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May 2008

The UIL State Meet was the first weekend in May. Congratulations to the following students and their coaches: In Feature Writing, Leslie Reynolds placed 3rd (Bronze) and is coached by Cindy Todd & Deanne Brown. In Spelling/Vocabulary, Christina Chang, Holly Heinrich, Mary Morris, and Maya Hunt placed 2nd. (Silver) They are coached by Melinda Darrow. In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Monica Ghosh placed 2nd (Silver) and is coached by Terry Hunt.

April 2008

Congratulations to our Westlake baseball team who defeated Bowie last night 7-1 in a one-game series to determine the first place team for the playoffs! Westlake starts the playoffs next weekend as the district\'s first place representative. Go, Chaps!
 

Many thanks to all who participated in the Westlake Relay for Life. At last count, WHS students had raised over $58,696 for this year's Relay for Life that supports research and cures for all forms of cancer.

Congratulations to our Westlake Boys Golf Team who are now the Regional Champions!!

The Chaparral Girls Golf team won heir first-ever Regional Championship with a Day II back-nine surge that propelled the Chaps from six strokes behind to a victory of eleven strokes over Mission Sharyland.

Congratulations to Melinda Darrow and her team: Christina Chang, Holly Heinrich, Mary Morris, and Maya Hunt. They were the highest placing 2nd place team of all teams at Region, and are the "Wild Card" at UIL STATE!!!!!
 

A big congratulations to Westlake's own Cindy Todd who was awarded the Journalism Education Association's Yearbook Adviser of the Year!

Congratulations to Coach Alex Coyle for being selected as High School Tennis Coach of the Year from CATA (Capital Area Tennis Association).

Also, the 5A State Championship Tennis Team is being recognized as "Team of the Year" from CATA.

and.....Stefanie Peana has been selected as CATA's Female Junior player of the year.
 

The VASE (Visual Arts Scholastic Event) “All State “ selections were announced this weekend at the University of Houston Clear Lake. Westlake had 19 “ALL STATE” and 5 “Gold Seal” awards.

Congratulations to the following students:

ALL STATE SELECTIONS 2008:
Medallions are awarded to those students receiving a superior (Rating 4) rating at the state event.
-Baker
Nick Greg
James Lambrecht
Katie Pipkin (2)
Eric Russell (2)
Shannon Soule (2)
Ryan Summersett
Coralee Trigger
Colleen Troxell (2)
Nadia Waheed

-Delgado
Elliott Finch
Kelsey Goddard
Emily Hyink
Kat Todd
Oriana Wright

-Grubbs
Adrienne Arredondo


GOLD SEAL AWARDS:
The “Gold Seal” medallion is the top state award presented to Exemplary works of art chosen by the state jury panel. (Top 1% of the All State Selections)
Katie Pipkin
Eric Russell
Shannon Soule (2)
Colleen Troxell
 

Congratulations to the following individuals and teams who will represent Westlake at the UIL State Meet May 2/3:

In Computer Science, placing 3rd - Jonathon Witte, coached by Lynden Rosier; In Feature Writing, placing 1st - Leslie Reynolds, coached by Deanne Brown & Cindy Todd; In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, placing 1st - Monica Ghosh, coached by Terry Hunt; In Literary Criticism, placing 2nd - Anna Percy, coached by Melinda Darrow

Congratulations also to the following teams:
3rd - Computer Science
2nd - Journalism
2nd - Spelling & Vocabulary, coached by Melinda Darrow - "Wild Card" contender!

With approximately 65 5A schools in Region 4, this is a very respectable achievement! Go Chaps!

Congratulations to Angela Lin who is one of only 5 Texas students to receive a PERFECT score on the recent ACT college entrance exam
 

The WHS Destination Imagination team advances to Global Finals in May.

The Featherduster was awarded a Silver Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association last week for overall superior work. Only 24 high school newspapers in the nation were recognized as Silver Crown winners.

Additionally, the following Featherduster staff members were awarded
national Gold Circles for individual achievements:
Kelsey Payne- 1st place in Spread Design, Newsmagazine
Chris Hunt, Matt Phillips and Hannah Comstock-1st place in
In-depth/Feature story; Alex North- 3rd place in First Person
Experience; Daniel Reese- 2nd place in Feature Photograph; Hillary
Kunz- 1st place in Sports Page Design for Newsmagazine; 1st place in Photo Layout, two or more pages; Certificate of Merit in Sports story; Hannah Kight-1st place in Portfolio of Work, Single Subject
presentation; Chris Hunt and Sam Womack-2nd place Spread Design, Newsmagazine; Sam Womack- Certificate of Merit in
Infographic/Timeline; Staff- 2nd place Overall Newsmagazine Design;
Katie Pipkin- Certificate of Merit in Page One Design
 

Currently, Westlake High School is leading the state in the “Lone Star Cup” Award! This award is presented to the school with the best overall athletic and academic programs in Texas. Points are given to students based on their performance in various UIL events. Check out the UIL website to keep track of how we are doing. Final results will be available next month.

Katie Pipkin received her "Young Masters" award from the Texas Commission on the Arts. This was presented by Texas First Lady Anita Perry at the Four Seasons Hotel. Out of 150 applicants only 15 were selected state wide and only 3 were visual artists.
 

Please help us to congratulate these athletes who will be representing Westlake at the Region 4 tennis tournament later this month. Westlake will be representing 13 of the 16 spots available. Qualifying for regionals are:

Stefanie Peana, 1st place girls singles
Sophie Lantta, 2nd place girls singles
Robin Chou, 1st place boys singles
Alex Durham and Russell Bader, 1st place boys doubles
Jeffrey Springer and Dylan Peele, 2nd place boys doubles
Sydney Bell and Leonora Slatnick, 1st place girls doubles
Taylor Schumacher and Paige Poulin, 2nd place girls doubles
Shane Berber and Blair Jones, 2nd place Mixed Doubles

Congratulations to our UIL Spelling & Vocabulary Team, coached by Melinda Darrow. They were chosen as the "Wild Card" team for Region 4-5A. Competing at Region will be: Christina Chang, Holly Heinrich, Mary Morris, and Maya Hunt. Go Chaps!

The Featherduster was awarded a Silver Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association last week for overall superior work. Only 24 high school newspapers in the nation were recognized as Silver Crown winners.

Additionally, the following Featherduster staff members were awarded national Gold Circles for individual achievements:

Kelsey Payne- 1st place in "spread design, newsmagazine"

Chris Hunt, Matt Phillips and Hannah Comstock-1st place in "In-depth/feature story"

Alex North- 3rd place in "First Person Experience"

Daniel Reese- 2nd place in "Feature Photograph"

Hillary Kunz- 1st place in "sports page design for newsmagazine"; 1st place in "photo layout, two or more pages; Certificate of merit in "Sports story"

Hannah Kight-1st place in "Portfolio of work, single subject presentation"

Chris Hunt and Sam Womack-2nd place "spread design, newsmagazine"

Sam Womack- Certificate of Merit in "Infographic/timeline"

Staff- 2nd place overall newsmagazine design

Katie Pipkin- Certificate of Merit in "Page One Design"
 

Congratulations to the Chaparral Girls Golf Team #1 for winning their 10th straight District 25-5A Championships with a record setting round of 296 at Roy Kizer. All team members earned all-district honors: Kaylin Terry, Taylor Moreno, Jenna Stene, Haley Haught, and senior Maggie Hutson.

Also, a big congrats to Westlake #2 for shooting their best round of the year to take the third place team medal by one stroke over Bowie! Team members included Carly Berryhill, who earned all-district honors; Michelle Suh, Elena Whitlock, Stephanie Woods, and senior Lauren McEntire.


In the medalist competition, Kaylin Terry brought home 2nd place with fine rounds of 74-74, and Taylor Moreno shot 79-72 to take the 3rd place trophy. Team I will battle for the Region IV Championship in San Antonio in three weeks.
 

March 2008

National Art Award recipients have been announced. These Westlake students will be recognized at Carnegie Hall in New York City on June 5, 2008 as part of the 85th anniversary celebration of The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

Shannon Soule- GOLD AWARD &
AMERICAN VISION AWARD WINNER-DIGITAL IMAGERY

Nicholas Gregg - SILVER AWARD
ART PORTFOLIO

Congratulations to the U.I.L. One-Act play company. In their performance at the Wimberley One-Act Play Festival on Saturday, Mia Hines received Best Actress, and All-Star Cast awards were given to Peter Reidy, Colin Scully, Miranda Apfel, and Anna Bennett. The public is invited to a performance Tuesday, March 18th at 7:00 of the classic comedy YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU.

Calculator Applications - 1st - Daniel Chen, 2nd - Joy Chen, 5th - Ankur Bajaj, 6th - Genevieve Norman;
Computer Applications - 4th - Morgan Stewart, 5th - John Huang;
Computer Science - 1st - Jonathon Witte, 3rd - Jeff Wheeler, 6th - Ankur Bajaj;
Editorial Writing - 4th - Holly Heinrich, 5th - Anisha Ganguly;
Feature Writing - 1st - Sarah Adler, 3rd - Leslie Reynolds;
Headline Writing - 1st - Anisha Ganguly;
Informative Speaking - 5th - Alex Bennett;
Journalism - 2nd Place Team
LD Debate - 1st - Monica Ghosh, 2nd - Andrew Waks;
Literary Criticism - 1st - Kelsey Payne, 5th - Anna Percy, 6th - Morgan Lewis;
Math - 2nd - Daniel Chen, 5th - Jonathon Witte;
Number Sense - 2nd - Daniel Chen, 4th - Joy Chen, 5th - Ankur Bajaj;
News Writing - 5th - Jake Webb;
Poetry Interpretation - 1st - Matt Bell, 3rd - Miranda Apfel;
Prose Interpretation - 1st - Sarah Mullinnix, 3rd - John Hume, 5th - Caitlin Bryson;
Ready Writing - 1st - Ian Henry, 3rd - Alex Van Bavel, 5th - Gilman Lykken; Science - 2nd - Ankur Bajaj, 3rd - Abhinov Golla, 4th - Daniel Vinh, 5th - Daniel Chen;
Social Studies - 2nd - Daniel White, 3rd - Ben Fisher, 4th - Alexis Dirvin; Spelling & Vocabulary - 3rd - Christina Chang, 4th - Holly Heinrich, 6th - Mary Morris.

TEAMS:

1st - Calculator Applications, coached by Allegra Hobbs
1st - Computer Science, coached by Lynden Rosier
1st - Literary Criticism, coached by Melinda Darrow
1st - Number Sense, coached by Allegra Hobbs
1st - Science, coached by Kelly Rosier
1st - Social Studies, coached by Tom Conway
1st - Speech, coached by Michael Harlan & Terry Hunt
2nd - Journalism coached by Deanne Brown & Cindy Todd
2nd- Math, coached by Marlene Clayton
2nd -Spelling & Vocabulary, coached by Melinda Darrow

 

February 2008

Congratulations to the three Westlake HS Full Orchestras. On Wednesday and Thursday this week the full orchestras performed
at the UIL Contest in Round Rock and all three received
straight first divisions in all categories -- the highest ratings that can
be earned! On top of that, the Symphony Full Orchestra received the
prestigious Sweepstakes award!

The Westlake Latin Club competed in the Area F Contest on Saturday, February 23, 2008, and took second place overall. The following students were the highest scorers on their test and brought home individual trophies: Akash Morrison in Greek Derivatives, Abhinav Golla in Grammar, Mufeng Zhu in Roman History, Robert Waguespack in Greek Life and Literature, and Johnny Zhao in the Decathlon. As the winner of the decathlon, Johnny was named the Armadillo Classical Society’s Scholar and received a $500 scholarship.

Congratulations to the UIL Math team who completed this past weekend in the Westwood Winter Classic. The team of Ankur Bajaj, Daniel Chen, and Scott Stoller were 1st in team for UIL math. Daniel Chen was 1st individual winner and Ankur Bajaj was 5th individual in UIL Math. Daniel Chen also placed 4th in Number Sense and 6th in Computer Science

Congratulations to the following Westlake art students who were selected as “ALL REGION and “STATE QUALIFIER” for 2008. This was a record setting year for Westlake with 123 All Region selections and 23 All State Qualifiers. The STATE QUALIFIERS will go on to The University of Houston Clear Lake April 12th to compete for “All State" honors.

State Qualifiers
Adrienne Arredondo
Rocky Bae
Jason Burch
Amber Greeson
Nick Greg
Kyle Groover
James Lambrecht
Tess Lambrecht
Katie Pipkin (2)
Eric Russell (2)
Shannon Soule (2)
Ryan Summersett
Coralee Trigger
Colleen Troxell (2)
Nadia Waheed
Bryan Barden
Elliott Finch
Kelsey Goddard
Emily Hyink
Ana Santiago
Kat Todd
Oriana Wright

Dale Baker
ALL REGION:
Thomas Allison
Wendy Anderson (2)
Rocky Bae (2)
Travis Barron (2)
Chase Bartlett
Jason Burch
Michael Commons
Alice Connolly
Alexis Dirvin
Amber Greeson (2)
Nick Greg
Kyle Groover (2)
Ian Henry (2)
Jack Horn (2)
Katherine Kroll
James Lambrecht
Tess Lambrecht (2)
Kate McDonald
Alex Marin
Victor Maury
Katie Pipkin (2)
Eric Russell (2)
Leah Sacks
Parks Settle
Shannon Soule (2)
Ryan Summersett
Coralee Trigger
Colleen Troxell (2)
Nadia Waheed (2)
Alex Wolff


Dawn Delgado
ALL REGION:
Bryan Barden (2)
Brittany David (2)
Jeff Deckard
Jaci Eckert
Elliott Finch (2)
Danielle Foster
Stephanie Frawley
Jessica Gerard
Meredith Gibson (2)
Kelsey Goddard (2)
Ali Hall
Kaitlyn Herring
Emily Hyink
Marie Jacobsen
Tara Jones (2)
Wade Morrison
Ruthie Norval (2)
Matt Praisner
Chelsea Ray
John Rogers (2)
Kelly Samouce (2)
Matt Sandelovic
Ana Santiago (2)
Mccall Skylar
Lauren Springer
Kat Todd
Nicole Webb
Oriana Wright


Frances Grubbs
ALL REGION:
Annie Arendes
Adrienne Arredondo (2)
Charlotte Cadieux
Jill Capotosto (2)
Amy Chang
Ling Ling Cheung
Indigo Colton (2)
Alyssa Creagh (2)
Nermeen Dhuca
Katy Doughty (2)
Alex Kelly (2)
Sarah Mullinnix
Lilly Patterson
May Sembra
Michelle Sikes (2)
Chandler Tomsu
Kate Travis
Sarah Wahlgren
Ted Wilson
Nuoshi Yang (2)
 

Roselle Casey
ALL REGION:
Ashley Duncan
Lee Hamill
Georgia Hewitt
Matt Ingram
Michael Keffales
Sarah Marawi
Ty Mccullough
Sawyer Morris
Marry Nauert
Caitlyin Reinhart
Margaret Roberts
Heather Ryan
Ceci Tucker
 

Several newspaper and yearbook photographers attended the Association of Texas Photography Instructors convention in Arlington this past weekend and earned recognition/awards. They are:
Eva Cranford-1 Best of Show, 1 first place, 1 third place
Hillary Kunz-2 second places, 1 third place and 2 HM
Daniel Reese-1 first place, 1 HM
Adrienne Cooksley-1 first place
Hannah Presley-1 second place
Sam Womack-1 third place, 1 HM
Aaron Altounian-1 third place
Shannon Soule-1 third place
Teacher Cindy Todd also received a third in the faculty competition!

Congratulations to the Chap girls’ golf team for braving wind gusts of 35 mph and storming from 6th place after Day 1 to an amazing 2nd place finish in this weekend’s Lauren Johnson  Memorial Tournament in Victoria. It was a total team effort by Kaylin Terry, Taylor Moreno, Jenna Stene,  Maggie Hutson, Haley Haught, and Carly Berryhill, and the Chaps beat some of the top-ranked teams in Texas.  Go Chaps!

Please help me in congratulating the Hyline dance team on another successful competition this past weekend at Westwood High School. The Hyline team placed 1st in their lyrical and kick dances. They placed 2nd in their modern and jazz dances. The team also received a perfect sweepstakes award meaning they were given a 90 or above (out of 100) on all dances from each judge. The team was awarded technique, entertainment, showmanship and precision awards. They received choreography awards for their lyrical and jazz routines. The team made the prestigious circle of stars category which is compiled of the top teams in the competition.

The Hyline officers placed 1st place in their jazz and hip hop and 2nd place in their lyrical dance. The officers received a perfect sweepstakes award as well as technique and entertainment awards. They received choreography awards for their jazz and lyrical dances. The officers were present with the circle of stars award which only four other groups were presented.

Westlake was very successful in the ensemble category sweeping all three awards given. The Hyline seniors won 1st place, the jazz company won 2nd and the funky company won 3rd place. The Westlake duet, which Shaila Isham competed in, placed 1st place overall in the duet category. Overall the ensembles were presented with technique, precision, showmanship and choreography awards.

The Star Steppers won a five star award and 1st place in their division!

Out of 120 soloists, Westlake had a total of four solo finalists: Megan Alsmeyer, Audrey Brees, Patricia Dewey and Desiree Weinstock. Patricia Dewey was presented as 3rd runner up and Megan Alsmeyer was presented as 1st runner up.

Congratulations to Coach Patrick O'Hara who was voted Region IV Wrestling Coach of the Year!

The following students were selected to the Texas Music Educators Association's All-State Choir for this year. They will be involved in rehearsals and performances throughout the four days that they are in San Antonio at the end of this week. We are so proud of their accomplishments and hard work.

They are:
Molly Reidy
Devon Chandler
Chrissy Ensley
Jacqueline Coleman
Lauren Tenney
Mary Morris
Dean Leake
Jordan Smith
 

Congrats to the Speech & Debate team who took 2nd place Sweepstakes at the Colleyville: Heritage Tournament (44 schools competing). Devin Race took 2nd in Lincoln-Douglas Debate and is now qualified for the Tournament of Champions. Sixteen WHS have qualified and will compete at the State Meet March 6-8 at Coppell.

Out of 15 teams at the highly competitive regional meet this weekend,  the WHS boys' swim team took third place, and the girls were first!  Congratulations to Mary Beck , who was named the Region VII Swimmer of the Year and Coach Isaac Grombacher , who was named Region VII Girls' Coach of the Year. All three girls relays (200 Medley, 200 Free, 400 Free) set new pool and regional records and will advance to state.  State competition is scheduled for February 22nd and 23rd at UT.

Congratulations to the Hyline Dance Team on their competition at Bowie High School. Our Funky Company Ensemble won the state title in the ensemble competition. The Hyline officers won third overall in the officer competition out of a total of 15 officer groups. They also won choreography awards for all three of their competition routines and a very coveted technique award.

In the solo division, Westlake High school had a total of four finalists out of almost 100 soloists. The finalists were Megan Alsmeyer, Audrey Brees, Emily Snouffer, and Desiree Weinstock. Emily Snouffer won the 9-10th grade division with Desiree Weinstock coming in second place. Audrey Brees was second runner up in the 11-12th grade divison.

Congratulations to the following students for representing Westlake at the FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America) Regional Competition in Corpus Christi:

Chelsea Wiseman, Tiffany Schroeder, and Amy Ripley presented a professional redesign featuring a conversion of a garage to a teen retreat. Brittany Thornburg placed second in Stories that Teach, a project from the Ready, Set, Teach curriculum. Marissa Puente, Taylor Nixon, and Abbie Hunt all received a bronze award for their participation in a Leadership Enhancement Opportunity.

Congratulations again to the Speech & Debate team who took FIRST PLACE Sweepstakes at the Anderson High School tournament. David Mullins was 2nd Speaker in CX Debate, Matt Bell was outstanding performer, taking first in both Humorous and Poetry. Ashley Carlisle placed 4th in Dramatic securing her a qualification for TFA State. Caitlin Bryson took 1st in Prose and 4th in Poetry. And Ian Lindsay won Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate! Numerous other finalists and semi-finalists secured the Sweepstakes.

January 2008

Congratulations to  our Academic Decathlon students and sponsors (Cathy Cluck, Denise DeMartino, and Carra Martinez) for their performance at the recent Regional AcaDec Competition. This is the first year since the early ‘90’s that Westlake High School has competed in this competition. This group had an outstanding first year of participation. The team let the San Antonio schools (traditional high scorers) know that WHS will soon be as recognized for its Academic Decathlon performances as it is in so many other areas. Westlake was the top scoring team from the Greater Austin Metropolitan Area and almost all team members won individual medals. A special congratulatory note goes to Emily Dunn who had the only perfect essay score of all the schools!

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The following Visual Arts Students received recognition from the Travis County Regional Scholastic Art Competition sponsored by St. Stephen's Episcopal School. The awards ceremony will be Sunday January 27 at 2:00 pm -St. Stephen's Episcopal School.

Gold Key-winners will have their work forwarded to the New York Alliance for national-level judging.

Portfolio-Drawing: GOLD KEY- Nicholas Gregg

Instructor Baker

GOLD KEY- John Rogers

Instructor-Delgado

American Vision Award: Shannon Soule

Instructor Dale Baker, Cindy Todd, Deanne Brown:

Photography Portfolio winners: Hillary Kunz-Gold; Daniel Reese -Silver

Instructor Deanne Brown:

Gold Keys:

Coralee Trigger; Katie Pipkin; Eric Russell - Instructor Dale Baker

Ruth Norval - Instructor Dawn Delgado

Katherine Kroll; Lily Patterson - Instructor Frances Grubbs:

Markham Sayers - Instructor Roselle Casey:

Hillary Kunz - Instructor Deanne Brown:

Aaron Altounian - Instructor Alison Strelitz:

Silver Keys:

Amber Greeson; Jason Burch; Coralee Trigger; Alex Marin; Katie Pipklin - Instructor Dale Baker:

Sara Landry; Brittany David; Ana Santiago - Instructor Dawn Delgado:

Ling Ling Cheung; Sarah Wahlgren; Chelsea Gomez - Instructor Frances Grubbs:

Cliff Houston - Instructor Roselle Casey:

Shannon Soule - Instructor Cindy Todd

(2) Sam Womack - Instructor Alison Strelitz:

Honorable Mentions:

Kate Travis - Grubbs; Abigal Vaaler - Grubbs; Alexander Hall - Delgado; Michael Todd; Alex Marin - Todd; Jamie Kaplin - Brown; Tess Lambrecht - Baker

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More congratulations to the Speech & Debate team who took 2nd place Sweepstakes at the SA:Churchill tournament of champions ( 47 schools competing). David Mullins & John Baker took 1st in CX Debate, and David was outstanding CX speaker. In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Monica Ghosh was 1st speaker, and Devin Race took 3rd. Matt Bell & Robyn Barber took 3rd in Duet Acting, and qualified for TFA State. Colin Scully took 1st in Oratory and 2nd in Dramatic, and is also qualified. Caitlin Bryson triple-finaled, and placed 2nd in Prose. Go Chaps!

Congratulations to the Speech & Debate Team who took First Place Sweepstakes at the Hays HS Tournament. Closing out Lincoln Douglas Debate were Monica Ghosh and Devin Race (both qualified for TFA State); John Hume placed 4th in Humorous Interpretation, and is now also qualified for TFA State; Matt Bell and Robyn Barber took 1st place in Duet Acting.

The following Westlake High School choir students earned a place in one of the three Texas Music Educators Association's All-State Choirs this year.  The competition took place on Saturday, January 5th at Reagan High School in San Antonio.  Over thirty schools from our area competed.  Area D is comprised of the central Texas region, both San Antonio regions, and the region in Houston that includes Cy-Fair, Langham Creek, and the other Cypresses. We had the second highest number of students advancing from our Area.

They are:
Devon Chandler (sophomore)
Jacqueline Coleman (senior)
Chrissy Ensley (senior)
Dean Leake (senior)
Mary Morris (sophomore)
Molly Reidy (junior)
Jordan Smith (senior)
Lauren Tenney (senior)
 

Nine Westlake Band students were selected for the Texas All-State Band for 2008.  They are considered now in the top 1% of all High School Musicians in the State of Texas.  Selected were Seniors, Ashton Wingfield (French Horn), Rachel Polk (French Horn), Josh James (French Horn), Etienne Massicotte (Trumpet), Andrew Del Piero (Tuba), Nick Snyder (Tuba), and Gilman Lykken (Bassoon).  Sophomores chosen are John Turman (French Horn), and Robert Andon (Trumpet).  Each will perform at the annual Texas Music Educators Convention in February in San Antonio. Westlake had the most students in the Area E grouping of schools selected for the All-State band.  Nine is the largest number of all-state students Westlake has ever had.   

November 2007 -

Congratulations to the band students listed below for earning a position in the Region 18 Honor Orchestra. These students competed with students from 25 other area high schools. Westlake had more students earn this honor than any other participating school.

Michelle Sykes-Oboe
Gilman Lykken-Bassoon
McLean Shaw-Bassoon
Alex Valliton-Clarinet
Ashton Wingfield-Horn
Rachel Polk-Horn
John Turman-Horn
Etienne Massicotte-Trumpet
Andrew Del Piero-Tuba

Congrats to our Robotics team for receiving a NASA grant which provides $6000 of funding toward our new Robotics class. The grant is a Program Growth Grant and Westlake is  one of only three teams from Texas to receive a grant from NASA. NASA awarded a total of 165 grants.

The following four students earned a seat in the All-State Orchestra which will perform in February at the annual Texas Music Educators Association Convention in San Antonio:
Michelle Suh, Violin; Austin Harris, Violin; Danielle Suh, Cello; and David Lackey, String Bass
 

Congratulations to our students who participated in the Area 13 Special Olympics tournament held last week. Westlake had 1 Bronze, 3 Silver, and 8 Gold medal winners!!

Kelly Cool, Silver
Joel DiMare, Gold
Alexdra Hall, Silver
James Hernandez, Gold
JIllian King, Bronze
Laila Lakhani, Gold
Christina Lopez, Gold
Amy Mansfield, Gold
Nathan Snyder, Gold
Lauren Sopronyi, Gold
Megan Willis, Gold
Hailey Wright, Silver
 

Congratulations again to another great Football season. The Varsity team made it to the Bi-district playoffs this year! Great job team!!

Our Student Council raised enough food for 5554 meals for the Austin Food Drive this season! Great job!!

Congratulations to the Volleyball team for an outstanding season with a 2nd Place Finish in the State Tournament.

Congratulations to the Tennis team for achieving the State Title for 2007. The team is recognized as the state 5A champions for Texas!

The Texas Business and Education Coalition recognized Westlake on its 2007 Honor Roll.

The WHS marching band received a First Division rating from all judges at the Oct. 20 UIL marching contest that included 24 bands from 4-A and 5A schools.

Our Robotics team won 5th overall in the BEST Award Category at their first attempt in the BEST competition. The group also received the award for the Best Website and the Best Display for the competition.

Librarian Carolyn Foote is featured this month in the School Library Journal.

Tyler Rush, a senior at WHS, was chosen as the grand prize winner from hundreds of entries in a national contest called "Redesign Your School". The annual contest is sponsored by the American Architectural Foundation and Target Corporation. He and his family will attend a presentation Washington D.C., where he will receive a $10,000 college scholarship.

Congratulations to student Daniel Reese who was chosen to attend the Spoleto Study Abroad 2007 Summer Program in the town of Spoleto, Italy. The program is an intensive study program in the arts and humanities and he participated in the photography program.

WHS Placekicker Justin Tucker has been invited to play in the 2008 US Army All American Bowl as one of the top high school players in the country. The game will be held in the Alamodome January 5.

WHS student Jessica Rodriquez won the gold medal in the 400-meter Freestyle swimming event at last summer's Pan-American Games. The USA Team also earned the Gold Medal and set a Pan-Am record in the 800-meter Freestyle relay with Jessica as the first leg of the relay.

October 2007 - The Westlake Tennis Team won the Region 4 Championship in Corpus Christi. The 23-0 Chaps will be playing in the STATE FINAL FOUR this Friday (November 2) @ 9am. This is the 5th year in a row Westlake will be represented, and the 12th time over all, at the State Tournament.

Congratulations to Westlake kicker Justin Tucker who has received an invitation to play in the 2008 Army All-American Bowl as one of the top high school players in the country. The game will be held in the San Antonio Alamodome on January 5th.

Congratulations also to the twenty-eight Westlake High School Orchestra students who were selected for All-Region High School Symphony Orchestra! They will attend several clinics culminating in a performance on November 17th at 4:00 p.m. at Pflugerville High School.

Westlake held its first Garden Dance in the newly established Garden of Friends outside the ninth grade center.

Congratulations and Good Luck to our Number 1 in the state and Number 2 in the nation Chaps’ Volleyball team! Our girls will play MacArthur in the first round of the playoffs at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 30th at Blossom Activity Center in San Antonio. Please come out to cheer on our winning team!

Congratulations to the Speech & Debate Team for capturing 3rd place Sweepstakes at the San Antonio: Reagan Invitational with 26 schools competing. Monica Ghosh took 1st in LD Debate, and Kevin Shepherd was 3rd, as well as Top Speaker. Andrew Huesner was 2nd in Novice LD Debate and Anna Bennett placed FIRST in Novice Poetry. Varsity Performers Ashley Carlisle and John Hume advanced to the Finals in 2 events and Troy Wheatley was a finalist in 3 events. Matt Bell was Outstanding Performer, placing in Duo, Dramatic, and Humorous, and taking FIRST in Poetry. Congratulations Team!

Six Westlake HS students were included in the National Hispanic Recognition Program. Three of these students were selected as Scholars and three received Honorable Mention.

Congratulations to Andie Schroeder & Daniel Vinh for perfect scores on the ACT exam!

Congratulations also to Tyler Rush, a WHS senior who just won a national contest called “Redesign Your School”! Currently, Tyler is enrolled in one of our independent mentorship classes and is working with an Austin architect.

Congratulations to Coralee Trigger who was honored at an area press conference this week for the poster she designed about stopping teen dating violence. Way to go, Cora Lee!

And the WHS Boys’ Golf Team beat Lake Travis in the 5th annual Ryder Cup Matches and the WHS Varsity Volleyball team is ranked #1 in the state in 5A and #2 in the nation!

WHS has a school-record of 26 semifinalists in the 2008 National Merit Scholars program. An additional 30 students were recognized as Commended students.

We received word this week from the College Board that WHS received the following 2007 AP Awards. This due in part to approximately 2400 AP Exams taken by our students last Spring.

139 AP Scholars - Granted to students who receive grades of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams

85 AP Scholars with Honor - Granted to students who receive an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams

152 AP Scholars with Distinction - Granted to students who receive an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams

39 National AP Scholars - Granted to students in the United States who receive an average grade of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams

September 2007 - Congratulations to the Speech & Debate Team who took FIRST PLACE Sweepstakes at the Hendrickson Tournament. Also the Speech & Debate Team took 5th Place Sweepstakes with 68 schools competing at the Grapevine Tournament earlier this month.

August 2007 - Last spring’s SAT and ACT scores for students at Westlake High School of the Eanes Independent School District far surpassed state and national averages.

The 2007 SAT Test including a new element with the Writing portion of the test. Westlake’s average total score on the three sections was 1758 (Verbal 580, Math 612, Writing 566). The WHS mark was 19 percent higher than the state average of 1484 and 16 percent higher than the national average of 1511. The SAT score range in each subtest is 200-800 points. Last year’s Westlake average was 1754.

Results on last spring’s ACT showed an average composite score of 25.6 by Westlake students (English 25.0, Math 26.1, Reading 26.1, Science 24.9). That composite score was 25 percent higher than the Texas average (20.5) and 21 percent higher than the national average (21.2). The highest possible score in each section is 36. Last year’s WHS composite average was 25.7.

Two Westlake students, Christina Chang and Daniel Vinh, received perfect scores on the ACT and Chang accomplished that level of perfection on the SAT as well.

An extremely high percentage of students at WHS traditionally take college entrance exams. In 2006, 80 percent took the SAT and 43 percent took the ACT.

May 2007 - WHS Football Staff and Team wins Tex Kassen Award for Good Sportsmanship

May 2007 - The Westlake Boys' Golf Team finished 4th in the State. 

May 2007 - Westlake's French students rank in the top 95% of the nation with 8 national winners in Level 3 and 4 national winners in Level 2 of the National French Exam.

May 2007- The first WHS State Title in Tennis awarded to two students for winning the State Tennis Championship in Boys Doubles with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Lubbuck Coronado.  

April 2007 - Westlake HS junior gets perfect score on ACT and SAT exams.

April 2007 - State VASE (Visual Arts Scholastic Event) Art Competition had 11 art students awarded ALL STATE honors. We also had three students awarded the GOLD SEAL, which is the highest honor awarded by TAEA and the State of Texas.

April 2007 - At the National Scholastic Press Association Spring Convention, the El Paisano yearbook was recognized as a Pacemaker Finalist and the Featherduster newsmagazine won seventh-place Best of Show.

April 2007 - The Westlake HS Chorale competed at the UIL Choir Concert and Sightreading Contest yesterday afternoon winning the 18th consecutive Sweepstakes Award for this group---an unprecedented accomplishment for schools in the Central Texas Region and a distinction equal only to a few choral programs in the state of Texas.

April 2007 - Westlake Jazz Ensemble took home top honors at the 40th Annual Texas Tech Jazz Festival. The band won the Outstanding Stage Performance Award and the Outstanding Sightreading Performance Award. In addition, several soloists won Outstanding Player Awards.

April 2007 - The academic UIL competition won FIRST place in the recent District 25-5A Academic competition! Westlake won first place awards in: One-Act Play, Calculator, Computer Science, Science, Social Studies, and Speech.

March 2007 - The 2006 El Paisano was presented the Gold Crown award by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association during its annual convention at Columbia University in New York City.

February 2007 - Congratulations to Mark Misage who won the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement in Math and Science for Texas.  

February 2007 - Congratulations to Joel Adkins (Campus Technology Coordinator) for being recognized as the TCEA's Instructional Technology Specialist of the year. Also congrats to Caroyln Foote (WHS and District Librarian) for making it to the state finals as Librarian of the Year.

February 2007 - The Hyline Funky Company won 1st overall in the competition. The Hyline officers received choreography awards for all three of their performances as well as a technique award and super sweepstakes. They also were placed in the prestigious Winner's Circle.

January 2007 - Coach Bob Abbott named the Class 5A Assistant Coach of the Year. 

January 11, 2007 - Dave Campbell's Texas Football named Coach Long and his staff the Coaching Staff of the Year for the State. 

December 2006 - The Football team finished the season with a record of 12-3 and a 2nd Place finish in the Division I-5A State Championship.

December 2006 - Westlake High School has been named to the TBEC (Texas Business Educator Coalition) Honor Roll. This award is for schools that demonstrate sustained academic excellence.

December 2006 - The Westlake Forensic Team took 2nd Place Sweepstakes at the University of Texas Longhorn Classic Speech Tournament.

November 2006: our District 25 5A champion WHS Volleyball Team with their 13-0 record. This is our 16th District championship in our 19 years under Coach Al Bennett!

October 2006: Our District 25 5A championship Tennis Team on a 2nd Place Finish in the State Meet.  The team finished the season with a record of 28-2. This win marks the 8th time in a row that we have won district and the 21st time in 24 years.

October 2006 - The Featherduster (issue Oct. 13) and the 2006 El Paisano yearbook both took top awards winning First Place Best of Show at the Texas Association of Journalism Educator's State Convention.

September 2006 - Westlake High School teacher Melinda Darrow receives a Yale University 2006 Teaching Award through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. She was nominated by a former WHS students and was selected as one of only 36 winners who were chosen for how they changed a student's life.

September 2006 - Westlake announces 19 National Merit Semi-Finalists which represent one-half percent of the top one percent of students.

SAT and ACT Results for 2006:

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