By SHAWN ADAMS
The spring months have ushered in warmer temperatures right on cue, and in like manner academic competition in the Big Bend region has begun to heat up with Presidio ISD students taking top honors at local
Presidio students who took top honors at regional academic competitions are, front from left, Denise Carrera, Amy Valdez, Karen Hernandez, and Marla Balthazar. Center from left, Jonathan Garcia, and Chris Peterson. Back from left, Ezequiel Hernandez, and Montana George.
events.
On Wednesday, February 27, nine Presidio High School students, comprised of three three-person teams competed against an equal number of respective students from Alpine High School in the 2013 area Academic Challenge.
The competition allowed students to demonstrate their academic knowledge across the entire spectrum of the high school curriculum as they vied for valuable scholarship prizes and the opportunity to advance to the state level competition. All students performed exceptionally well, but after five spirited rounds of wit and wisdom Presidio students walked away with fourth, second, and the team featuring members Denise Carrera, Karen Hernandez, and Ezequiel Hernandez took home the first place scholarship prize. Presidio’s performance secured all teams a spot at the state level competition, which will be held at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Temple, TX later this May.
The following day, over 60 students from both Presidio High School and the newly established P.I.S.D. William Soza Early College High School traveled to Sul Ross St. University in Alpine to compete in the 33rd Annual Texas History Day regional competition, sponsored by the Brewster County Historical Commission. The event, an affiliate of National History Day, focused its attention this year on “Turning Points in History”.
Intermediate and high school students from the across region submitted carefully crafted projects that fell into the following categories: documentaries, exhibits, historical papers, performances, and interpretive web sites. After a lengthy review process by a panel of selected judges, the William Soza ECHS team comprised of Adrian Carrasco, Esequiel Hernandez, Angelica Leon and Martha Luna took home second place in the Documentary Category for their short film entitled “News: From Paper to Web”. The project, which accentuates how the emergence of the digital age has radically transformed the way our society disseminates and consumes information, will be entered and screened at the state level competition to be held at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, TX on May 3-4. There the Presidio ISD team will compete for scholarship prizes and a chance to advance to National History Day, which is scheduled to take place at the University of Maryland, College Park, from June 9-13, 2013.
Lupe Singh, Director of the William Soza ECHS, emphasized the importance of academic competitions to the Early College program, “These competitions are an integral component of our program. In addition to equipping our students with necessary skills for the 21st century work place, such as critical thinking and collaboration, they also foster a great environment of friendship and fun.”