CSHS Wildcat UIL Students Attend Conference at UT Austin

Twenty-Eight Wildcat UIL students weathered the chilly morning of October 22, in order to attend theannualUIL Student Activities Conference. The educational conference is composed of countless sessions which focus on the 25 different UIL academic events.  Each session is designed to help, beginner, moderate, and advanced UIL students hone their skills in their particular events.

Students who attended the conference include: Michael Uriegas, Meagan Garcia, Lydia Rios, Maria G. Selgado, Maria I. Selgado, Nadia Riojas, Clarissa Yanez, Amanda Martinez, Rubi Figueroa-Villarreal, Christian Sustaita, David Gomez, Julianna Vargas, Christina Janca, Elias Torres, Micaela Uriegas, Annika Uriegas, Jack Jimenez, Amber Rocha, Lois Owolabi, Gift Owolabi, Ginger Sifuentez, Juan Oyervides, Noe Gonzales, Yvette Martinez, Josh Velasquez, Jazmine Velasquez, Victor Doria, and Ashley Gonzalez.

Thank you to the UIL academic coaches who attended the meet with their students.  Mr. Escamilla would also like to commend the students on their excellent behavior during the entire trip. The next outing for Wildcat UIL will be on October 29, when the math and science students travel to John Jay HS to compete their tournament.  For more information and schedules, please make sure to email rescamilla@cscisd.net or call 830-876-9393 Ext. 4109.  AWESOME WILDCAT BRAIN POWER!

Lois Owolabi Featured as Guest Performer at UIL Conference

Lois Owolabi, UIL Poetry Interpretation student, was invited to perform her new literary selections at this year’s UIL Student Activities Conference which took place at The University of Texas at Austin. This honor is only bestowed on students who have won a place as a state medalist the previous year.  As a state medalist, Lois received her invitation in July and gladly accepted.  Along with this prestigious honor, comes great work and responsibility because the performer has to select, organize, practice, and perform a brand new selection—this is even more difficult since UIL has changed its categories for this year.

Lois performed for an audience filled with prose and poetry judges, coaches, and students from around the state of Texas.  She performed a selection which focused on the tragedy of cancer but highlighted the courageousness and heroism of its victims.  This was an appropriate theme since we are in the midst of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a point well-made by Lois in her introduction and selections of poetry, and incorporated song lyrics.

Congratulations to Lois on her wonderful and notable accomplishment.  She continues to bring honor and pride to our school and community with her talent, leadership, and dedication.  Keep up the good work.

If you would like to learn more about our wonderful Wildcat UIL program, students, and academic coaches, please email rescamilla@cscisd.net or call 830-876-9393 Ext. 4109.  You will learn more about how our Wildcats are using their knowledge and talents to extend their academic skills and apply them outside the classroom and achieve academic excellence through competition.  AWESOME WILDCAT BRAIN POWER!

Debaters Organize Files for Competition

The Wildcat UIL debaters, under the direction of  team captain Lois Owolabi, organize their files in order to get ready for competition.  They sift through a great deal of information in order to organize evidence for their cases.  Keep up the good work, team!  "It's so great to see that these young people are so self-directed and self-disciplined to practice and focus on their own," commented Mr. Escamilla, UIL Director.

Dayden Allen, Victor Doria, and Lois Owolabi

Teamwork!

UIL Student Activities Conference Tentative Schedule-Austin-Oct. 22

Attention: Wildcat UIL participants

If you signed up to attend the UIL Student Activities Conference which will be held at UT Austin on Oct. 22, please make sure you have submitted your medical consent form by Thursday, Oct. 20.  In addition, please get a hard copy of the tentative schedule from Mr. Escamilla or you can click below to access.

Click below to access schedule

UIL SAC Tentative Schedule- Austin - Oct. 22

UIL Student Activities Conference List

Click to view list

UIL Student Activities Conference List

UIL Debaters Compete at Blanco Tournament

Congratulations to the Wildcat UIL Debaters who traveled to Blanco to compete in the first tournament of the season.  This trip was a great christening to the new season as it was a time to get back into the competitive mode.  In Cross-Examination Debate the Wildcats debated the new topic for the season which focuses on the "U.S. engagement in the Republic of China."  Seasoned veterans Lois Owolabi and Brianna Decker-Diaz and novices Victor Doria and Christian Sustaita put their skills, which they learned at debate camp, into practice; they did an awesome job and came away with some very significant wins in their rounds.  In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, veteran Isabella Talamantez did a great job of handling the new political topic and came away with round victories and great positive comments from judges. In addition, novices Christina Janca, Natalie Balderas, and Jagar Gonzales had an opportunity to do some productive observation, research, and intense study.

Mr. D. Valerio (UIL Coordinator), Ms. Cuellar (CX Debate), and Mr. Escamilla (LD Debate), would like to thank these students for their dedication and effort--they had to endure a long and grueling, although very educational, day of debate after getting back very late in the morning from a previous night football game.  "This just shows the amount of dedication that our Wildcats have toward all the activities in which they participate and that is why they are so successful," commented Escamilla.

L to R:  Christian Sustaita, Natalie Balderas, Christina Janca, Lois Owolabi,
Brianna Decker-Diaz, Isabella Talamantez, and Victor Doria

Christina, Jagar, and Natalie spot the camera and show their smiles

The Wildcat debaters enjoy some pizza and conversation after round two

Wildcat Debaters Rock!

UIL Academic Students Greet Parents at Open House

Several of the Wildcat UIL academic team members were on hand on Wednesday, September 7th to greet parents as they made their way to Open House, which was hosted by Carrizo Springs High School.  The UIL members, who are part of last year's district championship team, informed parents of the UIL events, coaches, competitions, benefits, and other pertinent information.  They distributed packets with valuable information and answered several questions posed by parents--they even spread a bit of cheer by giving parents some sweets. AWESOME WILDCAT BRAIN POWER!

Lois and Gift Owolabi Prepare UIL Info booth for parents at Open House

Members of UIL Academic team speak with students and parents
about the many benefits of UIL

L to R : Maria G Selgado, Maria I. Selgado, Nadia Riojas, Lois Owolabi, 
Annika Uriegas, and Gift Owolabi help at the UIL Information booth

Owolabi Sisters Qualify for UIL State

Lois, Gift Owolabi and Valerie Mata shine at UIL Regionals

Lois Owolabi (State Qualifier), Valerie Mata (Regional Finalist), and Gift Owolabi (State Qualifier)

     Congratulations to the UIL Wildcat UIL Regional Qualifiers and their coaches who had a great showing at the UIL Regional Meet in Corpus Christi.  Region 4 is one of the toughest if not the toughest regions in the state, but the Wildcats did very well.   At the end of the regional competition there were three outstanding young ladies who won top places at the meet and two advanced to the “Big Show,” the UIL State Academic Meet.

     Valerie Mata won the regional finalist medallion for winning 5^th place in the final round of Prose Interpretation.  Lois Owolabi won the second place medallion in Poetry Interpretation and has qualified for UIL State.   Gift Owolabi tied for Regional Champion and received the medallion in Calculator Applications and earned herself a trip to UIL State competition.

     Gift and Lois will now take the Wildcat Pride and represent Carrizo Springs as well as Region 4 at the illustrious UIL State Academic Meet in Austin on May 23 through May 25.  Congratulations to all competitors and especially these three young lady competitors for the continued legacy of Wildcat Academic Excellence.  Good luck to Gift and Lois, as well as their coaches, Mr. Daniel Valerio Jr. and Mr. Ruben Z. Escamilla at the UIL State Meet.   Awesome Wildcat Brain Power!

District Champions!

                  CSHS Wildcat UIL Team Wins Decisive Victory and Qualifies Twenty-Six Competitors To Regionals

Congratulations to the Wildcat UIL Academic for capturing the 30-4A UIL District Championship.  With their decisive win and awesome showing, the Wildcats advanced twenty-six competitors to the UIL Regional Meet which will be held in Corpus Christi.  Congratulations to these fine competitors and their coaches on an outstanding victory.  AWESOME WILDCAT BRAIN POWER!

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS:

Calculator Applications

Victor Doria- 1^st place (Calculator Champion)

Gift Owolabi- 2^nd place

Josh Velasquez- 12^th place

·         Calculator Team Champions

Computer Science

Tiffany Benavidez- 1^st place (Computer Science Champion)

Noe Gonzalez- 3^rd place

Elena Deleon- 5^th place

Megan Plocek- 6^th place

·       Computer Science Team Champions

Editorial Writing (Journalism)

Lydia Rios- 2^nd place

Maria Guadalupe Selgado- 4^th place

Nadia Riojas- 5^th place

Feature Writing (Journalism)

Maria Isabel Selgado- 3^rd place

Headline Writing (Journalism)

Lydia Rios- 1^st place (Headline Writing Champion)

Maria Guadalupe Selgado- 2^nd place

Nadia Riojas- 5^th place

News Writing (Journalism)

Maria Guadalupe Selgado- 2^nd place

Lydia Rios- 6^th place

·         Journalism Team Champions

Literary Criticism

Allica Cardona- 3^rd place

Christina Janca- 6^th place

Elysandra Solis- 7^th place

Taylor McNeal- 8^th place

·         Literary Criticism 2^nd place team

Mathematics

Victor Doria- 2^nd place

Gift Owolabi- 3^rd place

Lois Owolabi- 5^th place

Josh Velasquez- 7^th place

·         Mathematics Team Champions

Number Sense

Gift Owolabi- 1^st place (Number Sense Champion)

Josh Velasquez- 6^th place

Victor Doria- 7^th place

·         Number Sense Team Champions

Science

Josh Velasquez- 4^th place (Top Biology Award)

Victor Doria- 5^th place

Bernice Gonzalez- 12^th place

·         Science 2^nd place team

Social Studies

Joseph Arias- 1^st place (Social Studies Champion)

Micaela Uriegas- 2^nd place

Annika Uriegas- 3^rd place

Michael Uriegas- 5^th place

·         Social Studies Team Champions

Spelling and Vocabulary

Lydia Rios- 6^th place

Lincoln-Douglas Debate (Speech)

Isabella Talamantez- 1st place (Lincoln-Douglas Debate Champion)

Ginger Sifuentez- 2nd place

Madison Martinez- 3rd place

•             Top Speaker- Isabella Talamantez

Informative Speaking (Speech)

Elysandra Solis- 1^st place (Informative Speaking Champion)

Persuasive Speaking (Speech)

Lois Owolabi- 2^nd place

Jordan Guerrero- 6^th place

Poetry Interpretation (Speech)

Christina Janca- 1^st place (Poetry Interpretation Champion)

Lois Owolabi- 2^nd place

Lilliana Martinez- 6^th place

Prose Interpretation (Speech)

Nathalie Martinez- 1^st place (Prose Interpretation Champion)

Valerie Mata- 2^nd place

Matthew Embers- 4^th place

CX Debate (Speech)

Lois Owolabi & Brianna Decker Diaz- 1^st place (CX Debate Champions)

Elysandra Solis & Matthew Embers- 4^th place

·         Lincoln Douglas Debate, CX Debate, Prose/Poetry Interpretation, and Informative/Persuasive Speaking won Speech Team Champions

Advancing One-Act Play and Individual Awards

Ryan Garcia- Honorable Mention Award

Valerie Mata- Best Actress Award

Matthew Embers- Honorable Mention Award

Alan Bernal

Madison Martinez

Emily Guerrero

Ginger Sifuentes

Amanda Martinez

Juan Oyervides

Christina Janca

Elias Torres- All-Star Cast Award

Jacquelyn Cruz- Honor Crew Award

Martha Rodriguez

Richard Garcia

Aleigha Gutierrez

Kristen Lira

Seth McNeal

Anthony Zepeda

Magaly Zamora

Congratulations to the UIL academic coaches and OAP directors:  Margarito Ayala, Brian Byars, Cristina Criel, Ruben Z. Escamilla, Rachel Garza, Victoria Linnard, Olga Mireles, Lucinda Paulino, Reynaldo Rodriguez, Marisa Tobias, Daniel Valerio, Jr., and Ines Valerio.

Owolabi and Decker-Diaz Win UIL CX-Debate District Championship

L to R: Ruben Escamilla (Contest Dir.), Brianna-Decker Diaz (District Champion), Matthew Embers (4th place), Lois Owolabi (District Champion-Top Speaker), Elysandra Solis (4th place), and Margarito Ayala (CX Coach)

     On Wednesday, February 10, Carrizo Springs H.S. hosted the 30-4A UIL District Cross-Examination Debate Contest.  Several teams from the district competed for a chance to advance to state level competition.  After a grueling day of many debate rounds with the likes of Jourdanton, Pleasanton, and Pearsall teams, the teamof Lois Owolabi and Brianna Decker-Diaz won first place and were crowned district champions. In addition, the team of Elysandra Solis and Matthew Embers won fourth place and were named second alternates.  Furthermore, Lois Owolabi won the coveted CX Debate Top Speaker plaque of the entire tournament.  The Wildcat debaters have been honing their skills at competitive practice tournaments debating this year’s topic: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially curtail its domestic surveillance.  “These students have spent much time, research, and effort into solidifying strong affirmative and negative cases and their work paid off,” said Mr. Ayala, debate coach.  “Congratulations to the CX debate teams for an outstanding performance and congratulations to their coach, Mr. Ayala, for all the preparation of the teams.  Now it’s on to the next level of competition,” said Mr. Daniel Valerio Jr., UIL Coordinator. 

     Mr. Ruben Escamilla, 30-4A CX Debate Contest Director, would like to thank Pastor Jonathan Hewitt and his staff at the First Baptist Church for being so gracious as to allow Carrizo Springs H.S. to once again use this site to host this UIL event.  Special thanks go to Mr. Jeff Janca, Associate Pastor, who once again has been so kind and helpful throughout this entire event.  Mr. Escamilla would also like to thank the administrators who supported this endeavor from day one:  Mrs. Michelle Gonzalez, Principal; Mrs. Anna Rocha-Diaz, Finance Director; and Mr. Jesse Salazar, Superintendent.  Gratitude is also extended to Mr. Margarito Ayala and Mr. Daniel Valerio, Jr. for their assistance as well as Ms. Cristina Criel and Mrs. Alicia Mathewson for being such wonderful hostesses. Last but not least, thank you to UIL speech competitors Christina Janca, Valerie Mata, Micaela Uriegas, Isabella Talamantez, and Allica Cardona for volunteering to be official timekeepers for the contest. 

     Lois Owolabi and Brianna Decker-Diaz will now advance to the illustrious UIL State CX Debate Meet which will host the best debaters in the state and will be held on March 17-19 at UT Austin.  We wish them and their coach the best of luck.  Awesome Wildcat Brain Power!

Lois Owolabi Wins American Legion Oratorical District Contest

                               Jeff Davis (Post Commander) and Lois Owolabi

Congratulations to Lois Owolabi for winning the American Legion Constitutional Oratorical District Contest this past Saturday, Jan 9.  She secured the right to compete at this contest when she won the local contest back in December.  This time Lois competed against contestants from Devine, Natalia, Medina Valley and others.  Lois will now advance and compete against speakers from the surrounding region at the Division Contest.  The Division Contest will be in San Antonio in February.

 

Mr. Escamilla would like to thank Mrs. Victoria Linnard and Ms. Cristina Criel for once again helping with this important contest—your generous time is very much appreciated.

We would like to thank Lois for representing Carrizo Springs High School with honor and pride in this very prestigious contest and wish her luck at the Division Contest.

CSHS UIL Team Competes at Madison and Karnes City

The Carrizo Springs High School Wildcat UIL team traveled to the first two tournaments of the season.  The young team faired very well for its first two outings.  “We have many new freshman and sophomores that show much promise and, of course, we expect our seasoned veterans to continue their hard work and improve on last year’s performance,” said UIL coordinator, Daniel Valerio, Jr.  On both outings, the team brought home trophies and medallions.

The academic team traveled to San Antonio to James Madison High School where they competed against several bigger schools which included:  Churchill, Roosevelt, O’Connor and others.  The team did very well and the following competitors won awards.  In News Writing freshman Maria G. Selgado won second place while sister Maria I. Selgado, also a freshman, won sixth place.  In Number Sense, freshman Gift Owolabi won fouth place.  In Computer Applications freshman Christopher Orosco won fourth place.  In Ready Writing, freshman Briana Decker-Diaz won ninth place.  In Calculator Applications, Gift Owolabi won second place.  In Headline Writing the veteran Nadia Riojas won ninth place.  In Current Events, the veteran Gabriella Medrano won tenth place.

The following tournament the Wildcat Speech team made the trek to Karnes City to participate in “The Gift of Speech Tournament.”  The Wildcat interpers and debaters did well against speech giants such as Bandera, Alexander, and Poth.  After a long day and several rounds of competition, the Wildcat speech members brought home some medallions from this competition.  In Prose Interpretation Valerie Mata won fourth place while teammate Nathalie Martinez won fifth place in the same category.  In Poetry Interpretation Christina Janca won sixth place.

Congratulations to these fine competitors and their coaches for a job well done.  The next outing for the team will be at Laredo United South on January 15 and 16.  We would like to invite everyone to come out and support our Wildcat UIL team.  Awesome Wildcat Brain Power!