Central Heights High School students brought home the district championship trophy at the District 21-3A University Interscholastic League academic competition on March 23 at Stephen F. Austin State University.
Central Heights will compete at the UIL regional meet on April 25 at Blinn College in Brenham.
The science team, composed of seniors Troy Manto, Chris Perez, Bolu Odunuga, Ryan Moore, Ian Reed and junior Brandon Sauceda placed first as a team and will advance to the regional meet. Odunuga placed first and had the highest score in chemistry, as well as the third-highest score in biology. Sauceda placed second and had the second-highest score in biology and chemistry and fourth in physics. Manto placed third and had the highest score in biology, as well as the third-highest score in chemistry. Perez placed fourth and had the fifth- highest score in biology and chemistry. Moore placed sixth and had the highest score in physics.
Social Studies earned first place team and will be advancing together. The team consisted of juniors Ben Poston, Bella Downing and freshman Brielle Bassett; Poston placed second; Bassett placed fourth.
Senior Dayami San Agustin-Sanchez placed fourth in Current Issues and Events, making her the regional alternate.
Junior Linkin Loudini will advance to regionals for placing second in Number Sense.
Accounting got second place as a team, including juniors Bella Downing, Maddie Jeanfavre and freshman Sam Delaney, who placed fourth and qualified as the regional alternate.
The journalism team, made up of seniors Calla Rudolph, Sydney French, juniors Kate Sparks, Brett Miller, Cayman Brown, Destinee Chapman and sophomore Tiara Johnson, earned the team champion award. In News Writing, French placed second, Rudolph placed third, and Johnson placed sixth, with French and Rudolph advancing to regionals and Johnson qualifying as a regional alternate. In Feature Writing, French placed first, Rudolph placed fourth, and Johnson placed fifth, with French advancing to regionals and Rudolph and Johnson qualifying as regional alternates. In Editorial Writing, Sparks placed first, Brown placed second and Chapman placed third with all three advancing to regionals. In Headline Writing, Sparks placed first, and Miller placed fourth with Sparks advancing to regionals and Miller qualifying as a regional alternate. In Copy Editing, Rudolph placed first, and Chapman placed fourth with Sparks advancing to regionals and Chapman qualifying as a regional alternate.
The Literary Criticism team, made up of seniors Ryan Moore, Calla Rudolph, Brenna Wallace, junior Maddie Jeanfavre and sophomores Holly Hicks and Ava Graff, placed second as a team and qualified for regionals as the wild card, meaning they advanced with the top second-place score in the region. Moore placed second, Rudolph placed fourth, and Jeanfavre placed fifth.
In Ready Writing, senior Ryan Moore placed first, and junior Brett Miller placed third. Both will advance to regionals. Junior Cole Sharron earned sixth place.
The speech team, including senior Dayami San Agustin-Sanchez, juniors Finley Murdock, Allison Johnson and Kalen Carrell, and freshmen Daulia Braulio and Elizabeth Transier earned the second-place team award. In persuasive speaking, Johnson placed first, and Carrell placed second, while Murdock placed first and Dayami San Agustin-Sanchez placed second in informative speaking. All four will advance to the regional meet. In the poetry contest, Braulio placed third and will advance to regionals, while Elizabeth Transier placed fifth and qualified as a regional alternate.