Goose Creek CISD competitors in the 2016 UIL District Academic Meets from Goose Creek Memorial, Robert E. Lee and Ross S. Sterling high schools brought back numerous medals, and many advanced to the UIL Regional Competition. The Region 3-5A UIL Academic Meet is April 23 at Magnolia High School for GCM and Lee. RSS will compete April 21-23 at Cypress Woods High School.

In the District 22-5A Academic Meet, GCM was the 2nd place Overall Academic School. From GCM in Accounting, under the direction of coach Rachel Goss, the 1st place team will advance to Regionals, along with individuals Lainy Andrade, 1st place, and Mahek Akhtar, 3rd place. Rachel King won 4th and will be the Regionals Alternate. Fahad Savad, coached by Angie Lewis in Social Studies, will advance to Regionals after winning 1st place individually.

In Computer Applications, coached by Angie Johnson, Chinmayee Kulkarni advanced to Regionals after taking 2nd place, and Adithya Nair placed 5th and Mahek Akhtar placed 6th. Coached by Jason Catoire, the Literary Criticism team won 1st place and Rachel Brown won 1st place individually. All advanced to Regionals. Fahad Sayed, coached by Liz Harris, placed 3rd and advanced to Regionals.

In Science, GCM had the 1st place team. Dominic Borbon placed 1st overall in Science and Kyrie Yong placed 2nd. Dominic Borbon placed 1st in Biology and 2nd in Chemistry. Kyrie Yong placed 1st in Chemistry and 1st in Physics. Coached by Joey Longorio, all will advance to Regionals. In News, coached by Leah Hopper, Alexis Williams won 4th place and will be Regional Alternate. Axel Rodriguez won 5th. In the Feature category, Axel Rodriguez placed 5th, and for Editorial, Alexis Williams placed 5th and Axel Rodriguez placed 6th. In Headline, Axel Rodriguez placed 3rd and will advance to Regionals.

Spelling competitors, coached by Rosie Adolphin, took 1st place as a team, while Chinmayee Kulkarni placed 1st and Angel Qin placed 2nd, all going to Regionals. Rachel King placed 4th and will be Regionals Alternate. GCM had the 1st place Literary Criticism team, and Rachel Brown won 1st place individually, all advancing to Regionals. The Math team earned 1st place honors, and Kyrie Yong placed 1st and Chinmayee Kulkarni placed 3rd, all advancing to Regionals. Soham Datar won 4th and Rachel Brown placed 5th individually. All are coached by Sean Kang.

Number Sense won 1st place team, Kyrie Yong placed 1st and Soham Datar placed 2nd to earn spots at Regionals under the direction of Sean Kang. The Calculator Applications team earned 1st place, with Kyrie Yong winning 1st and Utkarsh Sharma winning 2nd in the individual event to advance to Regionals. Chinmayee Kulkarni placed 6th.

In the One Act Play contest, GCM’s Triston Haq and Abby Boyd were named to the All Star Cast.

Robert E. Lee High School also competed in the District 22 5-A UIL Academic Meet. Coached by Darrell Kalbitz in Computer Science, Gilbert Del Rio placed 4th and Madeleine Poulin placed 5th, and both are Regional Alternates. In Current Issues and Events, Troy Hare was the 3rd place Regional qualifier. Hare, Omar Barrigan, Angelica Renteria and Jose Pulido comprised the 2nd place team. Jennifer Aguirre won 3rd place for Informative Speaking and advanced to Regionals. In Lincoln Douglass Debate, Ian Berumen placed 3rd to advance and Jennifer Aguirre placed 4th as Regional Alternate. In Persuasive speaking, Jaden Houseman placed 6th and is a Regional Alternate. All were coached by Kurt Bouillion.

Ariel Pratt, coached by Kayla Logan, placed 4th in Literature Criticism and will be Regional Alternate. In Spelling and Vocabulary, coached by Logan, the team of Nile Stewart, Zion Stewart, Angelica Renteria and Jose Pulido placed 2nd. Zion Stewart was 5th place and Nile Stewart was 6th place individually, and both were Regional Alternates.

In One Act Play competition REL’s“Find Me” tied for 4th place in district. Josh Rice as Edward and Javier Benavides, portraying Mark, Clerk, Voice 2 and Tom was named to the Honorable Mention All Star Cast. Alvaro Gonzalez was named to All Star Crew.

Sterling competed in the District 21-6A UIL Academic Meet. In Prose, Colton Hughes placed 4th, coached by Jeremy Barrow. Under the direction of Tabitha Cahanin, My’Kayla Hardy advanced to Regionals with a 2nd place win, Tammy Chang placed 4th and Victoria Chang placed 6th. In Informative Speaking, Faisal Abunima advanced to Regionals with a 1st place win, and Ahlam Abunima placed 6th.

The Spelling team took 1st place, with Madison Celestine placing 4th and Abigail DeGuzman placing 2nd individually. The team, also including Larissa Solis and Linus Jingo, advanced to Regionals. Stephanie Cottle is their coach.

Number Sense, comprised of Ayush Agrawal, Havi Nguyen, Aanshi Shukla and Jiniper Jinco, placed 2nd as a team. Individually, Havi Nguyen won 4th place and Ayush Agrawal advanced to Regionals by winning 2nd place. The Accounting team picked up a second place win, with Havi Nguyen placing 4th. These students were coached by Shawn Sherrell. RSS’s Literary Criticism team, including Adulfo Amador, Eliza Brewer and Kaci Baker, placed 2nd. Baker placed 2nd and Brewer placed 1st individually, both advancing to Regionals. Molly Fridley coached these students.

In Current Events, coached by Tabitha Cahanin, the team of Neda Hamid, Annette Iroanya, My’Kayla Hardy and Bailee Ufert, won 1st and advanced to Regionals. Individually, Iroanya won 2nd and Ufert placed 1st.

The RSS One Act Play competed at Lee College March 24, 2016, and was selected as the Alternate Advancing Production. Stephanie Barajas was named the Best Actress of the contest. Logan Romero was named to the Honorable Mention All Star Cast. Tammy Chang was named Outstanding Technician. For the first time in school history, RSS was named Top Technical Crew of District 21-6A.