May 27, 2016 Progress Times - Campus Chronicle Sharyland ISD Graduations Edition - Digital Edition
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See UIL Pg. 11C See PHS TOP 3 Pg. 11C T his year’s top three stu- dents graduating from Pioneer High School have chosen different paths not only in high school, but for their future career goals as well. Top ranking student Wil- liam Liang, son of Shu Xian Liang and Yong Chu Li, plans to major in engineer- ing and hopes to pursue a career in space exploration at SpaceX or other private companies. Salutatorian Jose Aleman, son of Carlos and Olga Ale- man, plans to study petro- leum engineering in college, pursuing a career as a petro- leum engineer. Third ranking student An- gelica Rodriguez, daughter of Raul and Leonida Rodri- guez, plans to study medi- cine and pursue a career as a surgeon. In high school Liang’s studies concentrated on Science, Technology, En- gineering and Mathematics (STEM), but the times he enjoyed most came from his participation in theatre under the direction of Theatre Di- rector Mrs. Fertig. “Looking back at the last four years, my most mem- orable and enjoyable mo- ments in my high school ca- reer are without a doubt the hours, days, weeks, and even months spent rehearsing and putting together every single show with everyone. And the most important part of this experience is how support- ive Mrs. Fertig is. Not even once did she ever discourage me from accomplishing any- thing, instead she inspired me and continued to provide me the opportunities to better myself,” Liang said. He also enjoyed partic- ipating in U.I.L. competi- tions, Chess Club and LEO Club, where he served as vice president in addition to being elected to the State LEO Council as Lion Tamer. He provided community service as a volunteer at a lo- cal nursing home, as teaching assistant at Harry Shimotsu Elementary School, through Meet in the Middle and the National Honor Society. Aleman, Pioneer’s second highest ranking student, both an athlete and a top scholar, was named Cross Country MVP, and was a state quali- fier in cross country and a re- gional qualifier in track. The scholar-athlete has volun- teered his time at junior high cross country meets, track meets, at a nursing home, E arning one of the top three spots of one’s graduating class is a tremendous achievement. Sharyland’s top three stu- dents Katharine Garcia (Ka- tie), Daisy Abraham and So- fia Cortes Padilla exemplify what initiative, hard work and a good support system can bring. Valedictorian Katie Gar- cia plans to attend Columbia University in New York City to major in political science and minor in philosophy. “I’m proud of myself, I feel like I worked hard to get where I am,” Katie said. Because of her experi- ence in the debate team, she is considering going to law school and perhaps working in drafting and/or research- ing public policy. “If you know me, you know that it’s not debatable that I love debate and that I enjoy being right, and debate has brought me many suc- cesses,” Katie said. “But, for every success, it’s given me 100 more failures—and I couldn’t be more thankful for those 100 failures.” Aside from all the les- sons she learned though her mistakes, Katie credits her accolades to the support of her family, friends, counsel- ors, teachers and mentors, especially when she was not successful. “Overall, the support I’ve been given in high school has been beyond compari- son,” Katie said. “Of course my parents cried and hugged me when I got into college or when I found out I was Valedictorian—and I’m very grateful for that. But what I’m most grateful for, is the love and support I’ve re- ceived when I didn’t succeed or when I made a mistake. Salutatorian Daisy Abra- ham will attend A&M Uni- versity and plans to double major in anthropology and biology. “I’m happy with what I have achieved and I hope my accomplishments of to- day enable me to excel even more in the future,” Daisy said. Daisy is an aspiring gen- eral practitioner or cardiol- ogist and will participate in the Texas A&M Health Sci- ence Center College of Med- icine Partnership for Primary Care Program (PPC). The program is intended to help qualified, dedicated young people, like Daisy, get a head start in her medical career and eventually contribute to improving health care in parts of Texas that need it most. A career in the medical field comes as no surprise. Daisy managed to expand her education with various activities involving the med- ical field. She took Medical Rotation classes, was a mem- ber/officer of HOSA and helped with the annual blood P ioneer High School’s commencement exer- cises for the school’s second graduating class will be held Saturday, June 4 at 10 a.m. at the State Farm Arena. The Pioneer Diamondback band will perform “Pomp and Circumstance” as the graduates enter the arena. After the procession, third-ranking student Angel- ica L. Rodriguez will make the introductions, and honor student Sandra S. Solis will give the invocation. “The National Anthem” will be performed by Jacob Trigg, Dario Coronado and Wil- liam Cuellar III, members of the Sharyland ISD JROTC. Honor graduate Keren A. Al- varez will lead the attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Pledge to the Texas Flag. James Heath, Pioneer principal and Master of Cer- emony, will welcome the graduates, their friends and family, honored guests, fac- ulty and staff. Jose F. Aleman will give the salutatory address, fol- lowed by the valedictory ad- dress by William Liang. Senior Class President Veronica T. Rodriguez will then address the graduating class, reflecting on her and her fellow graduates’ experi- ences of the past four years. Sharyland ISD Superin- PROGRESS TIMES Section C May 27, 2016 Sharyland top three happy about success, thankful for support R ecognizing e xcellence i n e ducation Sharyland ISD Graduation Edition Pioneer’s top three choose different paths Sharyland High School graduates to receive diplomas June 4 S eniors, your journey is about to begin. Con- gratulations on gradu- ating from Sharyland ISD. Some of you will go on to colleges and universities, military service and others might choose to go straight into the workforce. Wher- ever life takes you make the best of it. Dr. Seuss was a fantastic author, and provid- ed us with many words of wisdom. In his book, Oh! The Places You’ll Go, he states: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go.” I can’t promise you that life will be easy, in fact I can almost guarantee that you will be faced with many challenges. But you ulti- mately will decide how you handle the challenges in your life. Will you quit the first time you fail at a task or will you stand tall and try again? Will you react in anger when someone treats you unfair- ly or will you forgive them and treat them with respect? Learn from each challenge, and you will become stron- ger and wiser. The choice of who you become is yours. SISD super urges grads to follow their dreams See MESSAGE pg. 11C S haryland High School is proud to announce that the 2016 gradua- tion ceremony will be held June 4 at 6 p.m. at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo. The Rattler Band will perform “Pomp and Circumstance” as the graduates enter the arena. After the processional, SHS Principal and Mis- tress of Ceremony Carolyn Mendiola will introduce the third-ranking student, Sofia Marian Cortez Padilla, who will give the invocation. Following the presenta- tion of colors on behalf of the Sharyland ISD JROTC, honor student Jacob Padilla will lead the Pledge to the US Flag, and Honor Student Madeleine Louise Garza will lead the Pledge to the Texas Flag. Honor student Gabri- ela Cazares will then intro- duce the SHS Choir and Rat- tler Band who will perform the National Anthem. Mendiola will give the official welcome, acknowl- edging the graduates, their friends and family, honored guests, faculty and staff. Salutatorian Daisy Eliz- abeth Abraham will present the salutatory address, fol- lowed by the valedictory ad- dress by Valedictorian Kath- arine Leia Garza. Senior Class President Andrea Sada will then ad- dress the graduating class and all attendees, reflecting on her and her peer’s expe- riences of the past four years. After Superintendent Dr. Robert O’Connor certifies all the graduates, School Board See DIPLOMAS pg. 11C Pioneer HS graduation ceremony planned June 4 See PIONEER pg. 3C Dr. Rob O’Connor Superintendent, Sharyland ISD James D. Heath Principal Carolyn Mendiola Principal Valedictorian Katie Garcia Salutatorian Daisy Abraham Third Ranking Sofia Cortez See SHS TOP 3 11C Valedictorian William Liang Salutatorian Jose Aleman Third Ranking Angelica Rodriguez A fter earning second place in district, the SHS Academic UIL students competed at the regional level in various events. The competition took place at the University of Texas-San Antonio on April 22 and 23. “All students that partici- pated tried their absolute best and the coaches that guided them are amazing and their never ending dedication is truly fantastic,” UIL Co-co- ordinator Ofelia Garza said. The individuals and teams placing at Regionals and ad- vancing to State are as fol- lows: Number Sense, coached by Jose Nava, won 1st Place Team. Number Sense team members and their places earned are as follows: 1st Place Regional Champion, Josh Jones; 2nd place, JinHo Yoon; 7th place, Hyuk Jun Choi; and 11th place, Yujin Seo. Current Issues and Events, coached by Eloisa Alvarado-Saenz: 1st Place Regional Champion, Bran- don Ramirez. Calculator Applications, coached by Ofelia Garza: 2nd Place Team, state bound as Wildcard. Team mem- bers include: 4th Place, Josh Jones; 6th Place, Hyuk Jun Choi; 9th Place, JinHo Yoon; and 18th Place, Heon Hui Lee. UIL provides extracurric- ular experience for the stu- dents through competitive events. Students taking part in UIL must have self-moti- vation and intellectual curi- osity due to the difficulty of the competitions. “UIL is amazing,” junior Veronica Meza said. “When I got in UIL it was the first time I competed in anything. I had never really had a com- petitive attitude, but UIL has inspired me to win.” Sharyland Academic UIL team competes at Regionals, six advance to State Sharyland High school UIL students compete at Regionals at San Antonio.
Transcript
See UIL Pg. 11C
See PHS TOP 3 Pg. 11C
This year’s top three stu-dents graduating from Pioneer High School
have chosen different paths not only in high school, but for their future career goals as well.
Top ranking student Wil-liam Liang, son of Shu Xian Liang and Yong Chu Li, plans to major in engineer-ing and hopes to pursue a career in space exploration at SpaceX or other private companies.
Salutatorian Jose Aleman, son of Carlos and Olga Ale-man, plans to study petro-leum engineering in college, pursuing a career as a petro-leum engineer.
Third ranking student An-gelica Rodriguez, daughter of Raul and Leonida Rodri-guez, plans to study medi-cine and pursue a career as a surgeon.
In high school Liang’s studies concentrated on Science, Technology, En-gineering and Mathematics (STEM), but the times he enjoyed most came from his participation in theatre under the direction of Theatre Di-
rector Mrs. Fertig. “Looking back at the last
four years, my most mem-orable and enjoyable mo-ments in my high school ca-reer are without a doubt the hours, days, weeks, and even months spent rehearsing and putting together every single show with everyone. And the most important part of this experience is how support-ive Mrs. Fertig is. Not even once did she ever discourage me from accomplishing any-
thing, instead she inspired me and continued to provide me the opportunities to better myself,” Liang said.
He also enjoyed partic-ipating in U.I.L. competi-tions, Chess Club and LEO Club, where he served as vice president in addition to being elected to the State LEO Council as Lion Tamer.
He provided community service as a volunteer at a lo-cal nursing home, as teaching assistant at Harry Shimotsu
Elementary School, through Meet in the Middle and the National Honor Society.
Aleman, Pioneer’s second highest ranking student, both an athlete and a top scholar, was named Cross Country MVP, and was a state quali-fier in cross country and a re-gional qualifier in track. The scholar-athlete has volun-teered his time at junior high cross country meets, track meets, at a nursing home,
Earning one of the top three spots of one’s graduating class is a
tremendous achievement. Sharyland’s top three stu-dents Katharine Garcia (Ka-tie), Daisy Abraham and So-fia Cortes Padilla exemplify what initiative, hard work and a good support system can bring.
Valedictorian Katie Gar-cia plans to attend Columbia University in New York City to major in political science and minor in philosophy.
“I’m proud of myself, I feel like I worked hard to get where I am,” Katie said.
Because of her experi-ence in the debate team, she is considering going to law school and perhaps working in drafting and/or research-ing public policy.
“If you know me, you know that it’s not debatable that I love debate and that I enjoy being right, and debate has brought me many suc-cesses,” Katie said. “But, for every success, it’s given me 100 more failures—and I couldn’t be more thankful for those 100 failures.”
Aside from all the les-sons she learned though her mistakes, Katie credits her
accolades to the support of her family, friends, counsel-ors, teachers and mentors, especially when she was not successful.
“Overall, the support I’ve been given in high school has been beyond compari-son,” Katie said. “Of course my parents cried and hugged me when I got into college or when I found out I was Valedictorian—and I’m very grateful for that. But what I’m most grateful for, is the love and support I’ve re-ceived when I didn’t succeed or when I made a mistake.
Salutatorian Daisy Abra-ham will attend A&M Uni-versity and plans to double major in anthropology and biology.
“I’m happy with what I have achieved and I hope my accomplishments of to-day enable me to excel even more in the future,” Daisy said.
Daisy is an aspiring gen-eral practitioner or cardiol-ogist and will participate in the Texas A&M Health Sci-ence Center College of Med-icine Partnership for Primary Care Program (PPC). The
program is intended to help qualified, dedicated young people, like Daisy, get a head start in her medical career and eventually contribute to improving health care in parts of Texas that need it most.
A career in the medical field comes as no surprise. Daisy managed to expand her education with various activities involving the med-ical field. She took Medical Rotation classes, was a mem-ber/officer of HOSA and helped with the annual blood
Pioneer High School’s commencement exer-cises for the school’s
second graduating class will be held Saturday, June 4 at 10 a.m. at the State Farm Arena. The Pioneer Diamondback band will perform “Pomp and Circumstance” as the graduates enter the arena.
After the procession, third-ranking student Angel-ica L. Rodriguez will make the introductions, and honor student Sandra S. Solis will give the invocation. “The National Anthem” will be performed by Jacob Trigg, Dario Coronado and Wil-liam Cuellar III, members of the Sharyland ISD JROTC. Honor graduate Keren A. Al-varez will lead the attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Pledge to the Texas Flag.
James Heath, Pioneer principal and Master of Cer-emony, will welcome the graduates, their friends and family, honored guests, fac-
ulty and staff. Jose F. Aleman will give
the salutatory address, fol-lowed by the valedictory ad-dress by William Liang.
Senior Class President Veronica T. Rodriguez will then address the graduating class, reflecting on her and her fellow graduates’ experi-ences of the past four years.
Sharyland ISD Superin-
PROGRESS TIMES Section C May 27, 2016
Sharyland top three happy about success, thankful for support
Recognizing excellence in education
Sharyland ISD Graduation Edition
Pioneer’s top three choose different paths
Sharyland High School graduates to receive
diplomas June 4
Seniors, your journey is about to begin. Con-gratulations on gradu-
ating from Sharyland ISD. Some of you will go on to colleges and universities, military service and others might choose to go straight into the workforce. Wher-ever life takes you make the best of it. Dr. Seuss was a fantastic author, and provid-ed us with many words of wisdom. In his book, Oh! The Places You’ll Go, he states:
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go.”
I can’t promise you that life will be easy, in fact I can almost guarantee that you will be faced with many challenges. But you ulti-mately will decide how you handle the challenges in your life. Will you quit the first
time you fail at a task or will you stand tall and try again? Will you react in anger when someone treats you unfair-ly or will you forgive them and treat them with respect? Learn from each challenge, and you will become stron-ger and wiser. The choice of who you become is yours.
SISD super urges grads to follow their dreams
See MESSAGE pg. 11C
Sharyland High School is proud to announce that the 2016 gradua-
tion ceremony will be held June 4 at 6 p.m. at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo. The Rattler Band will perform “Pomp and Circumstance” as the graduates enter the arena.
After the processional, SHS Principal and Mis-tress of Ceremony Carolyn Mendiola will introduce the third-ranking student, Sofia Marian Cortez Padilla, who will give the invocation.
Following the presenta-tion of colors on behalf of the Sharyland ISD JROTC, honor student Jacob Padilla will lead the Pledge to the US Flag, and Honor Student Madeleine Louise Garza will lead the Pledge to the Texas Flag. Honor student Gabri-ela Cazares will then intro-duce the SHS Choir and Rat-tler Band who will perform the National Anthem.
Mendiola will give the official welcome, acknowl-edging the graduates, their friends and family, honored guests, faculty and staff.
Salutatorian Daisy Eliz-abeth Abraham will present the salutatory address, fol-lowed by the valedictory ad-dress by Valedictorian Kath-arine Leia Garza.
Senior Class President Andrea Sada will then ad-dress the graduating class and all attendees, reflecting on her and her peer’s expe-riences of the past four years.
After Superintendent Dr. Robert O’Connor certifies all the graduates, School Board
See DIPLOMAS pg. 11C
Pioneer HS graduation ceremony planned June 4
See PIONEER pg. 3C
Dr. Rob O’ConnorSuperintendent, Sharyland ISD
James D. Heath Principal
Carolyn MendiolaPrincipal
Valedictorian Katie Garcia
Salutatorian Daisy Abraham
Third Ranking Sofia Cortez
See SHS TOP 3 11C
Valedictorian William Liang
SalutatorianJose Aleman
Third Ranking Angelica Rodriguez
After earning second place in district, the SHS Academic UIL
students competed at the regional level in various events. The competition took place at the University of Texas-San Antonio on April 22 and 23.
“All students that partici-pated tried their absolute best and the coaches that guided them are amazing and their never ending dedication is truly fantastic,” UIL Co-co-ordinator Ofelia Garza said.
The individuals and teams placing at Regionals and ad-vancing to State are as fol-lows:
Number Sense, coached by Jose Nava, won 1st Place Team. Number Sense team members and their places earned are as follows: 1st Place Regional Champion, Josh Jones; 2nd place, JinHo Yoon; 7th place, Hyuk Jun Choi; and 11th place, Yujin Seo.
Current Issues and Events, coached by Eloisa Alvarado-Saenz: 1st Place
Regional Champion, Bran-don Ramirez.
Calculator Applications, coached by Ofelia Garza: 2nd Place Team, state bound as Wildcard. Team mem-bers include: 4th Place, Josh Jones; 6th Place, Hyuk Jun Choi; 9th Place, JinHo Yoon;
and 18th Place, Heon Hui Lee.
UIL provides extracurric-ular experience for the stu-dents through competitive events. Students taking part in UIL must have self-moti-vation and intellectual curi-osity due to the difficulty of
the competitions.“UIL is amazing,” junior
Veronica Meza said. “When I got in UIL it was the first time I competed in anything. I had never really had a com-petitive attitude, but UIL has inspired me to win.”
Sharyland Academic UIL team competes at Regionals, six advance to State
Sharyland High school UIL students compete at Regionals at San Antonio.
page 2B January 2, 2015www.ptrgv.com | www.strgv.compage 2C May 27, 2016www.ptrgv.com | www.strgv.com
Class Of 2016 Migrant Students At Pioneer High School
Sharyland I.S.D.Federal Programs Office Texas Migrant Program
Texas Migrant Interstate Program
Adame, Eritza Darlie
Garcia, Laura Lee
Alaniz, Pricilla Lyzeth
Gomez, Marisol
Cazares, Marlen Aracely
Guevarra, Jesus Esaias
Garcia, Kenneth
Hernandez, Ruben Viggiano Reynoso, Kevin
Not Pictured: Gonzalez, Ricardo A.; Quintana, Banesa Isabel; Rios, Juan Miguel
After competing at re-gionals, 15 HOSA students from SHS
and SA3 qualified for State. The HOSA State Conference was held in Galveston on April 13-15.
“The State Competition was a great experience for our students,” HOSA Advi-sor Cynthia Aldape said.
Sophomores Carolina Becerril and Claudia Mar-tinez competed in Health Education and placed fifth. Health Education is a team event in which the compet-itors select a health relat-ed-concept or instructional objective and prepare a les-son, provide the instruction and evaluate the results.
“We basically have to do a presentation in front of judges showing them how we would present to middle school student. We just talk-ed about unhealthy eating and how it affects us,” Clau-dia said.
Damian Gaouette and Miguel Garza competed in Pharmacology and were rec-ognized at the State Confer-ence. This event is a 100 item written exam with an essay tie-breaker question. The questions measure knowl-edge at the recall, application and analysis levels. Dami-an placed first and Miguel
placed second. Both stu-dents qualify for the National HOSA Conference.
“It was pretty nerve-wrecking and very in-tense,” Damian said. “They brought the top five finalists in random order to the stage and from there they revealed the top three contenders who would advance to nationals. When they called third place and onwards, I was just hap-py to move on to the next round to represent my school at a higher level.”
In the HOSA Chapter Reflections category, senior Ana Cecin placed, qualifying her for the Nationals HOSA conference also.
“I thought I wasn’t going to make it and I was really nervous,” she said. “While we were at the ceremony everybody was holding my hand because I got really nervous and my name wasn’t called out until the second to last. It was super over-whelming when they called my name. I started crying; I went up to the stage and at that moment I was still su-per shaky and I had a really funny feeling because when you win at area it’s like ‘cool I made it to state,’ but when you win at State there are so many people watching you, there were over 3,000 peo-
ple.”Aside from the actual state
competition the students had the opportunity to have some fun at the Galveston Island Historical Pleasure Pier.
“HOSA planned this thing called ‘Discover Galveston’ and we went to the pier and we got on the Ferris wheel and got on all those rides and games,” senior Rebeca Gon-zalez said. “We also went to the beach, walked… and had fun. We then went downtown to go eat at cute little restau-rants.”
HOSA had very high standards and through the years, the organization keeps proving itself among others.
“I have no words to de-scribe how I feel,” HOSA ad-visor, Cynthia Aldape said. “I am so proud of all my stu-dents that compete because HOSA is hard. The events we have are all research based, medically innovative and creative so it requires a lot of preparation, medical skills demonstrations, etc. And the competition from specialized medical high schools in other areas is tough. Nevertheless, my students rise up to the challenges presented,”
The National HOSA Con-ference will take place June 22-25 at Nashville, Tennes-see.
Sharyland HOSA competes at State Competition, advances to Nationals
Front Row: Claudia Martinez, Carolina Salinas Becerril, Paulina Moreno, Rebeca Gonzalez, Carlos Esquivel, Andres Benavides, and Joshua Briones.
Back Row: Damian Gaoutte, Ana Cecin, Miguel Garza, Daniel Carlson, Julio Perez. Not pictured: Mariela Cavazos, Fabiola Serna, and Alyssa Luna.
Sharyland High School’s Parliamentary Proce-dure Team placed ninth
in the nation at the Business Professionals of America National Leadership Confer-ence held in Boston, Massa-chusetts on May 5-9. Junior Joshua Seth Jones who was installed as a state officer and named State Reporter at BPA’s State Leadership Con-ference in March also attend-ed the conference and par-ticipated in the Leadership workshops and camps. Josh is Sharyland ISD’s first state officer, and he competed against 30 other candidates.
The Parliamentary Proce-dure team took a written test on parliamentary laws and procedures then presented to a panel of judges in pre-lims where 25 other teams from across the nation also competed. This young team made it to the final round of the top 10. Congratulations to Anel Cuarenta, Paulina Echanove, Mario Garza, Anna Gonzalez, Arianna Gutierrez, Cristina Nava, Paulina Sada and Erick Vega and their advisors Nancy Barboza and Irene Morin.
Previously, the SHS BPA chapter competed at the State Leadership Conference held in Corpus Christi. This is the largest group that the SHS BPA chapter has ever taken to the state conference with a total of 39 competing. The Parliamentary Procedure
team ranked second in the state.
“As you can see, the stu-dents were extremely suc-cessful and demonstrated superior abilities compared to the rest of the State,” Bar-boza, advisor, said. “We were ranked as one of the top schools in our region, and now the state.”
In January, SHS BPA chapter competed at the an-nual Regional Leadership Conference held at STC. The students were extremely suc-cessful and demonstrated su-perior abilities to the rest of the RGV.
“Our kiddos are on their way on being ‘Tomorrow’s Business Professionals’….running companies, serving as C.E.O.’s, creating soft-ware, running the medical industry, and serving in lead-ership roles,” Barboza said.
Following is a list of SHS BPA students who placed high in the competition: 1st in Advanced Accounting: Je-sus Reyna, 2nd in Banking & Finance: Joshua Jones, 1st in Economic Research Individ-ual: Abraham Cruz, 1st in In-tegrated Office Applications: Clarissa Lopez, 4th in Basic Office Systems & Proce-dures: Romeo De Leon, 1st in Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications: Hyuk Choi, 3rd in Medical Office Pro-cedures: Alan Garcia, 2nd in Admin Support Research Individual: Erwin Von Nach-
er Hongo, 3rd in Computer Network Technology: Elliud Hernandez, Jr., 2nd in PC Servicing & Troubleshoot-ing: Roberto Rivas, and 4th in Network Administration Using Microsoft: Ivanna Castañeda.
Others taking top awards at the competition were: 3rd in C++ Programming: Jorge Mendoza; 4th in JAVA Pro-gramming: Alejandro Gar-cia; 2nd in SQL Database Fundamentals: Mario Tapia; 2nd in Fundamentals of Web Design: Cecilia Adame; 4th in Digital Publishing: Ale-jandro Torres; 1st in Inter-view Skills: Andres Tamez; 2nd in Extemporaneous Speech: Jesus “Chuy” De La Fuente Lozano; 1st in Finan-cial Analyst Team: Marcela Marin, C. Andrea Ruiz, Eve-lyn Quinlan; 1st in Economic Research Team: Julio Con-treras, Josh Jones, Stephanie Kim, Hannah Kirby; 2nd in Network Design Team: Ri-cardo De Leon, Alan Garcia, Alejandro Garcia, Clarissa Lopez; 2nd in Web Site De-sign Team: Ana Sofia Lopez, Cecilia Adame; and 1st in Parliamentary Procedure Team: Anel Cuarenta, Pauli-na Echanove, Cristina Nava, Arianna Gutierrez, Anna Gonzalez, Mario Garza, Er-ick Vega, Norberto Alejan-dro Hinojosa.
Sharyland BPA competes at State, advances to Nationals
SHS BPA students are pictured visiting Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, where the team placed ninth in the nation at the Business Professionals of America National
Leadership Conference. Josh Jones, of Sharyland High School, was installed as a state officer at the BPA State Leadership Conference
PIONEER from pg 1C
Sharyland Pioneer FFA Chapter traveled to Huntsville December 4, to compete in Texas FFA’s Leadership Career
Development Events. Four teams qualified for the state com-petition, three advanced to the finals and one was named a state semi-finalist. PHS placed fourth in Senior Agricultural
Skills Demonstration Contest. Team members included: John Ryan Rodriguez, Nadia Gomez, & Richard Longoria, Bella Ala-
niz, Michael Landavazo, & Emily Michki. Bella Alaniz, Green-hand FFA Creed Speaker, placed eighth in the finals and the
Public Relations team earned the title of state semi-final-ists. The team included: Lauren Esqueda, Andrea Guajardo, Johnny Howell and Jacob Madrigal. Sharyland Pioneer FFA
Advisors are Marco A. Barrientes and Joe C. Carter.
Sharyland Pioneer FFA Participates in State Leadership Career Development
On April 2, the Pioneer High School Winter Guard compet-ed at the Texas Educational Color Guard Association State Championships at PSJA North. The PHS Winter Guard was
named the Scholastic A South Zone Champions and earned the gold medal with a score of 94.640. The guard earned the highest score of the day out of 44 guards present. The Win-ter Guard had a successful season as they went undefeated
at all 6 contests that they competed at. This is the first State Championship title the Color Guard program has earned. The
Pioneer High School Color Guard is under the direction of Samuel Aguilar.
PHS Winter Guard Takes State
Pioneer High School’s Avery Coronado qualified for the State Powerlifting Championships competition.
tendent Dr. Robert O’Connor will certify all the graduates, and School Board President Ricky Longoria will present the diplomas to the graduating students.
Pioneer High School Prin-cipal James Heath will offer final thoughts for the Class of 2016, and the ceremony will end with the singing of the Sharyland Pioneer Alma Mater, which will be led by honor students Matthew Guerra, Javier Martinez Jr.,
Daniela Delgado, Karynna Peña, Elise Lopez, Jonathan Jones, and Josiah Gonzalez. They will be joined by Se-nior Advisory Council mem-bers Veronica Rodriguez, Juan Salazar, Kailee Serna and Jennifer Shepherd.
Graduates of the Shary-land Pioneer Class of 2016 will then proceed out of the arena as Diamondback band plays “Pomp and Circum-stance.”
On January 23, 10 Pioneer High School students competed at the Choir UIL Solo and Ensemble Contest. Of those 10,
seven earned first division ratings for their solos, includ-ing, sophomore Arlyn Gonzalez and senior Tanner Trigg,
who qualified to compete at the State Solo and Ensemble Contest in May in Austin. The girls went on to perform at
UTRGV as part of the Women’s Choral Festival.
PHS Choir Making Music
On Saturday, March 12, the Pioneer High School Indoor Per-cussion and Winter Guard competed at the Edinburg North
High School T.E.C.A. Invitational. The Indoor Percussion Ensemble placed 3rd in their class. Both groups competed at
the very first ever Pioneer High School T.E.C.A. Invitational, and the Indoor Percussion received first place in its class and
the highest score of all the percussion units competing that day. The Winter Guard received first place in its class, as well and received the highest score of all the guards competing.
The Winter Guard also competed on April 2 at the State Championships at P.S.J.A. North H.S. and the Indoor Percus-
sion competed on April 9 at their State Championships at Palmview H.S.
PHS Percussion and Winter Guard Success Break
2015-2016 Sharyland ISD Board of Trustees – Ricky Longoria, President
Dr. Noe Oliveira, Vice-PresidentJulio Cerda, Secretary
Melissa Smith, Assistant-Secretary
Jose Garcia, MemberRolando Peña, Member
Dr. Noel O. Garza, MemberSuperintendent: Dr. Robert O’Connor H.S. Principal: James D. Heath
Parent’s Name: Shu Xian Liang and Yong Chu LiAcademic Areas of Concentration in High
School: STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
Community service or volunteer work at school: Volunteered at the Nursing home (2014-15). Teacher Assistant for the Harry Shimotsu Elemen-tary School during the summer (2014). Volunteer participation through LEO Club, Meet in the Middle, and NHS.
Leadership positions: Theatre Vice-President (11th), LEO Club Vice-President (11th), and State LEO Council Leo Tamer (12th).
Awards/Honors: AP Scholar with Distinction (2015), A Honor Roll (9th-11th), Perfect Attendance
(9th-11th), LEO State Council Honors (12th).Participation in academic and extra-curricular activities: U.I.L (9th-12th), The-
atre (9th-12th), LEO Club (10th-12th), Chess Club (9th-12th), NHS (12th).Future plans after high school: Major in engineering and eventually work in
the field of space exploration at SpaceX or other private companies.Parent’s Name: Carlos Aleman, Olga AlemanAcademic Areas of Concentration in High
School: Math, ScienceCommunity service or volunteer work at school: Volunteered at junior high cross country meets,
track meets, a nursing home, football concession stands, fundraisers, homecoming booths, and li-braries.
Leadership positions: Captain of cross country team.
Awards/Honors: A Honor Roll, State Qualifier in Cross Country, Regional Qualifier in Track, Out-standing Student in Calculus and Environmental Science, MVP in Cross Country.
Participation in academic and extra-curricular activities:
Mainly cross country and track. Have been in Leo Club and Environmental Club, and National Honor Society.
Future plans after high school: Going to major in petroleum engineering in hopes of becoming a petroleum engineer in the future.
Parent’s Name: Raul and Leonida Rodriguez Academic Areas of Concentration in High
School: Health Science Career Cluster Principles of Health Science, Medial Terminology and Patho-physiology, Clinical Rotations; upper level/AP Sci-ence and Math courses
Community service or volunteer work at school: VolunTEEN at Doctors at Renaissance, volunteered at Rio Grande Regional Hospital, LEO club member, volunteered at Ronald McDonald House Organiza-tion, volunteered in church community events at Holy Spirit Parish
Leadership positions: Drum Major of High School band and officer of Health Occupation Stu-dents of America
Awards/Honors: A Honor Roll, AP Scholar, member of NHS, All Region Band member, and member of National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists, member of 2015 5A UIL State Marching Band
Participation in academic and extra-curricular activities: member of High School band, member of Health Occupation Students of America, and LEO club
Future plans after high school: Biology Major with a Pre-Medical track at Tex-as Tech University; plans to become a surgeon.
Parent’s Name: Diana & Heriberto SolisAcademic Areas of Concentration in High
School: Math and Science Community service or volunteer work at school:
Morning announcer for pledges, assisted in home-coming festival, peer tutor, folklorico performer for the elementary schools and junior highs, conduct-ed seatbelt checks at the high school, assisted with Teens in the Driver’s Seat- Drinking and Driving Simulator, promoted Body Positivity Awareness.
Leadership positions: NHS, SADD, and Vol-leyball (Athletics) have allowed me to be a leader around the school by leading by example.
Awards/Honors: A-Honor Roll, A&B Honor Roll, AP Scholar, National Academy of Future Scientists
and Technologists Award of Excellence, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Outstanding Senior, Volleyball Academic All-State
Participation in academic and extra-curricular activities: Volleyball, Folklorico, Religion Classes (CCD), Students Against Destructive
Decisions (SADD), National Honor Society (NHS)Future plans after high school: University of Texas at Austin; Major: Petro-
leum EngineeringParent’s Name: Rogelio Alvarez Jr. & Keren Wen-
dy AlvarezAcademic Areas of Concentration in High
School: In high school, I took advantage of the education I was getting, and signed up for the op-timum classes to enrich my foundation of knowl-edge. Additionally, I concentrated more on Spanish language classes, core classes, and CTE courses for prospective educators. Community service or volunteer work at school: Within the Sharyland school district, I volunteered most of my time as an intern at Jessie Jensen Elementary and at the GO Center. Furthermore, I volunteered within the community service organizations I was a part of in school. Leadership positions: Book Club (Club
Secretary), National Honor Society (Historian), Female Rights Equal Equity Club (Club Historian/Media Specialist)
Awards/Honors: AP Scholar Award with Honor, 3 Outstanding Student Awards (Pre-Calculus/College Algebra Dual-Enrollment, AP English III, and AP Spanish Language), A Honor Roll (9th, 11th), A&B Honor Roll (10th), STAAR Com-mended Performance (English II and U.S. History), Mission Junior Service League Student Recognition, Texas Scholars Award recipient, Outstanding Senior Award Recipient, 1st Place at Texas Public Service Association Regional Event (Advanc-ing to State)
Participation in academic and extra-curricular activities: Student Council (Class President) (9th), Band (Percussion Section Leader) (9th), Spanish Club (Club President) (11th), Book Club (Club Secretary) (11th-12th), National Honor Society (Chapter Historian) (11th-12th), Leadership, Experience, and Opportuni-ty (LEO) Club (Member) (12th), Instructional Practices in Education and Training (Participant) (12th), Female Rights Equal Equity Club (Club Historian/Media Spe-cialist) (12th), Criminal Justice Club (Member) (12th), Masterminds Club (Alternate) (12th)
Future plans after high school (college and/or career as you anticipate at this time):I will be attending Texas A&M University in College Station in pursuit of a degree towards early childhood education. I plan to be teaching as a bilingual generalist and eventually serve within a school district in the Rio Grande Valley.
Parent’s Name: Ronnie Guerra and Martha F. Guerra
Academic Areas of Concentration in High School: Math and Science
Community service or volunteer work at school: Thanksgiving Food Bag Preparer, St. John of the Fields Church, Nov 2013. Food Bag Preparation, Rio Grande Valley Food Bank, Dec 2014.
Leadership positions: Captain of my club soccer team, the Houston Dynamo South Texas Academy.
Awards/Honors: 2014 – 2015 All District First Team 31-5A Boys Soccer, 2015 – 2016 All District Second Team 31-51 Boys Soccer, Member of the National Society of High School Scholars, Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society at South Texas
College, Outstanding Senior, National Honor Society MemberParticipation in academic and extra-curricular activities: Soccer Team all four
high school years, Team Tennis and Individual Tennis all four high school years, Engineering Club Member, LEO Club Member, Houston Dynamo South Texas Soccer Academy Soccer Player
Future plans after high school: I plan to attend Southern Methodist Univer-sity in Dallas, TX and pick up a double major of Biochemistry and International Business. Depending on what it is I like more, I will either go on to medical school to achieve my Doctorate to become an Anesthesiologist or go on and receive a master’s degree in business.
Parent’s Names: Javier Martinez and Cynthia Ann Martinez
Academic Areas of Concentration in High School: Math and Science Community ser-vice or volunteer work at school: LEO Club, Health Occupations Students of America, Summer Band Camp, National Honors Society
Leadership positions: National Honors Society - Treasurer, LEO Club - Tail Twister, Sharyland Pioneer Band - Secretary, Sharyland Pioneer Band - Section Leader, Sharyland Pioneer Winter Guard – Road Crew Captain
Awards/Honors: Certificate of Volunteerism at McAllen Medical Center, Texas Music Scholar, State Marching Band, All-Region & Pre-Area Qualifier,
First Place at Winter Guard State Championship Participation in academic and extra-curricular activities: Member of the
Sharyland ISD Band organization, Member of the Sharyland Pioneer Winter Guard Road Crew, Member of the Sharyland Pioneer National Honors Society, Member of Sharyland Pioneer Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), Member of the Sharyland Pioneer LEO Club
Future plans after high school: After graduating high school, I plan on being a Chemistry major at the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley, and the career that I am currently pursuing is a Radiologist specializing in pediatrics.
Academic Areas of Concentration in High School: Health Science Career Cluster
Community service or volunteer work at school: Hospital Volunteer-transported patients and helped nurses (48 hours), LEO Service Club-helped organize community Palm Festival (8 hours), Student Council-helped collect canned goods for needy families (6 hours) and raised money for local Women’s Cancer Center during Breast Cancer Awareness Month ( 6 hours)
Leadership positions: HOSA, 2012-Present; Of-fice: Sentinel, Worked football concession stand (6 hours), Safety Halloween Fair 2014 (4 hours), Veter-
ans Day Appreciation Cards, Donated toys and canned goods during holidays (6 hours), National Club Project for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Ran the Annual Blood Drive (8 hours), LEO Club, Built mobiles for handicaps, Palm Fest 2012 (6 hours), Collected canned food donations for needy families during month of November, Student Counc 2015-2016, Senior Class Vice President, Student Council Community Project, National Honor Society 2015-2016, Club Vice Presi-dent
Awards/Honors: Student of the Month (September) 2010, Perfect Atten-dance 2010-2011, Sharyland North Top 20 Ranking Student 2011-2012, A-Honor Roll 2012-2013, Sharyland Varsity Tennis Team 2013-2014, District Girls Singles 2nd Place (Regional Qualifier), A-B Honor Roll2 013-2014, Acceptance into Clinical Rotations Program 2014-Present, Varsity Tennis Girls Singles 1st Team All District 2014-2015 Junior Service League of Mission Nomi-nee 2016
Participation in academic and extra-curricular activities: Varsity Tennis Team, Student Council, HOSA, National Honor Society, and LEO Club
Future plans after high school:After I graduate high school I plan on going to college at UTRGV for two years where I will complete my pre-requisite courses in Pre-Physical Therapy. I will then go off to gradu-ate school at the University of Texas at Austin where I plan to enter the Physical Therapy program and hopeful-ly earn my P.T. doctoral degree and become a certified Physical Therapist.
Parent’s Name: Jose Alberto Peña and Veronica Peña
Academic Areas of Concentration in High School: Math and Science
Community service or volunteer work at school: Summer Band, Dance camp, Belle’s Fundraisers, LEO Club, Teacher’s Aid volunteer, Relay for Life vol-unteer Awards/Honors: Guard of the week as a freshman, Belle of the Week as a senior, Student’s Award for Academic accomplishments, Student of the Month by Mission’s Women’s League, National Honor Society for High School Scholars
Participation in academic and extra-curricular activities: Member of the Sharyland band’s color guard, Member of Diamonds dance team, Member
of Diamond Belles dance team, Member of the LEO Club, Member of Sharyland Pioneer’s National Honors Society
Future plans after high school: I plan to major in Biomedical Science and graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University. Then I wish to pursue further education in a P.A. school and graduate from that program to pursue an active career in the medical field as a Physician’s Assistant.
Parent’s Name: Fabiola Jeffries and Hugo Lo-pez
Academic Areas of Concentration in High School: Engineering, Math, and Science
Community service or volunteer work at school: Helped with UIL Meet, Volunteered at the annual Homecoming Hoedown (2014-2015; 2015-2016), Volunteered at Football Games with different concession stands. (Taco Hut, Conces-sion Stand)
Leadership positions: Secretary of Business Professionals of America (2014-2015), Vice-Presi-dent of Business Professionals of America (2015-
2016), Captain of the Varisty Volleyball Team (2014-2015; 2015-2016)
Awards/Honors: AB Honor Roll (9th grade-12th grade), 1st Place at UTB Pia-no Competition (2012), 2nd Place in Global Marketing Team at regionals (2014-2015; 2015-2016), Honorable Mention for Volleyball (2013-2014), Defensive Play-er of the Year (2014-2015), 2nd Team All-District (2014-2015), All-Tournament at Missions Veterans Tournament (2015-2016), All-Tournament at Sharyland ISD Invitational Tournament (2015-2016), 1st Team All-District (2015-2016)
Participation in academic and extra-curricular activities: Piano Lessons and Competitions, School Volleyball at Sharyland and Pioneer High School, Club Vol-leyball, Business Professionals of America, National Honor Society, UIL Academ-ics (Computer Applications)
Future plans after high school: I plan on going to study engineering at Tex-as A&M College Station. I want to specialize in Biomedical Engineering which focuses on prosthetic work. After that, I hope to achieve my masters degree in possibly business.
Parent’s Name: Mr. Samuel Nathan Jones and Mrs. Kelly Andersen Jones
Academic Areas of Concentration in High School: Math and Science
Community service or volunteer work at school: Over 1000 hours of various service and vol-unteer work at BT McAllen
Leadership positions: Leadership council for football my senior year, Captain/President of FCA my senior year
Awards/Honors: Academic All-State Wrestler my senior year (1st in school history), Regional Qualifier for Wrestling in the 145 Lb. weight class
senior yea, Regional Alternate for Wrestling in the 138 Lb. weight class junior year, Member of the
all-region band my senior year, Every year I marched, the band received a 1 (the best a band can do) at the annual Pigskin Jubilee Marching Contest. Member of the Marching Band Senior year that competed at the State Marching contest in San Antonio and placed 23rd out of 31 bands and finished the season 23rd out of 223 5A marching bands in the state of Texas
Participation in academic and extra-curricular activities: 4 years in Concert Band, 3 of which I was in the Honors (top) band and 1st chair in the school, 3 years marching band, 4 year football player, 2 year letterman as a quarterback and safety, 2 year wrestler, 2 year letterman in the 138 Lb. weight class junior year and 145 Lb. weight class senior year, 3 year sub-varsity track runner in the 100, 200, 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400, Competed in UIL Math, Number Sense, Sci-ence and Calculator Applications at various times throughout high school and competed at the varsity level my senior year in all but science. M e m -ber of FCA my senior year and was one of the students who helped start the organization on Pioneer’s campus
Future plans after high school: I will attend Baylor University in the fall and study humanitarian engineering. After my 4 years at Baylor, I plan on either at-tending Southwest Theological Seminary or going into the workforce to, most likely, be a missionary or work for a disaster relief organization.
William LiangValedictorian
Matthew Jacob Guerra6th Ranking Student
Jose Francisco AlemanSalutatorian
Daniela Delgado8th Ranking Student
Angelica Rodriguez3rd Ranking Student
Javier Martinez, Jr.6th Ranking Student
Sandra Sophia Solis4th Ranking Student
Keren Alizza Alvarez5th Ranking Student
Karynna Pena9th Ranking Student
Jonathan Peter Jones10th Ranking Student
PIONEER HIGH SCHOOL - CLASS OF 2016
Elise Lopez10th Ranking Student
May 27, 2016 page 3Cwww.ptrgv.com | www.strgv.com
page 4C May 27, 2016www.ptrgv.com | www.strgv.com
Limas, Daniela YllenLerma, Tatiana VictoriaLara, DaniellaLara, Dana BrynnJuarez, Emilia MoniqueJones, Jonathan PeterJames, Thomas Wesley
Sharyland Pioneer H.S. Alma MaterPionee r our Alma Mater , w e wi l l a lways love thy name, and today we stand together r eady
to pr oc la im thy fame . Light o f l earn ing eve r burn ing , to the tr uths w e hold sinc er e .Diamondbacks stand pr oud as we sing a loud, w e wi l l be t r ue to r ed and gray a l l our day s.A be tt er schoo l than ours sur ely cou ld not be, we ’l l cher i sh you thr ough l oss and vi c to r y!
2016
Aleman, Jose F.Dare to Dream:$500; Dr. Billy J Freel Memorial Scholarship:$2,000; Payne Auto Group City Clash:$500; Texas A&M Aggie Merit:$2,000;
Texas A&M Opportunity Award:$1,250; Texas FEA Anticipated Scholarship:$2,000; Federal Pell Grant:$5,815; TX Public Information
Moreno-Gutierrez, DianaSADD Scholarship:$300; St. Mary’s University
Presidential:$64,000
Lopez, EliseBoys & Girls Club of Mission:$500; Diamondback
Athletic Booster Club:TBA; Keys to Aggieland School Outreach:$500
Alvarez, Keren A.Palm Valley Association of Retired School Personnel:$800; Raul Tijerina Jr. Foundation-Far Horizon:$3,000; Dare to Dream:$250; SISD Education
Vasquez, Camille R.Diamondback Athletic Booster Club:TBA; Our Lady
of Perpetual Help-Knights of Columbus:$500
Trigg, Jacob T.Diamondback Athletic Booster Club:TBA
Salazar, Juan J.RGV Lead Ambassadors:$200; SADD:$500; Johnson
& Wales University NSO:$15,000
Saenz, Juan MauricioDonna Wernecke:$500
Students with scholarships not picturedCagly, Mercury A. - The University of Iowa Hawkeye Achievement Award:$8,000; Iowa Heritage Award:$6,000Cedillo, Joshua - Dare to Dream:$250; Texas A&M Kingsville Presidential Scholarship:$8,000Garcia, Immanuel A. - Dare to Dream Scholarship:$150Garza, Brooke L. - Diamonback Athletic Booster Club:TBA; PHS Cheerleading Booster Club:TBA; Federal Pell Grants:$765; TEXAS Grant-New Initial High School:$5,000
Liang, William - Dare to Dream Scholarship:$500Lopez, Joanna T. - RGV Lead Ambassadors Scholarship:$150Madrigal, Jacobo N. - Texas A&M University Regents:$20,000; Federal Pell Grant:$5,815; Texas Public Education Grant-Texas Resident:$1,500; Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant:$600; Sharyland Pioneer Chapter:$500
Underhill, Robert L.UTSA Distriguished Presidential
Scholarship:$12,000
Rodriguez, AngelicaTexas Tech University Presidential:$3,000; Texas Tech University Grant:$1,825; PHS Band Booster
Club:TBA
Rodriguez, Joel A.UTRGV AT&T-UTPA:$500
Ramirez, Andrea R.Dare to Dream:$500; Federal Pell Grant:$5,815;
Regino, Kelly D.Epsilon Upsilon Chapter:$500; Dare to Dream:$500; St. Edward’s University Grant:$45,875; Federal Pell
Grant:$5,815; CAMP Grant 2016-2017:$2,110
Ramos, Ramsey L.St. Mary’s University Bordeaux:$48,000
Perez, Esmeralda G.Dare to Dream:$500
Perez, ArmandoPHS Media Club:$100
PIONEERSCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS20
15
Sharyland Pioneer H.S. Alma MaterPionee r our Alma Mater , w e wi l l a lways love thy name, and today we stand together r eady
to pr oc la im thy fame . Light o f l earn ing eve r burn ing , to the tr uths w e hold sinc er e .Diamondbacks stand pr oud as we sing a loud, w e wi l l be t r ue to r ed and gray a l l our day s.A be tt er schoo l than ours sur ely cou ld not be, we ’l l cher i sh you thr ough l oss and vi c to r y!
2016
*Gomez, Nadia K. - cont’d: Texas A&M Opportunity Award:$1,000; Texas Aggie Grant:$2,500; Hidalgo STAR A&M Club Aggie Achievement Award:$1,000; RGV Livestock Show Academic:$500; RGV Livestock Show Reserve Grand Champion Horticulture Project 2007:$500; RGV Livestock Show Reserve Grand Champion Horticulture Project 2010:$500; RGV Livestock Show Grand Champion Market Goat 2016:$500; Smokin’ on the Rio Academic:$2,000; HOSA Academic:$500; South Texas Agriculture Roundup:$750; Shining STAR Queen:$1,000; Whataburger STAR:$750; Carmen C. Guerra Memorial:$1,000; Career & Technology Association of Texas:$1,000
**Guerra, Matthew J - cont’d: SMU Miller Diversity Scholarship:$30,000; SMU Upportunity Grant:$4,246; Tuition Equalization Grant:$3,364; A.F.G.E. Local 3106:$500
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2016
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pioneerHIGH SCHOOL
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Mr & Miss PHSNadia Gomez & Jonathan Jones
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Fourteen SHS students competed as part of the FCCLA (Family, Ca-
reer, and Community Lead-ers of America) State Lead-ership Conference, April 7- 9 in Dallas. Congratulations to them and their advisers Mary Jo Brisnahan, Amanda Medi-na and Alexandra Pena.
According to Ms. Pena, FCCLA prepares students by exposing them to fami-ly values, career advice and experience, and leadership skills that they can take with them to college. They com-pete in mock job interviews, teaching situations, and pub-lic speaking. The Sharyland FCCLA Chapter has a histo-ry of succeeding in previous competitions.
“I learned how to work in a team environment,” Maria-jose Longoria said. “It was fun.”
Junior Erika Takovich wanted to experience some-thing new this year. She wanted to enforce her com-munication skills to prepare for her senior year. To her surprise, she ended up ex-ceeding her expectations, earning a gold medal.
“I enjoyed attending the award ceremony because I qualified to advance to na-tionals,” she said.
STAR EVENT results in-clude:
1st Place (National Quali-fier) – Job Interview – Angel Felix
2nd Place (National Qual-ifier) – Teach And Train – Ana T. Flores
2nd Place (National Qual-ifier) – Illustrated Talk – Na-hir Kalaf, Ethan Espinoza, and Erika Takovich
3rd Place (Nat. Qualifier Alt.) – Teach And Train –
Janneth SanchezFCSA’S Medalists:
(These are individual skills assessment exams.)
Gold Medalists: Nahir Kalaf, Ana T. Flores, Maria-jose Longoria, and Jennifer De La Fuente
Silver Medalists: Janneth Sanchez, Michelle Her-nandes, Roman Vasquez, Ethan Espinoza, Natalia Mendoza, Erika Takovich, Angel Felix
Bronze Medalist: Sebas-tian Arizola
Students who qualified for the FCCLA National Leader-ship Conference, as well as Region V Vice-President of Correspondence Jennifer de la Fuente, will travel to San Diego, CA July 2-6, 2016 to represent Sharyland FCCLA and the state of Texas.
Sharyland FCCLA students competed at the State Leadership Conference in Dallas, earning the right to advance to the National Leadership Conference in July.
Sharyland FCCLA attends state conference, advances to national level
After gaining the title of South Regional Champions in Janu-
ary, the Rattler Criminal Jus-tice team placed second at the Texas Public Service As-sociation State Competition in Crowley, Texas on April 29-30. Sharyland students placed in a wide range of events, from obstacle cours-es to case analyses. Congrat-ulations to the team and their advisors Frank Elizondo and Aaron Clemons.
Through these compe-titions, students are able to gain knowledge and expe-rience in Law, Fire control, Public Safety, Corrections, and/or Security career path-ways.
In one of these competi-tions, senior Blake William-son, who plans to go into a career of law, was able to demonstrate skills in his fu-ture profession through a mock trial. Prior to trial, con-tenders have to prepare by studying cases and become prepped for the court set-ting. Blake placed first in his Opening Statement during the mock trial. A two-year member of the club, Blake said that “it felt great to be awarded and recognized for the hard work [he] put in.”
TPSA offers events in-volving prison settings for
students to demonstrate cor-rectional skills. Students Galilea Lopez and Ana Pau-la Guajardo took part and earned third place in the Ide-al Prison event, where they had to design a prison setting that fit certain requirements.
“Criminal justice requires a lot of research and there’s a wide variety of different things involved in it,” Ana Paula said. “Placing was a nice surprise and felt good, especially considering all the effort I put into it.”
Freshman Zack Clem-ons earned first place in the Firefighter Obstacle Course event. The event requires the students to sprint while wearing certain parts of a firefighter uniform and to pull dead weight and heavy power tools in the lowest amount of time possible.
“I got first in the firefight-er obstacle course, making me the best in the state in that event,” Zack said. “When I won I was really surprised because I was going against guys who were older than me and had been doing it for years and being the first year I do this, it was very amazed. I barely qualified for state in area, so I doubted I would even place at all.”
The Criminal Justice meet had over 600 students from
all over Texas participate. Judge positions were held by actual or former police offi-cers or people whose career correlates with the event they judge.
“Participating in TPSA makes me think that I might be good in a job that has something to do with law and pursue it as a career path,” Zack said. “I’ve learned that being part of the law is very hardworking and you have to be both physically strong and mentally strong at all times no matter the situation.”
Following is the complete list of students who placed: 1st Place in Opening State-ment - Blake Williamson, 1st Place in Closing Argu-ments - Mariel Salinas, 1st Place in Fingerprint Lifting - Michelle Hernandez, 1st Place in Police Report Writ-ing - Ana Paula Guajardo, 1st Place in Firefighter Obstacle Course - Zack Clemons, 1st Place in Criminal Case Anal-ysis - Mariel Salinas & Je-sus De La Fuente, 3rd Place in EMS First Responder - Camila Guerrero, 3rd Place in Criminal Case Analysis - Roberto Hernandez & Dan-iela Valladares, and 3rd Place in Ideal Prison - Galilea Lo-pez & Ana Paula Guajardo.
Sharyland Criminal Justice earns second at TPSA State Competition
Sharyland High School senior Salma Ruiz placed third in The
Letters About Literature Competition, a state writ-ing competition sponsored by the Center for the Book. Last year, she made it to the top ten in her age division.
“In this competition, students choose a book and write a letter to the author explaining how the book influenced them,” Nicole Cruz, SHS Librarian said.
SHS senior wins third place in writing competition
SHS Criminal Justice Team
Salma Ruiz
This year the Health Sci-ence Department introduced a new certification in Cer-tified Clinical Medical As-sistant through the National Healthcare Association. This certification allows the stu-dent to work in a large hos-
pital, doctors office or inpa-tient or outpatient clinic. To obtain certification, students took a difficult college level exam including many medi-cal skills, knowledge reten-tion and analysis.
“This is the first cohort
and we are very proud to be producing excellent health-care professionals that will be taking care of us in the fu-ture,” Cynthia Aldape Clini-cal Instructor said.
SHS students obtain Clinical Medical Assistant certification
Front Row: Jacquelyn Garcia. Back Row: Cynthia Aldape Clinical Instructor, Jose Ayala, Andrea Lopez, Selene Aguirre, Sophia Flores, Julio Perez.
Salma wrote a letter to Khaled Hosseini.
“The book is about im-migration and the violence in Afghanistan,” Salma said. “It made me think about Mexico when I was living there and about being a woman. The protagonist is also a woman and I related to her.”
In her letter, she explained how his novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, reminded her of her own experience with the prejudices that come with being a woman.
She writes:All my life I have dealt
with one simple yet confin-ing and limiting fact: the fact that I am a woman. The fact that anywhere my pres-ence grasps, I will be treated, seen, and thought of differ-ently. Khaled, being a wom-an is not easy, but not many seem to understand that. For-tunately, you did, you under-stood perfectly and I thank you for that.
Her age category received 645 submissions. Out of
those 645 letters, 158 made it to the second round and 45 advance to the third. Eleven of the 45 were sent to state-wide judging to pick first, second, and third place win-ners.
“It was super amazing,” Salma said. “I’m blessed to have won and I’m grateful that I put all my thoughts in a way that I could move peo-ple.”
Salma took Estela Sali-nas’ AP English 4 class.
“I am very proud of Sal-ma,” Salinas said. “Her writing represents not only her talent as a writer but also her spirit as an individual and her courage as a woman. She certainly has a powerful voice through her writing. She is an awesome young lady and I am glad to have been her teacher this year.
Salma Ruiz Sandoval’s Letter About Literature is published on this website: https://www.tsl.texas.gov/lettersaboutliterature
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PHS TOP 3 from pg 1C
Education Through Commitment, Cooperation and Communication
TOP TEN STUDENTSTOP TEN STUDENTSClass of 2016 Super Achievers
2015-2016 Sharyland ISD Board of Trustees – Ricky Longoria, President
Dr. Noe Oliveira, Vice-PresidentJulia Cerda-Secretary
Melissa Smith-Assistant Secretary
Jose Garcia, MemberRolando Peña, Member
Dr. Noel O. Garza, Member
Superintendent: Dr. Robert O’Connor H.S. Principal: Carolyn Mendiola
Katharine Garcia is the daughter of Albert and Eliza Garcia. She is deciding whether to go to Stan-ford University or Columbia University in New York City to major in Political Science and minor in Philos-ophy. Throughout high school, her mentor was Jose Nava, calculus teacher and Math Dept. Chair, who taught her to stay true to her passion. Katharine’s areas of concentration throughout high school were social studies classes, such as U.S. History and Gov-ernment, as well as Calculus and Debate.
Katharine has been recognized as Valedictorian, AP Scholar with Distinction, National Hispanic Scholar, 4-Time UIL State qualifier in policy debate, TFA State Qualifier for policy debate, 2-Time District Champion in policy debate, and Area level French Horn player. She is also a published au-thor for writing SHS’ Best Life Stories.
Daisy Abraham is daughter of Biju Abraham and Abraham Markose. She will be attending Texas A&M University to double major in anthropology and biology, then attend A&M College of Medicine to receive her M.D. through the Partnership for Pri-mary Care program. Her mentor is Jordan Meiners, AP World History Teacher, for teacher her to chal-lenge herself and unearth her love for world history. Daisy’s areas of concentration in high school were Health Science, Biology, and World History.
Daisy Has been recognized as Salutatorian, AP Scholar with Distinction, Outstanding Student award in Biology, 1st Place Ready Writing 5A Veterans Division, along with having A Honor Roll throughout high school. She also held leadership positions as NHS President, HOSA Vice Presi-dent, Masterminds Captain, Cross Country Captain, Spelling Team Captain, and Ready Writing Team Captain.
Sofia Marian Cortez Padilla is daughter of An-gel Gerardo Cortez Benitez and Celia Esther Padilla de Cortez. She plans on pursuing a business edu-cation, to then work at a company and eventually have her own business. She hopes to complete an MBA and eventually work for the United Nations in the Business and Economics division. Her areas of concentration in high school were business-related classes, along with taking various language courses. Sofia’s mentor is Biology teacher Mrs. Diane Smed-ley, who showed her the true meaning of passion by
showing up to class every day with great enthusiasm and showing kindness to others.Sofia has been awarded the United States Achievement Academy National
Award and she is an All-American Scholar. She earned a perfect score on the AP Spanish Language and Culture Test in 2014. She earned the bronze in the His-panic Heritage Youth Awards, the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen Award, the Honorary Certificate from the American Association of French Professors, and she served as Youth Ambassador of the Province of Liege.
Gabriela Cazares is the daughter of Aldo and Rosy Cazares. She will be attending MIT with a major in chemistry and a minor in atmospheric chemistry, to them perform environmental research. Through-out high school, her areas of concentration were STEM and Health Science. Her mentor is Health Sci-ence Instructor, Mrs. Cynthia Aldape, who not only taught her health science, but provided support and advice, whether personal, mental, emotional, or educational.
Gabriela has been awarded AP Scholar with Dis-tinction, Principal’s Award in Chemistry, Physics, and Health Science, National French Exam Finalist, Solo and Ensemble 1st Divisions, and Academic Honor Roll. She participated in Band, the UT HSC health science program, HOSA, UIL Math and Science, NHS, Student Council, Leo CLub, Meet in the Middle, Book Club, French Club, and church group.
Jacob Padilla is the son of Martin and Maria Padilla. He is planning on attending the University of Texas at Austin to obtain a Bachelor’s in political science. Then he hopes to pursue a Master’s in a spe-cialization of political science, such as international relations, to one day hold public office. Throughout high school, his areas of concentration revolved around humanities and social sciences. He focused in foreign languages and U.S. History, while having a heavy influence from the fine arts through band. His mentor is Band Director Frank Salinas who taught
him how to work with others and how to push his limits. He was the Percussion Section Leader is the school’s band from 2015 to
2016, and he was awarded TMEA All-State Musician, AP Scholar with Honor, National French Exam National Placer, A Honor Roll from 9th-11th grade, Perfect Attendance from 9th-11th grade, and TMA Region 15 Honor Band Member.
Madeleine Garza is the daughter of Roseann and Frank Garza. She plans on either attending Tex-as A&M University or the University of Maryland. Her areas of concentration in high school were math related, as she took both Calculus A/B and B/C. Her mentor is Basketball Assistant Coach Julie Clinton, who not only helped her improve her skills as a bas-ketball player, but taught her how to live her life and treat others.
Madeleine was awarded the United States Achieve-ment Academy- National Science Award. With both her vol-
leyball and basketball teams, she earned two 1st Team Academic All State Volleyball and Basketball awards. She was Volleyball and Basketball captain from 2014-2016, National Honor Society Historian, and Sharyland Student Council girls Athletic Liaison.
Sang Yoon Kim is the son of Hyunji Kim and Young-Do Kim. After high school, he plans on attending college and pursuing a career in Business Management or Mar-keting. In high school, his areas of concentration were Business, STEM, and Fine Arts. As his mentor, he chose Head Counselor Delilah Rodriguez, who guided him through times of trouble and doubt and introduced him to the different fields that the school had to offer.
Sang has received awards such as A&B Honor Roll, Perfect Attendance, Environmental Club Beau, and All-Region Band. He participated in Band, LEO
Club, Chess, Business Professionals of America, Skills U.S.A., UIL, and Environ-mental Club.
Alexa De La Torre is the daughter of Patricia and Marco Antonio De La Torre. She plans on at-tending either the University of Texas at Austin or A&M University to earn a bachelor’s degree in Neu-roscience with minors in Biochemistry and Genetics. Throughout high school, her areas of concentration were science and math. Her mentor is Foreign Lan-guage Teacher, Mrs. Martine Garcia. Mrs. Garcia taught her how to work harder and become a better student and more efficient person.
Alexa has been recognized as an Outstanding Senior, National French Exam Winner, National Society of High School Scholars, Leos in Service Award, and A Honor Roll. She also held leadership positions as Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) President, and Rattlers Guided Rattlers.
Ah Hyun Kim is the daughter of Mi Ja Je and Kyu Dong Kim. She will be attending Pratt Institute in New York to major in the field of interior design. Her areas of concentration in high school were Art, Drawing, Painting, portrait, sculpture, design, and English. Her mentor is fine arts teacher, Mr. Perez. Mr. Perez not only expanded her love for the fine arts, but taught her about self-reliance, personal responsibilities, and hard work.
Ah Hyun has been recognized as Outstanding in Biology; she received the National Science Award
and maintained A Honor Roll from 2012-2013 and A/B honor roll from 2013-2015. She participated in leo Club, NHS, and Art Club throughout high school and volunteered in the RGV diabetes association camp, Leo Club family fair, the 4th annual welcome home winter Texans part, and Pet projects.
Yujin Seo is the daughter of Myeongsil Lee and Taelyong Seo. She will be attending the University of Texas at Austin to major in Computer Science. In high school, her areas of concentration were math and science. Her mentor is English teacher Elida Salinas. Mrs. Salinas motivated her to pursue knowledge and wisdom and inspired her to become a better person.
Yujin has been recognized as Outstanding in Pre-Cal. She earned 1st place in computer appli-cations UIL as a novice, 3rd place in mathematics
UIL, 4th place in computer applications UIL in the pre-district meet, 3rd place in computer applications UIL at the district meet, and 1st place team Number Sense UIL. She also participated in LEO Club, UIL, and Art Club.
Katharine Garcia Valedictorian
Sang Yoon Kim 7th Ranking Student
Alexa De La Torre 8th Ranking Student
Hyun Kim 9th Ranking Student
Yujin Seo 10th Ranking Student
Daisy Abraham Salutatorian
Sofia Marian Cortez Padilla 3rd Ranking Student
Gabriela Cazares 4th Ranking Student
Jacob Padilla 5th Ranking Student
SHARYLAND HIGH SCHOOL - CLASS OF 2016
The top ten senior of Sharyland High School were honored during the Super Achiever’s Banquet on Monday, May 9th at The Club at Cimarron. This banquet honors the top ten seniors who excelled in their academic courses and earned the highest GPA in their class of 450 students.
The students were not only joined by their parents but also their mentors. Sharyland ISD board of trustees, central administrative staff, SHS administration, and counselors were all there to celebrate and honor these students.
Principal Carolyn Mendiola began the evening by recognizing the students and introducing all the guests.
“At Sharyland High School, we have five core beliefs that we instill in our students: Pride, Leadership, Excellence, Respect and Responsibility,” Mendiola said. “Tonight we take the time to recognize an exemplary group of students who epitomize all five of these core values. These students have worked diligently and relentlessly their 4 years of high school to achieve this very special recognition.”
Mendiola then introduced Salutatorian Daisy Elizabeth Abraham who led everyone in prayer.
After dinner was served, the presentation
started. Mendiola recognized each student and presented them a plaque. As each student received their award, they took the opportunity to address the audience and thank those who helped them reach their goals
Abraham spoke about being grateful for the people who supported her throughout her high school education.
“The treasures that I have been given thus far are extraordinary, and as I leave high school, I will carry them within my heart.” Abraham said. “So once more, thank you. Thank you for the support. Thank you for the patience. And thank you for enabling me to achieve all that I aspire.”
Sofia Marian Cortez spoke about being thankful for the school where she got her education.
“I thank God giving me the chance to be a part of this amazing Rattler family that helped me become not only a better student, but also, and most importantly, a better person,” Cortez said. “Academically, Sharyland High School has been a place where I have been able to discover and explore.”
After all the honor students received their award and addressed the audience,
Valedictorian Katharine Garcia gave the Farewell Address.
“I’d like to attribute the final note of gratitude to everyone who has encouraged these young minds to strive for more—not just in the classroom, but also as human beings,” Garcia said. “As we part ways in just a few short weeks, I hope our paths will soon cross again; but I want to encourage all of you to embrace the new experiences that lie ahead.”
The evening ended with Superintendent Dr. Robert O’Connor’s closing remarks and Principal Mendiola’s final address to the honor students. She presented them with a journal, each personalized with the student’s name, the school logo and the following quote: “Imagine…the possibilities when you shoot for the stars. Believe…you can accomplish all your heart’s desires. Achieve…the bright future waiting for you just over the horizon. Anything is possible when you believe”’
“Always remember Sharyland High School,” Mendiola said. “As you move on to the next chapter in your lives …record those special moments that you will experience throughout your life in college.”
Madeleine Garza 6th Ranking Student
football game concession stands, fundraisers, home-coming booths and librar-ies. He too was involved in the Pioneer High School LEO Club, as well as the Environmental Club and National Honor Society.
He explains why he chose cross country coach, David Munson, as his most important mentor in high school.
“Coach Munson has made me believe that I can do great things with my abilities, and has helped me become extremely mentally tough. He has made me believe that I can do anything I set my mind to as long as I work smart and hard to achieve it,” said Aleman. “He showed me a better way to train and has taught me that we must work smarter, not harder to accomplish our goals.”
With aspirations of be-coming a surgeon, third ranking student Angelica Rodriguez took an interest in medicine even in high school. In addition to serving as an office of Pi-oneer’s chapter of Health Occupation Students of America, she concentrated her studies on Health Sci-ence Career Cluster Prin-ciples of Health Science, Medical Terminology and Pathophysiology, Clinical Rotations as well as upper level/AP science and math
courses. She even gravitated to
medicine in her volunteer work, serving as a Volun-TEEN at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, and vol-unteering at Rio Grande Regional Hospital and with Ronald McDonald House.
But she enjoys other in-terests besides medicine, serving as drum major for the high school band, All Region Band member and a member of the 2015 5A UIL State Marching band. She also enjoyed partici-pating in the school’s LEO Club.
As her most influential mentor in high school she chose Assistant Band Di-rector/Color Guard Direc-tor Sammy Aguilar.
In describing Mr. Agui-lar, she said, “His unyield-ing work ethic has served as a display for anyone wanting to be successful to follow. Moreover, his upbeat attitude and reas-suring demeanor serve as a beacon to his students in trying times. The lessons he has taught me in band go beyond any perfor-mance. The most import-ant lesson he has taught me is to treat each special moment as a chapter, and when the time comes to close it do so, in order for success to be obtained in the future.”
drives. She also assisted at the Vannie Cook Clinic ban-quet, was a McAllen Medical Center Junior Volunteer for three years, and participated in the MedEd Program.
She thanks her parents, siblings and educators for their support but gives spe-cial credit to her parents.
“Amma, I couldn’t have made it this far without you,” Daisy said. “You have taught me the value of diligence and to always put forth my full effort into everything I do. Appa, thank you for encour-aging me to pursue my pas-sions–from taking me to the library every day, to running with me every night, you have enabled me to do what I love, and that is profound.”
Third ranking student So-fia Cortez will attend New York University to major in Business.
“[I’m] insanely proud [of myself]. I feel like I’ve worked very hard for it, and to see your work payoff is pretty cool,” Sofia said.
Her goal in life it to work in the UN branch of business putting her knowledge and skills to the benefit of others.
Throughout her high
school career Sofia has learned to take charge and lead fellow club members and future generations; Sofia is the NHS Vice-President, LEO Senior Representative and is an Ambassador for the National Society of High School Scholars.
For her success, Sofia credits her Rattler family, her friends and educators who have made her a better per-son and her family.
“I would like to thank my unconditional circle of love: my parents and my brother,” Sofia said. “I feel so incred-ibly lucky for having you as my family. To you I owe ev-erything I have, everything I am, and everything I will be. For the laughs and the tears, the ups and the downs, for your unquestioning support and your unconditional love, I am, and always will be, in-finitely and incredibly grate-ful to you.”
These young ladies are on a path that will lead cur-rent and future generations towards a better society and these SHS graduates are just at the start of their journey.
SHS TOP 3 from pg 1C
Sharyland High School earned second place in district after losing to Robert Vela High School at the very last event.
“It was a stiff compe-tition, however, our stu-dents are incredible and humble competitors and were very happy with all of their results,” Gar-
za said. “We are very proud
of our group this year. They’ve been working really hard and them making it to regionals is a testament of their hard work and their motiva-tion,” UIL Co-coordi-nator Angie Culberson said.
UIL from pg 1C
Yes, you can make your dreams come true. You are amazing! Stay true to who you are. You are unique, God only made one of you.
In closing, I’ll remind you that family is the one true constant in life. Take care of your family relationships. Through the good times and the bad times more than likely you will have a family member by your side. Take time to thank
them for their support and appreciate them.
Life is a great jour-ney. As Dr. Seuss said, “You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!” I wish you nothing but the best in your life journey.
Dr. Rob O’ConnorSuperintendent, Sharyland ISD
MESSAGE from pg 1C
President Ricky Lon-goria will present the diplomas to the graduat-ing students.
The ceremony will end with the singing of the Sharyland “Alma Mater,” which will be led by honor students Sang Yoon Kim, Alexa De La Torre, Ah Hyun
Kim, and Yujin Seo and performed by the SHS Choir.
The Sharyland Class of 2016 will then pro-ceed out of the arena as the band plays “Pomp and Circumstance.”
DIPLOMAS from pg 1C
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Sharyland high School 2016 graduateS
De la Tejera Flan-dez, Jose Luis
De la Pena, Jorge Luis, Jr.
De la Garza, ElsaDe Jong, Tyler Kees
Dahl, Rylee JeanCuesta, AlejandroCosta Motta De Carvalho, Isadora
Cortez Padilla, Sofia Marian
Cortez Guerrero, Kassandra Abi
Contreras, Vicente
Colegio, Gerardo Benjamin
Cisneros, Karen Michelle
Choi, Hyuk JunChavez, EmilioChavez, DanielaChapa, Carlos Abraham
Cespedes Aguilar, Jorge Albert
Cerda, Jaime, JrCecin Tajonar, Ana Paula
Cazares, GabrielaCavazos, Benja-min, III
Cavazos, Ana Gabriela
Cavazos Salazar, Jesus Omar
Cavazos Marin, Mariela Alejandra
Castor, Graham Haydon
Castillo, SalvadorCastillo, Juan-pablo
Castillo, Javier Ramon
Castillo, Ernesto Adrian
Castellanos San-chez, Jennifer
Castaneda, Paul Michael
Castaneda, Ivanna
Carter, Seth Christopher
Carretero Alvara-do, Ayme Adria
Cardenas, Jorge Alonso
Cardenas, Gabri-ella Mia
Cantu, PaulinaCantu, Natalia Abigail
Cantu, LaurenCantu, JulissaCantu, Andrew Michael
Cantu, AaronCantu Padilla, Ricardo
Cano, Philip Houston
Campos, Manuel Alejandro
Campos, JasminCambrianis Hoy, Camila Alejandra
Calles McDonald, Ilenia Alexandra
Briseno Rosas, Karen Lucero
Borjon, Jeszel Edwin
Bettini, Maxi-miliano
Berazaluce, Sergio Marcelo
Berazaluce, Diego Sergio
Benet Cantu, Luis Eduardo
Benavides, IsabelBarajas, YolandaBalderas, Desiree Marie
Vasquez, RomanVasquez, AlessaVarela, Juan Angel, Jr.
Valdez, Leslie Abigail
Valdez, Blanca Carolina
Valdez, AndreaValdez Fernandez, Angela Valer
Uresti, MaraTrevnio, Julio IIITrevnio, Jose Angel
Trevino, Jorge Carlos
Trevino, GilbertoTrevino, Alexan-dra Kristine
Trejo Guerrero, Cinthya Paloma
Tovar, Kenneth Andres
Torres, Nathan Andrew
Torres Alvear, Christian Alber
Torre-Mejia, CesarTornero Rivera, Sergio David
Tamez-Vasquez, Christian Adrian
Tamez Lozano, Cristian Antonio
Tamez Garza, Katia Larissa
Stingley, Jacob Benefiled
Soliz, Elijah
Solis, Janelle Paola
Soberon, MauricioSilva,Edson MateoShinn-Roland, Christina Danielle
Serrato, Luis Antonio
Serrato, Jose Eduardo
Serna, FabiolaSepulveda, Laura Paola
Seo, YujinSegura, DanielaSchweitzer, Isaac Raymond
Santa Ana-Gonza-lez, Jorge Fari
Sandoval, Zhze-bystyne
Sanchez, Mauricio
Sanchez, JannethSanchez, AaronSanchez De La Cruz, Annia Maye
San Roman, April Aolani
San Miguel, Carolina
San Miguel Garza, Fernando
Salinas, Thomas Nicholas
Salinas, Mario Alonso
Salinas, Karime Fabiola
Salinas, Juan Manuel, Jr.
Salinas, Jorge Eduardo
Salinas, Jacob Andrew
Salinas, Dylan Erik
Salinas, Carlos Alberto
Salinas, AlejandroSalinas Martinez, Mauricio
Aguilar Aguirre, Jose Gre-gorioAguilera, Sofia ErdmannAnzaldua, Mariano Alejan-droBallesteros, LuzyannetBarnhart, Neva KarolineBarrera, Juan CarlosBeber, Justin WrayBenavides, IsabelCabrera, JoseCamacho, Damariz Candanoza, Jose Daniel
Cantu, Brianna VictoriaCastillo Briones, Jose Ar-turoCerda, Diana PaolaCienfuegos, Vanesa Coronel, OswaldoCortez, Eric DavidFregoso, Hector GerardoGarcia, Erika PauletteGil Abreu, Jose DanielGonzalez, Ana T. Gonzalez, KamilaGonzalez, Paulina
Guerrero, RicardoGutierrez, Andres AaronGutierrez, StephanieHinojosa, Luis MauricioJuarez, Nadia LizethLedesma, AshleyLopez, SamuelMartinez, Yessica MichelleMendez, Jessica SaudithMeza, Jorge Moreno, Jose AlfredoMunoz, Guillermo JorgeOrtega Barbosa, Javier
EduardoPrado, Isis S.Quintero Escamilla, Jose Humberto Rendon, Alyssa MarieRivas, Roberto RodrigoRodriguez, AshleyRodriguez, Kevin AlejandroRuiz Cantu, RoelSada, Abraham JacobSiehr, ZacharySuarez, Jose AlejandroTorres, Maria Fernanda
Trevino Cantu, SoniaTritz Jr., Joseph AllenVasquez, Raul Alexi Vazquez, ArianaVela, CarolinaVelasco, Bertha MayelaVillarreal, AlejandroVillarreal, Jorge AlejandroYbarra, Jason Senovio Zarate, Diego Ariel
Cantu, Natalia A.University of Texas RGV Texas Grant:$5,000;
Federal Pell Grant:$5,815
Berazaluce, SergioUniversity of Texas RGV Scholars:$5,000
Chapa, CarlosUniversity of Texas RGV Grant:$5,000; Federal Pell
Grant:$5,815
Castaneda, IvannaUniversity of Texas RGV: TBA; Mission Regional Medical
Center:$1,000
Cazares, GabrielaMassachusetts Institute of Technology:$54,728; Federal SEOG:$4,000; Federal Pell Grant:$5,815
Choi, Hyuk JunUniversity of Texas Austin Presidential
Scholarship:$20,000
Cortez Padilla, SofiaNew York University:$45,140; SHS General
Scholarship:$500
Gonzalez Salinas, RebecaUniversity of Texas RGV Joe and Jesse Crump:$500; Leadership Mission Endowment:$500; SHS General
Scholarship:$500; SHS Gene Olszewski Leo Club:$500
Gonzales, Alfredo N.University of Texas San Antonio:TBA; SHS General
Scholarship:$500
Geathers, RomanUniversity of Houston Academic Excellence:$18,000
Garcia, AlejandroUniversity of Texas RGV:TBA; SHS BPA:$150
Garcia, AlanTexas State University:TBA; First Annual Adam
Hardison Memorial Scholarship:$1,000; SHS BPA:$150
Fausto, ClarissaUniversity of Texas RGV Grant:$5,000; Federal Pell
Grant:$3,065
Cisneros, KarenSouth Texas College:TBA; SHS Go Center:$150
Carter, SethTexas A&M RGV Livestock Show:$7,000; STAR :$1,000;
Whataburger STAR:$500; Victor Guerra Memorial:$500; Sharyland FFA:$600; James T. & Peggy Jarrett
Memorial:$500
Campos, ManuelUniversity of Texas at San Antonio Grant:$5,704;
Federal Pell Grant:$5,815
Arguelles, FernandoUniversity of Texas at San Antonio Grant:$5,815
SHARYLANDSCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS20
15
Sharyland H.S. Alma MaterWe always wil l r emember, and sing our prai se to you , All hai l our Alma Mater,
wi th hear ts f or ever t rue. Unfur l your banners pr oud ly f or a l l the wor ld to se eThe r ed and whi t e of S .H.S . The pr ide of Shar yland High School
Flores Guajardo, MarianaRogers State University Athletic Scholarship:$7,500;
SHS General Scholarship:$500
Flores, AnaUniversity of TExas RGV Grant:$5,000; Shary-
Shivers Foundation:$1,000; TPEG:$2,000
Erana, Ana JoseSt. Edwards’s Golf:$40,000; Dean’s Merit:$70,000
Elizondo, ErinUniversity of Texas San Antonio:TBA; Sharyland
FFA:$200
Duena, FelipeTexas State University Grant:$5,000; Federal Pell
Grant:$5,815; SHS General Scholarship:$500
Del Rio, MiguelUniversity of Texas Austin Terry Foundation
Scholarship:$80,800; Presidential Achievement:$20,000; Federal Pell Grant:$5,816
De Jong, TylerUniversuty of Texas Austin:TBA; National
Merit:$1,000; SHS General Scholarship:$500; SHS Yearbook Staff Achievement:$500
Garza, JoseTexas A&M University Grant:$5,000; Federal Pell Grant:$5,815; Federal SEOG Grant:$700; TX Public
Education Grant:$2,000; Martinez Elementary:$500
Garcia Cuellar, Maximiliano University of Texas RGV Grant:$1,000
Garcia, MauroUniversity of Texas RGV Grant:$5,000; Federal Pell
Grant:$5,815
Garcia, KatharineColumbia University Kluge Grant:$49,542
Garcia, BryanUniversity of Texas San Antonio Grant:$5,704;
Federal Pell Grant:$5,815
Frias, AmandaUniversity of Texas San Antonio Grant:$5,541; Federal Pell Grant:$5,465; Sharyland FFA:$200
Guerra Saldivar, CarlosNorwich University Dean Scholarship:$92,000;
Norwich University Grant:$6,811
Guajardo, Ana PaulinaUniversity of Texas RGV:TBA; SHS Go Club:$150
Gracia Lopez, DianaUniversity of Texas RGV Texas Grant:$2,500;
Federal Pell Grant:$2,882
Garza, MiguelUniversity of Texas Austin Presidential
Scholars:$20,000; Mission Regional Medical Center:$1,000
Villa, FranciscoSouth Texas College:TBA; Alex Ballesteros
Memorial Scholarship:$400
Students with scholarships not picturedBeber, Justin - Charleston Southern University Scholar:$48,000
Garcia, Erika - University of Texas RGV: TBA; Mission Lions Foundation:$500Gutierrez, Andres - University of Texas RGV Jones Academic Scholarship:$1,000; TPEG:$1,250; Mariachi Senior:$500
Juarez, Nadia - St. Edward’s University Dean’s Merit Scholarship:$28,000
Rodriguez, Ashley - South Texas College:TBA; Texas Association of Future Educators:$150Vela, Carolina - Texas A&M Aggieland Bound:$8,000; Federall Pell Grant:$5,815; Regents Scholarship:$20,000; Federal SEOG
Grant:$600; TPEG:$1,500; Texas Grant:$5,000; Dr. Freel’s Memorial Scholarship:$2,000; A.R. Sanchez Memorial Scholarship:$1,000;Raul Tijerina Jr. Foundation:$3,000
Hausenfluck, TrevorUniversity of Texas San Antonio Distinguished
Presidential Scholarship:$12,000
Gutierrez, PaulinaUniversity of Texas RGV Texas Grant:$5,000; Federal Pell Grant:$5,815; SHS Go Club:$150
Gutierrez, MarcusSouth Texas College:TBA; SHS Book Club:$200
Longoria, MariajoseUniversity of Texas RGV Texas Grant:$5,000;
TPEG:$2,000
NOTE:Scholarship amound are subject to change and may not be reflected. All scholarships listed were submitted byt time of press.
Sharyland H.S. Alma MaterWe always will remember, and sing our praise to you, All hail our Alma Mater, with
hearts forever true. Unfurl your banners proudly for all the world to see The red and white of S.H.S. The pride of Sharyland High School
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HIGH SCHOOLclass of 2016
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sharyland
Rick A. Young, D.D.S.2407-A Griffin Pkwy • Mission • 581-2773
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We are proud to wish the Class of 2016much success for tomorrow and beyond.
Fred Moron, R. Ph.581-54992120 E. Griffin Pkwy. Mission, TX
Alberto Vela, R. Ph.583-27001242 E. Bus. 83, #7 Mission, TX
CongratulationsClass of 2016
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Sharyland Pioneer FFA members attended the Area X FFA Leadership Development Event in Kingsville, Texas on Nov.
23, 2015. Ten teams advanced from the RGV District FFA LDE to the Area X FFA Leadership Development Event at
TAMUK. Four earned first place honors and the title of Area Champions, allowing them to compete at the State FFA
Leadership Development Event in Huntsville on December 5th through 6th. District Champions/Area Champions/State
Nadia Gomez, John Ryan Rodriguez, Richard Longoria;Public Relations, Johhny Howell, Lauren Esqueda, Andrea
Guajardo, Jacob Madrigal; Greenhand FFA Creed Bella Alaniz; Greenhand Quiz Jackelyn Gonzalez, Lena Marcellus, Jennifer
Rivera, Miranda Torres – District High Point Individual.
PHS FFA Earns 1st place honors!
Coach Guillermo Guzman helped organize our First Special Olympics Basketball Competition held at Sharyland Pioneer
High School on Saturday, Feb. 20th, 2016. The event allowed student organizations and faculty and staff to volunteer
in making this event such a successful one. Pioneer High School has become the new home of the Area 1 basketball
competition which outgrew its former home at Weslaco High School. Axel Garcia (shown above), carried the Olympic
torch to help 1000 athletes begin the competition. Broken up into small groups, competitions consisted of individual
dribbling, shooting and passing skills, as well as 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 basketball games. Awards ceremonies were held in
the school cafeteria.
PHS hosts it’s 1st Special Olympics Basketball Tournament
Proud to announce that our UIL One-Act Play, “King O’ the Moon” placed 2nd out of seven plays, going on to compete
at the Bi-District Contest on March 24th. PHS also came home with three acting awards: Immanuel Garcia received
Best Actor, Tanner Trigg received an All-Star Cast award, and Alicia Davila received an Honorable Mention All-Star Cast
Award. We are so proud of our kids. Our group is under the direction of Ms. Lilia Fertig.
PHS One Act Play Earns High Honors
Sharyland Pioneer High School members of the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA)
competed on Friday, February 12th in Corpus Christi at the Texas Region V Conference. The following students
competed in Corpus Christi at the Texas Region V Meeting: JJ Salazar, 12, Gold Medal, Heather Gunn, 11, Silver Medal,
Hollis Mills, 12, Silver Medal, Zeta Mills, 9, Silver Medal, and Gabriel Lucero, 12, Silver Medal. The following members competed in STAR Events (Students Taking Action with
Recognition) advancing to the State Competition in Dallas, Texas in April: Heather Gunn placed 1st in Recycle Redesign,
and Gabriel Lucero & Hollis Mills placed 6th in Advocacy,
Sharyland Pioneer High School FCCLA Members At-tend Region V Conference
At the Universal Cheerleader Association at the University of Texas in Austin Cheer camp, Pioneer had four seniors earn
the highest individual award as All American Cheerleaders. All four earned the opportunity to participate in the New
Year’s Day parade in London, England. Kailee Serna travelled to participate and representing her school.
All American Cheerleaders at UT
January 24, 2016, our Pioneer Diamondback SWAT group competed at the 2016 Texas Public Service Association’s
(TPSA) South Region Contest January 22-23, at PSJA Southwest HS. For this two-day event, 11 high schools
around the Rio Grande Valley competed against each other in different areas of law enforcement, fire and public safety.
Pioneer qualified 25 students for the State Competition to be held in Fort Worth, Tx on April 29-30, 2016. We look forward
to see their many successes!
Another State Bound Diamondback Team!
January 16, 2016, Pioneer High School held its first Chess Tournament, concluding with a great success! A huge
Congratulations to Pioneer’s chess team and Nancy Ochoa-Garza, as they were crowned Champions of the Invitational
Meet. Highest points went to Senior, Jonas Cuanang, Marco Jacome, Senior Jesus A Rodriguez, and Miguel Garcia, who
was overall Champion!
Pioneer Chess Champions!
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