katie Squires
Historian Emily Actinson
Treasurer Kerbie Merrill

Class of 2011
President Chad Karels
VP Abby Gooding
Secretary Samantha Cloud
Historian Rachel Davis
Treasurer Barbara Smith

2008 Buckley Nominations

Students won awards at ART in the Square this weekend.

Nikki Chavez won 3rd place and Honorable mention
Meghan Leddy Won Honorable mention.

Congratulations to the 2008 - 2009 Student Council Officers:

President - Jessica Cox
Vice President - Kristen Sass
Sergeant at Arms - Jared Barnett
Treasurer - Megan Hunt
Secretary - Tara Gooding
Historian - Taylor Staab

Regional Track Meet

David Taylor won first place in pole vault by jumping 16 feet. He has broken the GHS record of 15' 9" set by our own Cody Koontz when he was a senior here.

Monte Willett came in second with a vault of 15' 6".

Both of these young men will now advance to the state finals.

2008-09 Grapevine High School Fillies Varsity Dance Team results

Captain--Rachel Toney
Lieutenants--Laurel Rushton, Alison Hessling, Courtney Lancaster, Ali Wielinski,
Bailey Bauer, and Tara Scoville

Ball, Shannon
Bauer, Bailey
Bearden, Becca
Benson, Christine
Bestard, Julie
Blake, Aly
Brown, Raquel
Bucklin, Hayley
Burnham, Kaitlyn
Carroll, Haley
Christy, Carlee
Cowee, Morgan
Davis, Rachel
Eaton, Kristen
Eden, Tara
Floyd, Heather
George, Kristina
Giallanza, Kali
Goldstein, Courtney
Goodwin, Shelby
Hannah, Alyssa
Hessling, Alison
House, Mekenzie
Hughes, Lauren
Johnson, Kelsey
Johnson, Savannah
Lahoda, Maddie
Lambert, Jordan
Lancaster, Courtney
Lefko, Allegra
Linz, Kendall
Luke, Lauren
Luttrell, Lacy
Marshello, Kristen
Moody, Hannah
Newton, Jenny
Nichols, Rebekah
Nolte, Kristina
O'Briant, McKenzie
Otano, Katie
Roach, Stephanie
Rogers, Madison
Rooney, Chelsea
Rosse, Carly
Rushton, Laurel
Scordas, Kristen
Scoville, Tara
Sisco, Caroline
Staab, Taylor
Stamps, Kara
Strittmatter, Whitney
Strowmatt, Logan
Tichacek, Hannah
Toney, Rachel
Welch, Lindsey
Wielinski, Ali
Williams, Erin
Williky, Hayley

GHS Oral Interp Team sets a school record for most competitors ever qualified for the national tournament.
The national tournament will be held in Las Vegas from June 14th-21st.

Qualifying in Duo Interp
Kaitlin Hoag/Sarah Baston
Ben Hicks/Melissa Lamb

Qualifying in Humorous Interp
Casey Williams
Scott Morgan

Other Participating Students
Jordan Hughes
Caroline Brenner
Elliot Kramer
Izzy Ingraham

The Debate success:

LINCOLN DOUGLAS DEBATE
William HIx - qualified for the national tournament
Wyatt Ray - 1st alternate

POLICY DEBATE
Mike Gajewsky and Emily Hall -1st Alternate

PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE
Monte Halprin and Kevin Fields - 1st alternate

DOMESTIC EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING
Monte Halpin - 4th Alternate
Tom Rayermann - 5th Alternate

STUDENT CONGRESS SENATE
Leslie Berntsen - 2nd Alternate

STUDENT CONGRESS HOUSE
Mike Gajewsky - 1st Alternate

State VASE Results

Congratulations to the GHS students who were awarded a "4" in the
Texas State VASE competition in Houston April 11 &12:

Meghan Leddy
Irene Li
Sara Robins

Other GHS students who participated in the VASE competition were:

Hayley Butler
Emily Smith
Lance Trachier

All these students did a great job in this state wide competition.

CONGRATULATIONS TO WILLIAM HIX who received an invitation to attend the Kentucky Tournament of Champions in May. This tournament is considered as the Superbowl of tournaments or (in reference to the timing) the KENTUCKY DERBY of the triple crown of debate. They will be at the University of Kentucky, May 2-6.

Grapevine will have 4 participants at the TOC this year. This is the MOST representing Grapevine at the TOC in 9 years!

William will be competing in Lincoln Douglas Debate and will be joined by
Leslie Berntsen - Student Congress
Tonia Beglari and Shelby Pryor - Policy Debate.

What a great group of debaters we have representing Grapevine HS.

Cameron Heaukulani competes for the GHS gymnastics team as well as at USA Gymnastics events with Top Flight Gymnastics Training center.

Saturday, Cameron competed at the USA Gymnastics Region 3 (Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri) Championship meet in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He placed SECOND overall in the Level 8, 12-14 year old bracket - quite an accomplishment in the strongest USA gymanstics region in the country!

Congratulations to our UIL Academic competitors who traveled to Lubbock this weekend to compete in the Regional contest!

The following students were finalists and/or placed in their respective events:

Computer Applications: Ryan Savage, First Place & State-bound!
Coached by Patty Mischkot

Persuasive Speaking: Eric Wey, Third Place & State-bound!
Coached by Jason Sykes & Jane Boyd

Informative Speaking: Monte Halprin, Finalist: Sixth Place!
Coached by Jane Boyd & Jason Sykes

Competing at the state contest will make Ryan and Eric eligible for scholarships awarded by the UIL each year.

Congratulations again, and let's wish Eric & Ryan all our best at the UIL State Tournament in Austin May 2-3!

Congratulations to members of the debate team who competed at the Legislative Debate District contest which is the qualifier for the NFL National Tournament for this event. This year's National Forensic League National Tournament will be June 15-21 in Las Vegas, NV.

Special recognition goes to:

Mike Gajewsky - 1st alternate to Nationals in House 2
Leslie Berntsen - 2nd Alternate to Nationals in the Senate
Leslie Berntsen, Pritam Shah, and Kevin Fields - Presiding Officers

While the varsity were competing for a national slot, the Novices had their own contest.

Special recognition goes to

Annie Brillhart - 4th place -- novice chamber
Frances Shue - 5th place - novice chamber

Congratulate these students as you see them in the halls and in your classes.

Wish good luck to all the Debaters and Oral Interpers who will be competing in their respective events to compete at the National tournament when they attend the NFL Lone Star District tournament for Debate and individual events on April 18-19 at Highland Park.

The Fillies were named
Grand National Champions
in the Super Team Category (50+ members).  They received first place honors for their performances in Team Modern, Team Hip Hop and Team Pom,  and were also recognized with Technique and  National Winners' Circle honors in recognition of top scoring teams at the contest. 
 
The Fillies Officers ended third overall in a officer competition, the highest ever finish in national competition for the Fillies officers!  The officers placed first in their Officer Modern, Officer Hip Hop, and Officer Jazz performances, and also received Technique and National Officer Winners' Circle recognition. 
 
Congratulations to our FABULOUS Fillies! 
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Contest Awards 2007-08

Congratulations to our UIL Academic competitors for their success thus far in spring meet contests!

UIL District: March 28-29
Academic Contest Results (revised)

Sweepstakes (Combined Events):
3rd Place Overall
1st Place Speech

Accounting (Rosemary Hemsell):
2nd Place Team
6th Place: Broderick Young

Calculator Applications (Rosemary Hemsell):
4th Place: Ramon Li

Cross Examination Debate (Jason Sykes, previously held):
1st Place: Farhad Mirzadeh & David Jagneaux
3rd Place: Jacob Quinn & Amy Schade
4th Place: Eric Wey & Mark Schmitz

State CX Debate Championship (Jason Sykes, previously held):
9th Place (Octafinals): Farhad Mirzadeh & David Jagneaux

Current Issues & Events (Ann Turpin):
2nd Place Team
4th Place: Will Hix
5th Place: Leslie Berntsen

Computer Applications (Patty Mischkot):
2nd Place Team
3rd Place: Ryan Savage
4th Place: Kaitlyn Johanson

Computer Science (Rena Lewis):
3rd Place: Joanna Smith
5th Place: Elliott Kramer

Editorial Writing (Jill Rooney):
2nd Place: Sawyer Davis

Informative Speaking (Jane Boyd):
3rd Place: Monte Halprin
4th Place: Will Hix

Lincoln Douglas Debate (Jane Boyd):
1st Place: Shehzad Bharwani

Literary Criticism (Dianna Trang & Tara Eddins):
3rd Place: Lauren Byrd
6th Place: Emma Paynter

News Writing (Jill Rooney):
1st Place: Lauren Sciarappa

Number Sense (Rosemary Hemsell):
2nd Place Team
2nd Place: Abi Kulshreshtha
4th Place: Coby Tao

Persuasive Speaking (Jason Sykes):
4th Place: Eric Wey

Poetry Interpretation (Grant Hahn):
4th Place: Landry Ayres
5th Place: Kaitlin Hoag

Prose Interpretation (Grant Hahn):
6th Place: Ben Hicks

Ready Writing (Dianna Trang):
1st Place: Alysha Behn

Spelling & Vocabulary (Linda Richardson):
5th Place: Jennifer Shi

The following students are eligible to compete at the Regional contest in lovely Lubbock, Texas on April 11-12:
Ryan Savage (Computer Applications)
Joanna Smith (Computer Science)
Sawyer Davis (Editorial Writing)
Monte Halprin (Informative Speaking)
Shehzad Bharwani (Lincoln Douglas Debate)
Lauren Byrd (Literary Criticism)
Lauren Sciarappa (News Writing)
Abi Kulshreshtha (Number Sense)
Alysha Behn (Ready Writing)

Great job everyone! Good luck in continued competition.

Grapevine youths, mentors develop bonds in PALS program

By KATHERINE CROMER BROCK

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Kyle Crockett, a Grapevine High School senior, greets Logan Ellett, 7, at Cannon Elementary School in Grapevine.

 

GRAPEVINE -- Cannon Elementary School second-grader Malechi Teed sat on the floor of the school's main hallway with Chase Bruton, a senior at Grapevine High School.

They were getting set to play Friendship Island, a game about making friends and social skills.

Malechi held colored game pieces in his hand, trying to figure out which color he should be.

"Which is your favorite color?" he asked Bruton, who answered diplomatically, "I like blue and green."

"But which do you want?"

"I'll take blue," Bruton answered.

"Then I'll take green," Malechi said, smiling. "That's exactly what a pal is for."

This is the second year that Bruton has been paired with Malechi through Grapevine High School PALS, a peer assistance and leadership program.

'A little extra something'

The program, which has been in Grapevine-Colleyville schools for more than a decade, assigns high school students as mentors to "PALees." Grapevine High students work with children from Cannon and Silver Lake Elementary and Cross Timbers Middle schools.

"We have kids who just need a little extra something for the day," Cannon Principal Tim Sutton said. "They need the help, the encouragement, and the PALS make a big impact on our kids."

Mandy Coburn, a counselor at Cannon, was in a PALS program when she was a senior in high school in Irving in 1996.

"For the high school students, it helps with their self-esteem and their self-confidence as much as it does the younger kids," Coburn said. "It seems like they're playing, but they are establishing a great friendship."

'Special to have a PAL'

Through the weekly hour set aside for PALS studying and game playing, the older students often become cheerleaders and trusted confidantes for the younger students.

"I don't have that many friends to play with at recess," second-grader Garrett Day said. He was taking a break from playing hallway soccer outside the school's main office with his PAL senior Jonathan Slusser, who nodded.

"We're trying to work on that, making friends," Slusser said.

Senior Morgan McCarty sat with third-grader Lexi Lybrand as Lexi finished her lunch of a corn dog and ice cream in the cafeteria.

"It's actually really special to have a PAL," Lexi said. "I can talk with her about things that I can't tell a lot of people, like my friends, like personal stuff."

There are 32 juniors and seniors in Grapevine's PALS class. To get into the program, students apply and interview and need recommendations from a classmate and a teacher.

In addition to the mentoring program, PALS volunteer at a senior adult living community, in the Grapevine High special education department and in leadership and fundraising activities, said Tracey Waldroup, Grapevine's PALS coordinator.

The GHS Mustang Belle JV Dance Team
are proud to announce their awards from the 2008 contest season:

Marching Auxiliaries Contest at Grapevine High School
First Place JV Trio
Six division I soloists
Superior JV Officer Jazz
Choreography JV Officer Jazz
Choreography Team Modern
Choreography Team Jazz
Choreography Team Military
Supersweepstakes (90 or above on all three routines)
Winner's Circle (top scoring teams of contest including all varsity and junior varsity)

Starmakers Contest at South Garland High School
JV solo winner- Kristen Scordas
Five division I soloists
Gold Star Award for JV Trio
4 Star Award Team Modern
5 Star Award Officer Jazz
5 Star Award Team Jazz
5 Star Award Team Military
JV Silver- Team Jazz
JV Gold - Team Modern
JV Gold- Team Military
Choreography Officer Jazz
Technique Award- Officer Jazz

The Grapevine Debate and Oral Interpretation team braved snowy weather and sunny skies to attend the 35th Annual Texas Forensic Association State tournament at Coppell HS March 6-8. 188 schools from every region of the state attended this tournament. This was Grapevine's most successful state tournament overall since 1997.

Grapevine HS brought home special recognition in several team awards:

3rd place in School Sweepstakes (188 participating schools)

Ranked 4th for most qualifications in the state (26 total)

GHS received the Lanny Naeglin Award for most accumulated qualifications over several years. The entire team was brought on stage and given a standing ovation of this prestigious award.

Individual Student recognition goes to students in the following events:

DRAMATIC INTERP (109 Participants)
(Just to brag on the kids a little...GHS had 3 finalists in DI. This has only been done one other time in the 35 years of the state tournament!!!)
2nd Place Ben Hicks
5th Place Casey Williams
6th Place Melissa Lamb

DUO INTERP (55 Teams)
2nd Place Kaitlin Hoag/Sarah Baston
Semi Finalists Casey Williams/Jordan Hughes, Melissa Lamb/Ben Hicks
Quarter Finalists Lauren Hughes/Elliot Kramer

HUMOROUS INTERP (96 Participants)
3rd Place Casey Williams
Semi Finalists Ben Hicks / Caroline Brenner

POLICY DEBATE
Tonia Beglari and Shelby Pryor -- Quarter finals (top 8 of 103 teams)
Mike Gajewsky and Emily Hall - Octo Finals (top 16 of 103 teams)
Jacob Quinn and Amy Schade - Octo Finals(top 16 of 103 teams)

LINCOLN DOUGLAS DEBATE
Will Hix - Octo finals (top 16 of 158 debaters)
Emily Allen - Double Octo Finals (top 32 of 158 debaters)

STUDENT CONGRESS
Leslie Berntsen - finals Student Congress House (top 14 of 80)
Pritam Shah - Semi finals Student Congress Senate (top 34 of 100)

Others participating in the state tournament but not advancing were:
Monte Halprin
Chey Mashburn
Julian Melendez
Eric Frazier
David Jagneaux
Farhaud Mirzadeh
Mark Schmitz
Eric Wey
Gena Charette
Landry Ayres
Sean Przano
Scott Morgan

The debate team is coached by Jane Boyd, Jason Sykes, Julian Gagnon, and Lyndsey Simmons. The Oral Interpretation team is coached by Grant Hahn.

GHS Oral Interp and Debate Places 3rd in School Sweepstakes (188 participating schools)

GHS Oral Interp and Debate ranked 4th for most qualifications in the state (26 total)

GHS received the Lanny Naeglin Award for most accumulated qualifications over several years

Interp Results

DRAMATIC INTERP (109 Participants)
(Just to brag on the kids a little...GHS had 3 finalists in DI. This has only been done one other time in the 35 years of the state tournament!!!)
2nd Place Ben Hicks
5th Place Casey Willams
6th Place Melissa Lamb

DUO INTERP (55 Teams)
2nd Place Kaitlin Hoag/Sarah Baston
Semi Finalists Casey Williams/Jordan Hughes, Melissa Lamb/Ben Hicks
Quarter Finalists Lauren Hughes/Elliot Kramer

HUMOROUS INTERP (96 Participants)
3rd Place Casey Williams
Semi Finalists Ben Hicks / Caroline Brenner

Other Participating Members
Gena Charette
Landry Ayres
Sean Przano
Scott Morgan

Debate Results

Tonia Beglari and Shelby Pryor -- Quarter finals Policy Debate (top 8 of 103 teams)
Mike Gajewsky and Emily Hall - Octo Finals Policy Debate (top 16 of 103 teams)
Jacob Quinn and Amy Schade - Octo Finals Policy Debate (top 16 of 103 teams)

Will Hix - Octo finals Lincoln Douglas Debate (top 16 of 158 debaters)
Emily Allen - Double Octo Finals Lincoln Douglas Debate (top 16 of 158 debaters)

Leslie Berntsen - finals Student Congress House (top 14 of 80)
Pritam Shah - Semi finals Student Congress Senate (top 34 of 100)

Others participating in the state tournament but not advancing were:

Monte Halprin
Chey Mashburn
Julian Melendez
Eric Frazier
David Jagneaux
Farhaud Mirzadeh
Mark Schmitz
Eric Wey

2008-2009 GHS Cheerleading Squads

FRESHMAN Bimmerman, Samantha Crenshaw, Aubrey Fagan, Analise Fisher, Callie Friedman, Mackenzie Harman, Courtney Larson, Malena Martin, Allison Masserang, Brooke Schafer, Courtney Shea, Kayla Sklar, Cassidy Towery, Taylor Turner, Natalie JUNIOR VARSITY Benson, Laura Hendler, Courtney Howard, Kaylee Linz, Jenna Pierce, Bresha Pierce, Britta Porto, Miranda Severson, Sam Warner, Paige Wride, Ashley VARSITY Alvarez, Brittany Blythe, Carlin Flynn, Amanda Johnson, Tina King, Jordan Lundquist, Jordan Lykins, Dani Miller, Jennifer Perales, Chandler Precthl, Courtney Steinsberger, Caitlyn Wood, Kristin

Information for new GHS cheerleaders. Please read...

Congratulations to members of the debate team who competed at the Grapevine Rotary 4 way test speech contest, Wednesday, Feb 20 at the Lancaster Theater in Grapevine.

Contest winners were:

Monte Halprin -1st place. Monte will represent Grapevine at the District Rotary speech contest
Tom Rayermann -3rd place
Athula Pudhiyidath - honorable mention

Pictured left to right:

Faith Christian students with Dr. EA Sigler (former superintendent, behind them), Monte Halprin, Tom Rayermann, Rotary Club President, and Athula Pudhiyidath.

The GHS Debate team traveled to Boston this weekend to compete in the Harvard National Invitational Tournament. With over 150 high schools from around the nation competing, the Harvard tournament is the 2nd biggest in the United States next to the NFL National Tournament. The results are as follows:

Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate (350 competitors)

Will Hix - octo-finals - 8th seed and 3rd Speaker overall. Will received his 1st bid to the National Tournament of Champions tournament in Kentucky.

Varsity Cross Examination (Policy) Debate ( 240 teams)

Grapevine was 1 of only 2 schools IN THE COUNTRY who had 4 teams in the elimination rounds in Policy debate.

Mark Schmitz and Eric Wey - Triple Octos (top 64)
Mike Gajewsky and Fahaud Mirzadeh - Double Octos (top 32)
Eric Frazier and Julian Melendez - Double Octos (top 32)
Tonia Beglari and Shelby Pryor - Octos (top 16). This earned them their first bid to the National Tournament of Champions in Kentucky.
Tonia was also the 23rd speaker of 480 Policy debaters

Student Congress (350 competitors)

Leslie Berntsen - semi finals (top 50) This earned Leslie her 2nd bid to the Tournament of Champions and which makes her fully qualified for that tournament in May.

The debate team will be competing the TFA state on March 6-8.

The debate team is hosting the JAPANESE NATIONAL DEBATE team in a public debate on March 12 at the Palace Theatre. Tickets are $5 in advance and can be purchased from a GHS debater or by calling 817-251-5248.

The GHS Oral Interp team traveled to Boston this weekend to compete in the Harvard National Invitational Tournament. With over 150 high schools from around the nation competing, the Harvard tournament is the 2nd biggest in the United States next to the NFL National Tournament. The results are as follows...

Dramatic Interpretation (297 entries)
Double Octafinalists (Top 93): Casey Williams, Sean Przano
Octafinalist (Top 49): Ben Hicks
Quarterfinalist (Top 24): Kaitlin Hoag
Semifinalist (Top 12): Melissa Lamb

Humorous Interpretation (249 entries)
Quarterfinalist (Top 24): Scott Morgan
Semifinalist (Top 12): Casey Williams

Duo Interpretation (204 entries)
Octafinalist (Top 48): Sean Przano/Landry Ayres, Kaitlin Hoag/Sarah Baston
Quarterfinalist (Top 24): Ben Hicks/Melissa Lamb
FINALIST: Jordan Hughes/Casey Williams (5th Place)

All the kids did an awesome job. The Oral Interp / Debate teams have the TFA State Tournament March 6-8th. The Oral Interp team state showcase night is March 5th at 7pm in the black box. Admission is free. Thanks for all the support!!

VASE Results at Fossil Ridge HS- Feb. 17, 2008

Congratulations to the GHS students selected to compete in the Texas State VASE competition in Houston:

Haley Butler
Meghan Leddy (2 pieces)
Irene Li
Sara Robins
Emily Smith
Lance Trechier

Grapevine High School ALWAYS...brings home the hardware!

University of Texas at Dallas

1/4/2008 - 1/5/2008

Number of Schools: 16
______

Dramatic Interp

1st place Ben Hicks

2nd place Missy Lamb
______

Humorous Interp

2nd place Kaitlin Hoag

4th place Sarah Baston

6th place Landry Ayres 
______

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Quarter Finals Chey Mashburn
______

Student Congress

2nd place Pritam Shah

3rd place Monte Halprin
______

Cross-Examination Debate

Quarter Finals Mark Schmitz/Eric Wey

Quarter Finals Farhaud Mirzadeh/David Jagneaux

Congratulations to the following GHS Choir Student who were selected to the:

TEXAS ALL-STATE CHOIR!!!!!

Kate Bristol - Soprano 1
Clara Poole - Alto - 1
Kelly Weaver - Alto 2
Daniel Kilkelly - Bass 2
William Hix - Bass 2 (1st alternate)

WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today's(Jan.5) audition marked the completion of a process that began for these students in July at one of the many All-State camps. It is the end of a four-audition marathon that began with over 40,000 students throughout the state. I do not posses the words to express how very proud I am of these students, their private voice teachers and parents for all that they invested in what is considered to be the highest individual honor that a student can achieve as a high school singer. Due to the strength of Texas' choral music programs, this award ranks these students among the top 1% of choral students in the nation - WOW!

I am humbled by their commitment to excellence and ability to persevere through a truly grueling audition process. I am honored to be their teacher and so very proud to have them represent my organzation, GHS, and GCISD.

Special thanks to:
Julie McNeill and Kristen Cramer  (the private voice teachers of these students.)
Tracy Bristol (our #1 Choir MOM) for giving up yet another weekend to chaperone the auditions.
Brandt Leondar and Donna Gunn for facilitating our travel to Abilene this weekend.

Patrick Antinone
GHS Mustang Choirs

GHS ROCKS the PLANO SENIOR HIGH TOURNAMENT!

12/14/2007 - 12/15/2007

Number of Schools: 45

Dramatic Interp     Number of Entries: 68

2nd place-Missy Lamb

3rd place-Casey Williams

Humorous Interp    Number of Entries: 51

1st place-Casey Williams

2nd place-Scott Morgan

Duo Interp            Number of Entries: 25

1st place-Jordan Hughes/Casey Williams

3rd place-Missy Lamb/Ben Hicks

Lincoln-Douglas Debate              Number of Entries: 65

Semifinals-Emily Allen

Student Congress                      Number of Entries: 82

2nd place-Leslie Berntsen

Cross-Examination Debate          Number of Entries: 21

2nd place-Emily Hall/Shelby Pryor

Semifinals-Jacob Quinn/Amy Schade

Grapevine Debate and Oral Interpretation dominated the competition at the Coppell Cowboy Invitational this weekend.

GHS RECIEVED FIRST PLACE SWEEPSTAKES!

Debate

Will Hix -- 1st place Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate - qualified for TFA State
1st place Domestic Extemp - qualified for TFA state
1st place Speaker - Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate

Leslie Berntsen - 1st place - Student Congress - qualified for TFA State

Eric Frazier 1st place speaker -- Varsity Cross-examination Debate
Semi-finals (3rd place) Varsity Cross-examination Debate - qualified for TFA State

Eric Wey 3rd place speaker- Varsity Cross-Examination Debate

Julian Melendez Semi- Finals (3rd place) Varsity Cross Examination Debate
4th place speaker - Varsity Cross Examination Debate

Mark Schmitz 9th place speaker Varsity Cross Examination Debate

Eric Wey and Mark Schmitz Quarter finals Varsity Cross Examination Debate

Emily Mims and Sebastian Barnes - quarter finals - Novice Cross-Examination Debate

Chey Mashburn - Octos - Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate

Sophia Charania and Pritam Shah - Finals - Student Congress

Oral Interp

Casey Williams/Jordan Hughes- 1st Place Duo Interp
Scott Morgan/David Snodgrass- 2nd Place Duo Interp
Lauren Hughes/Elliot Kramer-5th Place Duo Interp

Caroline Brenner-3rd Place Humorous Interp
Scott Morgan-4th Place Humorous Interp
Landry Ayres-6th Place Humorous Interp

2007 All District (5-5A) Teams Released

The All District teams/players are selected by all the district coaches once the season has been concluded for all the district teams. Each coach submits their nominations but cannot vote for their own players. Congratulations to all Grapevine Mustang players selected.

Coach of the Year
Hal Wasson, Southlake Carroll

District MVP
Riley Dodge, QB, Carroll

Offensive Player of the Year
Tre Newton, RB, Carroll

Defensive Player of the Year
Bobby Schneider, LB, Heritage

Sophomore of the Year
Reggie Wilson, DE, Haltom

Special Teams Player of the Year
Drew Ashley, Return – Northwest; Brent Leonard – Return – Keller

1st Team All District Offense
Quarterback
Dustin Stenta, JR, Keller Central; Matt Harbin, SR, Grapevine

Runningback
Lance Dunbar, SR, Haltom; Drew Ashley, SR, Northwest

Wide Receiver
Blake Cantu, SR, Carroll; Ed Anerson, SR, Northwest; Ricky Broxton, SR, Northwest; Chris Brainard, SR, Carroll; Russell Watkins, SR, Grapevine; Brent Leonard, SR, Keller; Jarrod Darden, JR, Keller Central

Tackle
Sam Schwartzstein, SR, Carroll; Deveric Gallington, SR, Richland; Michael Yeck, SR, Keller.

Center
Jared Acton, SR, Carroll

Guard
Jake Jackson SR, Carroll; Chandler Martin, SR, Heritage; Chad Sisk, SR, Northwest

Punter
Bryan Houk, SR, Grapevine

1st Team All District Defense
Defensive Tackle
Ben Carroll, SR, Carroll; Lorenzo Martinez, SR, Heritage; Matt Hornbuckle, JR, Heritage.

Defensive End
Brayden Brunett, JR, Carroll; Sterling Arnold, SR, Richland, Chris Lyon, SR, Heritage

Inside Linebacker
Victor Jones, SR, Richland; David Stoltzman, SR, Carroll; Tyler Crouch, JR, Heritage.

Outside Linebacker
Logan Mullins, SR, Grapevine; Derek Tomlin, SR, Carroll

Cornerback
Keenan Jackson, SR, Haltom; Ricky Broxton, SR, Northwest

Safety
A.J. Garcia, SR, Richland; Tayler Hightower, SR, Heritage

Kicker
Cade Foster, SO, Carroll

2nd Team All District Offense
Quarterback
Crawford Jones, SR, Keller

Runningback
Chance Cochran, SR, Grapevine; Stephen Collins, JR, Richland

Wide Receiver
Nathan Burns, SR, Richland; Shane Hilliard, SR, Heritage; Drew Martin, SR, Keller; Jacob Drinkard, SR, Central; Jared Freeman, SR, Carroll; Ethan Cunningham, SR, Carroll; Joel Quintanilla, SR, Heritage; Bryan Houk, SR, Grapevine.

Tackle
Phil Srisathit, SR, Northwest; Ryan Botts, SR, Grapevine

Tight End
Craig Chidester, SR, Northwest

Center
Ryan Alvarado, SR, Grapevine; Michael Avidon, SR, Keller

Guard
Will McWhirter, JR, Carroll; Evyn Perry, JR, Grapevine

Punter
Ryan Owens, SR, Heritage

2nd Team All District Defense
Defensive Tackle
Nolan Bonar, SR, Keller; Robert Prigmore, SR, Carroll; Chase Actkinson, JR, Grapevine; Malakai Nisa, JR, Haltom

Defensive End
Shawn Anunaso, SR, Grapevine; Chris Correll, SR, Northwest

Inside Linebacker
Alex Klingbiel, JR, Grapevine; Drew Harvey, SR, Central; Codey Sittig, SR, Keller; Pierce Hutchins, SR, Northwest

Outside Linebacker
Ethan Davis, SR, Grapevine; Lee Taylor, JR, Northwest

Cornerback
Marvin Desir, SR, Heritage; Brent Leonard, SR, Keller; Josh Rake, JR, Carroll

Safety
Luke Anderson, SR, Carroll; Brad Padia, SR, Grapevine; Lars Huizenga, JR, Northwest

Kicker
Michael Huskey, SR, Northwest

Honorable Mention All District (5-5A) 2007 - Grapevine HS
Defensive End
Matt Potysman, JR; Matt McQueeney, SR

Defensive Tackle
Brent Ernst, SR; Chris Harold, SO

Linebacker
Josh Braddy, SR; Jeff Taylor, JR

Safety
Monte Willett, SR

Cornerback
Scott Hughes, SR

Special Teams
Brad Benedetto, SR; Parker James, SR; Josh Stier, SR

Offensive Line
Clay Kelly, SR; Adam Warchol, SR

Receiver
Dustin Fawcett, JR; Steven Busby, SR

Running Back
Kale Gelles, SR

Kicker
J.D. James JR

C-X Debate                 Number of Entries: 113

The dynamic duo of...

Emily Hall & Shelby Prior

...made it all the way to Octos!

GO GHS Debate!

For those competing at Coppell this weekend...GOOD LUCK!

The Oral Interp team brings home more hardware! We traveled to UT this weekend to compete in one of the biggest Texas tournaments of the year. The results are as follows....

Duo Intepretation (39 Entries)
2nd Place - Missy Lamb / Ben Hicks
Semi Finalists - Casey Williams / Jordan Hughes

Humorous Interpretation (109 Entries)
2nd Place - Ben Hicks
4th Place - Casey Williams
Semi Finalists (Top 30) - Sean Przano, Landry Ayres

Dramatic Interpretation (124 Entries)
Semi Finalists (Top 30) - Missy Lamb, Casey Williams, Ben Hicks, Sean Przano

GHS received 2nd place combined sweepstakes with the debate team. Awesome weekend!

Congratulations to all of the Grapevine High School students who entered the
2007/2008 Arts Reflections Program. 
There were 94 entries in five categories.  Judging 69 literature entries and 17 photography entries as well as film/video production, music composition and visual art work were 16 professional artists from the Metroplex.  Each entry was judged primarily on the interpretation of this year’s theme “I Can Make A Difference By…” creativity and artistic merit.  All Reflections participants will receive recognition in the Spring.

The GHS PTSA is proud to announce the winners of the 2007/2008 Arts Reflections Contest.  These 19 winning entries have advanced on to the Council level and have a chance to move on to the District, State and National PTA levels.  These students will be honored at the PTSA general awards meeting in May of 2008. 

This year’s Reflections winners are:

Literature          1st place           Katherine Kavanaugh   Messages in the Music  10th grade
                        2nd place tie      Elizabeth FitzGerald      The Playground            10th
                        2nd place tie      Corbin Fonville Yellow Angels  9th
                        3rd place tie       Fatema Ebrahim           The Virtue of Humility   12th
                        3rd place tie       Jordan Readicker         I Know I Will Make a Difference!11th
                        3rd place tie       Jennifer Shi                   A Helping Hand            11th
                        Honorable Mention  Kayla Crosby               Untitled                        10th
                                Honorable Mention  Brooke Dorris              Rachel                          10th
                                Honorable Mention  Sarah Park                   Why?                           9th
Music Composition
                        1st place           Chris Daily                   Making You Laugh       12th grade
                        2nd place           Matthew Klingensmith   A Butterfly Wing           12th
                        3rd place           Matthew Smith Changing My Surroundings   9th

Photography     1st place tie       Athula Pudhiyidath          Clean, Clear and Calm   12th grade
                        1st place tie       Kristin Turley                 McKenzie Marie              10th
                        2nd place         Laura Benson                    Growing with Nature      9th
                                               
Visual Arts       1st place           Emily Smith                  Bringing Color to the World 11th grade
                        2nd place           Anne Harris                  Untitled                        10th
                        3rd place           Trey McDaniel             Simple Things in Life     12th

Congratulations to members of the debate team who has outstanding success at the 28th Annual Glenbrook Speech and Debate tournament in Chicago, IL November 17-19. More than 200 schools from 24 states participated in the largest high school speech and debate tournament in the United States.

Special recogntion goes to:

Leslie Berntsen, senior, semi-finals Student Congress receiving a bid to the National Tournament of Champions held at the University of Kentucky in May.

Will HIx, senior, 18th speaker - Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate (200 competitors)

Debaters having winning records at the Glenbrooks were:

Julian Melendez and Eric Frazier, seniors, Varsity Policy Debate
Tully Moorhead and Jacob Quinn, Sophomores, Junior Varsity Policy Debate
Tonia Beglari and Mike Gajewsky - seniors - Varsity Policy Debate
Emily Allen, Will Hix, and Chey Mashburn, seniors, Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate

Congratulations to all those who competed and good luck to the 36 debaters headed to the UT tournament in Austin this weekend.

Great News!! GHS Tennis Team finished the year ranked # 24 in the State!!

Wilson/TTCA
State Team Tennis Rankings

GHS Debate/OI Brings Home the Hardware!

Hockaday School
11/9/2007 - 11/10/2007

Number of Schools: 37

Domestic Extemp     Number of Entries: 60

8th Shehzad Bharwani Grapevine High School

Foreign Extemp     Number of Entries: 29

5th Eric Wey Grapevine High School

Dramatic Interp     Number of Entries: 51

2nd Ben Hicks Grapevine High School

5th Kaitlin Hoag Grapevine High School

Humorous Interp     Number of Entries: 41

2nd Scott Morgan Grapevine High School

3rd Gena Charette Grapevine High School

4th Kaitlin Hoag Grapevine High School

6th Sarah Baston Grapevine High School

L-D Debate     Number of Entries: 63

Semis William Hix Grapevine High School
Semis Emily Allen Grapevine High School

Duet Acting     Number of Entries: 10

2nd Christan Smith/Izzy Ingraham Grapevine High School

C-X Debate     Number of Entries: 22

Semis Eric Frazier/Julian Melendez Grapevine High School

Qtrs Mark Schmitz/Alley Pace Grapevine High School

Duo Interp     Number of Entries:  13

1st Sarah Baston/Kaitlin Hoag Grapevine High School

First Place Sweepstakes!

GRAPEVINE DEBATE-OI ROCKS NORTH TEXAS!

University of North Texas

11/2/2007 - 11/3/2007

Number of Schools: 30

Foreign Extemp

5th place David Jagneaux Grapevine High School

6th place Justin Varghese Grapevine High School

Humorous Interp

1st Ben Hicks Grapevine High School

L-D Debate

Semis Wyatt Ray Grapevine High School

Student Congress

4th Leslie Berntsen Grapevine High School

C-X Debate

1st Tonia Beglari/Mike Gajewsky Grapevine High School

Semis Farhaud Mirzadeh/David Jagneaux Grapevine High School

Qtrs Mark Schmitz/Eric Wey Grapevine High School

Qtrs Jacob Quinn/Amy Schade Grapevine High School

Qtrs Shelby Pryor/TullyMoorhead Grapevine High School

Duo Interp

2nd Elliot Kramer Lauren Hughes Grapevine High School

Grapevine High School Sophmore Luke Holmes takes first place in Texas Sailing Association's (TSA) 4.7 Laser Youth Racing Circuit for 2007. Luke Holmes took first place out of 32 youth Sailors who competed Statewide in the TSA 4.7 Laser Circuit. For final results go to: www.txsail.org.

click for pictures

Stephanie Cohen
                                                                          Colleyville, Texas

Kids Making a Difference
Injured and endangered animals have a friend in Stephanie Cohen. When she was eight years old, Stephanie read an article in a local paper about an injured manatee in Florida. Since kindergarten, she had been fascinated by manatees and read as much as she could about them. Now she felt that she had to do something to help. Crafting hand-made manatee pins, she sold them to friends and relatives to raise awareness about the plight of the manatees, distributing all of the proceeds to the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute to help care for injured marine animals.
Her experience raising money for marine animals led Stephanie to become more involved in advocating for animal welfare, even though she was just a kid. In fact, what she had learned from her own efforts to help an injured manatee was that kids can actually make a difference. As other children learned about the work she was doing, they began to ask her how they could also contribute, and Stephanie realized there was an opportunity to take this momentum and form a kid-centered nonprofit organization to promote animal rights.
The result was Kids Making A Difference, a 501(c)3 organization especially for kids interested in animal welfare and protecting the environment. Kids Making A Difference volunteers have

Stephanie has been selected as a semi-finalist for the Volvo for Life Butterfly Award.  Winning this award would be an incredible opportunity.  Winner will receive recognition for their hardwork and dedication plus a generous donation to their favorite chairty.  Together we can make a difference in our world.  Vote for her at www.volvoforlifeawards.com

Voting starts November 1st and goes through January 7th 2008.  Don't delay, vote today.

GREAT news from the debaters in Florida.

24th Annual Florida Blue Key National Tournament and
Round Robin at the University of Florida

Several hundred students from across the United States gathered in Gainesville for this outstanding competition. 10 GHS students recently returned from the tournament with trophies in hand.

Here are the official GHS Results:

Policy Debate Round Robin
Eric Frazier & Julian Melendez, Seniors: 2nd Place, Top Speaking Team
Mike Gajewsky & Tonia Beglari, Seniors: 3rd Place

Lincoln Douglas Debate Round Robin
William Hix, Senior: 2nd Place

Policy Debate Invitational
Farhaud Mirzadeh, 5th Place Speaker
Farhaud Mirzadeh & David Jagneaux, Juniors: Quarterfinalists (5th place)
Eric Frazier & Julian Melendez, Seniors: Quarterfinalists (5th place)
Shelby Pryor, Junior & Emily Hall, Senior: Octafinalists (9th place)
Mike Gajewsky & Tonia Beglari, Seniors: Octafinalists (9th place)

Lincoln Douglas Debate Invitational
Emily Allen, Senior: Quarterfinalist (5th place)
William Hix, Senior: Double-Octafinalist (17th place)

The members and staff of the Grapevine High School Mustang Band are proud to announce that they have completed the 2007 competitive marching season on a high note......with great success at the recent U.I.L. Marching Band Contest.

Held this past Saturday, October 20, 2007 at Standridge Stadium in Carrollton, the GHS Mustang Band earned a "First Division" and superior ratings from all of the judges for their marching performance of this year's show entitled "Aspen". The music is an adaptation of Ron Nelson's masterwork "Aspen Jubilee" - written for wind ensemble and arranged by Aaron Guidry for the GHS Band. The contest was the culmination of more than three months of hard work by the 240 members of the GHS Mustang Band.

Once again GHS OI / Debate team rises to the top. This weekend(Oct.19-20) at ST. Marks, one of the biggest and most competitive Texas speech/debate tournaments, GHS saddled up to bring home some big hardware. The results are as follows..

GHS placed 10th in sweepstakes out of 75 schools.

Debate Outstanding Successes were: Coached by Jane Boyd/Jason Sykes

William Hix who was in the double-octos of Lincoln Douglas Debate - seeded 27th of 100 debaters

Emily Allen didn't break but was the 37th seed of 100 debaters

Leslie Berntsen who was in Finals of Student Congress.

Oral Interp Outstanding Success were: Coached by Grant Hahn

Ben Hicks placed 3rd in Humorous Interp

Ben Hicks / Missy Lamb Placed 4th in Duo Interp

Ben Hicks Semi Finalist in Dramatic Interp

Casey Williams Semi Finalist in Humorous Interp

Kaitlin Hoag / Sarah Baston Quarter Finalists in Duo Interp

Three Cross Examination (CX) teams of GHS Debate squad reached the quarter
finals at the Plan West Tournament this past weekend.

DEBATE ROCKS!

Plano West Senior High School
10/12/2007 - 10/13/2007
Number of Schools: 23

C-X Debate Number of Entries: 24

Qtrs Farhaud Mirzadeh
David Jagneaux
Grapevine High School

Qtrs Emily Hall
Shelby Pryor
Grapevine High School

Qtrs Eric Frazier
Julian Melendez
Grapevine High School

***********************
The following GHS teams are already TFA State Qualifiers in CX:

David Jagneaux/Farhaud Mirzadeh
Mark Schmitz/Eric Wey

Results for the Oral Interp competition this week at RL Turner High school:

Dramatic Interp
1st Place : Casey Williams
Semi Finalists : Missy Lamb, Kaitlin Hoag, Lauren Bird

Humorous Interp
2nd Place : Casey Williams
6th Place : Gena Charette
Semi Finalists : David Snodgrass, Sean Przano

Duo Interp
4th Place : Elliot Kramer/Lauren Hughes
5th Place : Sean Przano / Landry Ayres
Semi Finalists : Gena Charette / Lauren Bird

Currently there are 7 people qualified for the state tournament (2 freshman)

NATIONAL HISPANIC RECOGNITION GOES TO LOCAL STUDENTS

Amanda Bauer, Leslie Berntsen, and Anneliese Roberto, members of the senior class at Grapevine High School, have been recognized by the College Board’s National Hispanic Recognition Program, as announced by
Grapevine High School Principal, Dr. Jerry Hollingsworth.
click for details

Congratulations to the 2007 GHS Mustang Homecoming Court:
Click for pictures

Freshman Prince - Cory Cox
Freshman Princess - Robyn Posey
Sophomore Prince - Luke Holmes
Sophomore Princess - Jordan Lundquist
Junior Prince - Jacob Roney
Junior Princess - Amy Atkeisson
Senior Court - Steven Busby & Caitlin Hendler
Ben Hicks & Tally McCormack
Clay Karels & Kristyn Popp

Students may vote next week for King and Queen. The crowning ceremony will take place at half-time during the Homecoming game on Friday, October 12.

COMMENDED STUDENTS IN THE 2008 NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Dr. Jerry Hollingsworth, Principal of Grapevine High School, announced today that seventeen students have been named Commended Students in the 2008 National Merit Scholarship Program.  A Letter of Commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which conducts the program, will be presented by the principal to the following scholastically talented seniors:  Emily Allen, Amanda Bauer, Leslie Berntsen, Chase Bruton, Logan Cox, Erich Gluck, William Hix, Jane Kim, Riane Kiraly, Russell Moller, Lauren Moseley, Casey Pipin, Michael Remetta, Joanna Smith, Rachel Stuteville, Bryant Vichainarong, and Monte Willett. click for details

AP^® SCHOLAR AWARDS

City, State:  Grapevine, Texas                                                                                             Date: October 3, 2007

  Seventy - two  students at   Grapevine High School have earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement Program^® (AP^®) Exams. Click for details

Grapevine High School’s speech and debate program has won a prestigious award!  Since the GHS chapter of the National Forensic League achieved 200 degrees last year, it has placed in the top 5% of NFL chapters nationwide and qualified for the NFL “200 Club”.

This award is important because it means that the GHS program is teaching essential life skills- communication, research, listening, writing, and organization- to a large number of students, not just a few “stars”. The attainment of 200 degrees is an accomplishment that all members of the GHS squad can share.

Congratulations to the Grapevine High School speech and debate students and teachers!

Congratulations to the following GCISD choir students who advanced into the region round of the All-State Auditions:

Sowmya Somanath Sop 1 3rd chair
Kathryn Fell Sop 1 16th chair
Morgan Pettyjohn Sop 1 17th chair
Kate Bristol Sop 1 1st Chair
Melanie Knecht Sop 1 3rd Chair
Kyli Wagner Sop 1 10th Chair
Madi Gravens Sop 1 4th chair

Lauren Cook Sop 2 6th chair
Lauren McIntire Sop 2 4th Chair
Caitlin Porter Sop 2 11th Chair

Allison Blonder Alto 1 9th chair
Michelle Chae Alto 1 7th chair
Erin Springer Alto 1 9th chair
Clara Poole Alto 1 1st Chair
Alyson McHargue Alto 1 4th Chair
Megan Ray Alto 1 11th Chair

Alex Morgan Alto 2 4th chair
Shannon Michael Alto 2 13th chair
Angie Rosenblatt Alto 2 17th chair
Kelly Springer Alto 2 24th chair
Kelly Weaver Alto 2 1st Chair
Vanessa Todora Alto 2 23rd Chair
Hannah Jobus Alto 2 27th Chair

GHS debaters combined their efforts with Oral Interp this weekend to win the 1st place sweepstakes award at the Timberview Tour over several schools from within our own district, including Southlake Carroll (2nd) and Keller High School.

Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate
Semifinalist (3rd Place): Emily Allen
Quarterfinalists (5th Place): Shehzad Bharwani, Chey Mashburn
Octafinalist (9th Place): Patritzia Kolarova

Varsity Policy (CX) Debate
Finalists (2nd Place): Farhaud Mirzadeh & David Jagneaux
Quarterfinalists (5th Place): Mark Schmitz & Eric Wey

Novice Policy (CX) Debate
3rd Place: Emily Mims/Lauren Rinaldi

Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
2nd Place: William Hix

International Extemporaneous Speaking
6th Place: Farhaud Mirzadeh

If you see these kids, give them your best, and wish us luck this weekend as we split the squad between Newman Smith and Houston Memorial. Thanks for all your support!

GHS Oral Interp students had great success this weekend.

GHS 1st Place School Sweepstakes

Humorous Interpretation
1st Place Casey Williams
2nd Place Ben Hicks
5th Place Scott Morgan
6th Place Jordan Hughes
Semi Finalists : Sean Przano, Landry Ayres, David Snodgrass

Dramatic Interpretation
4th Place Kaitlin Hoag
Semi Finalist : Missy Lamb

Duo Interpretation
1st Place Sean Przano/Landry Ayres
3rd Place Kaitlin Hoag/Sarah Baston
4th Place Ben Hicks/Missy Lamb
6th Place Jordan Hughes/Casey Williams
Semi Finalists : Lauren Hughes/Elliot Kramer, Scott Morgan/Jacob Roney

GCISD celebrates 11 National Merit semifinalists


Eleven Grapevine-Colleyville ISD high school students have been named semifinalists in the 2008 National Merit Scholarship Program.

“We are very proud of these students and their academic accomplishment as National Merit semifinalists,” said Kay Waggoner, superintendent. “These successful seniors have demonstrated years of hard work, strong focus and commitment to high standards in school as well as in their activities outside the classroom.”

Of GCISD’s 11 semifinalists, three attend Colleyville Heritage High School and eight attend Grapevine High School. The National Merit Program honors individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies. An estimated 16,000 semifinalists – less than 1 percent of high school seniors nationwide – were announced in September by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. They were chosen based on their scores from the 2006 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test and are among the students scoring the highest in the state.

The semifinalists will be recognized on Oct. 29 at a 6 p.m. reception hosted by the Grapevine-Colleyville Education Foundation and during the regular GCISD Board of Trustees meeting at 7 p.m.

Those students selected as finalists will compete for a total of $50 million in scholarships from the National Merit Corporation, corporate sponsors and college/university sponsors. There are three types of Merit Scholarship winners, which will be announced beginning in March through June.

Congratulations to the new officers of the Spanish Club for 07-08!
They are:

President: William Hix
Vice President: David Taylor
Secretary: Maddison Craig
Treasurer: Rusty Moller
Historian: Heather Atkeisson

Also, congratulations to the Spanish Honor Society officers for 07-08.
They are:

President: Leslie Berntsen
Vice President: Annie Roberto
Co Secretaries: Alysha Behn
Tara Gooding
Treasurer: Sawyer Davis
Public Relations: Khiem Vu

Congratulations to the Grapevine-Colleyville FFA Show Team members that placed at the West Texas State Fair in Abilene.
Brangus
             Rebecca Small              1st Place
Braunvieh
             Chet Daniels                  2nd Place
Simbrah
             Chance Bufe                  2nd Place
Beefmasters
             Madison Boules           6th Place

Good luck to those members showing at East Texas State Fair and State Fair of Texas.

Jane Imfeld, Katie & Michelle Austin

In June we traveled to the USRowing Junior National Championships in
Cincinnati, OH where Jane and her Junior Lightweight Women's 2X partner,
Kristen Youngs, Coppell High School 2007, won the National Championship by
the largest margin of any of the finals held on 10 June 2007.
(http://www.racetrak.com/central/public/RaceResultsrep.asp?RegattaChoice=188&IncludeAge=on&PartChoice=ALL&SortingChoice=ASCALL&HeatChoice=ALL&EventChoice=2419

On Wednesday 13 June, she flew to Switzerland for qualifications trials on
Saturday and Sunday on the Rotsee, near Lucerne.  We are happy to report
that she is officially of member of the SwJunior National Team that will
travel to Varese, Italy August 3-5 for the Coupe de la Juenesse,
(http://www.coupe2007.it/_en_index.php) an 11 nation regatta for Europe.  
She will be rowing once again in the Women's 2X with Chantele Rosset.

She just finished the Swiss National Championships this past week-end on the
Rotsee, and finished with two seconds in the 17/18 Women's 2X, and the 17/18
Women's Quad.  She represented See Club Biel where she has been training for
the summer.

Two other Grapevine High School girls also went to the Nationals in
Cincinnati, Katie and Michelle Austin.  I think that Grapevine High School
can be proud to have a US National Champion rower, and hopefully soon a
European Champion.

We traveled to Switzerland to make the initial try-outs in the April-May time
frame.  Jane rowed in the Swiss International Opening regatta on the Lauerz
See, and the following week-end placed 6th in the European Junior Regatta
held on the Munich Olympic Course. Her French and Swiss German language
skills have improved very much while on her rowing endeavors.  This coming
week-end July 13-15, she will be working at the World Cup Rowing Regatta on
the Rotsee where she will see every top rower in the world, many of them
bound for the Olympics next year in Beijing.