School News from 2007-2008

School News from 2008-2009

 Homecoming

Pictures by Jimmy Hale -See more at  www.lariatajhale.com  

Harper's 2009-2010 homecoming court is:

Matthew Chevalier escorting Amelia Herring

Johnny Martinez escorting Emorie Hagendorf

Jovan Middleton escorting Paige Parker

Leighton Henderson escorting Amanda Herring

Justin Blaha escorting Tana Radtke

There was not a bonfire this year due to the Burn Ban.  Instead there was a tailgate party and then a pep rally held at the field on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 8:00pm.  The homecoming court was introduced to the community at this pep rally.  The Homecoming Queen and King, Tana Radke and Leighton Henderson, were crowned at half time of the game on Friday night.  Immediately following the game, the Harper Student Council sponsored a dance in the cafeteria for all Harper High School students.

Please congratulate the 2009 HMS Victory Court!

Landry Bolin                       Mason Deaton

Clarissa McDonald                  Cavin Felts

Maddie Lang                      Shiloh Mauldin

Taylor Reid                        Losson Brooks

Sarah Whitten                       Levi Lashley

And the 2009 Mr. & Miss MHS is: 

Mason Deaton & Taylor Reid.

FFA

The Harper FFA Chapter competed in the Hill District FFA Leadership Contests held in Blanco on Monday, November 9. Teams competed in Jr. Chapter Conducting, Job Interview, Jr. Creed, Sr. Creed, FFA Radio Broadcasting, and Sr. Farm Skills.

           The Sr. Farm Skills Team of Rhett Townsend, Kelsey Tooman and Jordan Maner placed 2^nd and are advancing to the Area 7 Leadership Contests to be held in Blanco on Wednesday, November 18^th. Also advancing by placing 2^nd in FFA Radio Broadcasting was the team of Leighton Henderson, Paige Parker and Rhett Townsend and they will be going to Blanco as well next Wednesday. I will be asking some of you, if you have the time, to listen to the Radio Broadcasting Team and give us any comments or critiques you may have. Some of you have already listened to them this morning as they worked again and I thank you so much for your time.

           Placing 3^rd in Junior Chapter Conducting was the team comprised of Tanner Armke, Dalton Sembritzky, Daspyn Esquell, Crystal Wetz, Kash Bolin, Ryan McBee, Tanner Dutton, Mile Menzies, and Jacob Frisbee. Competing in the Jr. Creed Speaking Contest was William Heathcock and Victoria Bacon competed as our Sr. Creed Speaker. Paige Parker also competed in the Job Interview contest. Mr. Townsend and Mr. Hale are extremely proud of each of these young men and women for the their hard work and the efforts they put forth and look forward to next week’s Area 7 Contest.   Keep these youngsters in mind as they prepare for the chance to advance to the State LDE Contests in December.

The Area 7 Land, Range and Plant ID contests held Oct. 8, on the Freeman Ranch, a part of the Texas State University system, in San Marcos yielded great results for the Harper FFA Chapter. The Range Judging Team placed 2^nd (which qualified them for the State Contest in April) with Rhett Townsend winning high point Individual Honors, scoring a perfect score of 418. Tied for 5^th high individuals were Taylor Clark and Leighton Henderson with Kandace Davenport winning 7^th high individual. Cody Alexander was 6^th high individual among the alternates.

   The Land Judging Team placed 4^th (which also qualifies them for the State Contest in April) with Kyle Davenport scoring 276 out of a possible 280 points and earning 2^nd high individual honors. Tana Radtke came in at 10^th high individual and Jessica Felts was 5^th high among alternate contestants. Other members of the Land Judging team were Kallie Davenport at 21^st high individual and Matthew Schmidt was 26^th high point individual. Daspyn Esquell, Marina O’Neill, Drew Vick, & Miguel De La Torre also competed and are members of the Land Team competing in their first year.

    The Plant ID Team placed 4^th with Jacob Krebs tied for 1^st place High Individual with a score of 287. Dalton Sembritzky ranked 13^th with a score of 235, William Heathcock was 26^th high, and Jacob Frisbee was 27^th high. The other member also competing as a first year member was Mile Menzies.

    Mr. Townsend and Mr. Hale are very proud of each FFA member that chose to compete this year and look forward to the competition  of the State Land and Range Judging Contest in Stephenville and the teams have both set their goals on qualifying for the National Contest in Oklahoma City in May.

The Harper FFA Chapter returned from a successful trip to the Hill District Land, Range, and Plant ID contests. Results are as follows:

 The Range Judging team placed 2^nd with Rhett Townsend as 3^rd high individual, Leighton Henderson was 5^th high individual and Taylor Clark followed up as 6^th high individual.

The Land Team placed 3^rd with Tana Radtke as 4^th high individual, Kyle Davenport was 7th high individual followed by Matthew Schmidt as 8^th high individual.

The Plant ID team placed 2^nd with Jacob Krebs tying for high point individual and Dalton Sembritzky was 5th high point individual.

The next competition is our Area 7 contests to be held at San Marcos at the Freeman Ranch of Texas State University. This will take place Wednesday, Oct. 7 and the winning teams from these contests will earn a spot to compete at next spring’s State Land and Range Contests in Stephenville.

Range/Plant ID team also won 2^nd place at the Comal/Gaudalupe SWCD Land and Range Judging Contests. Also, Taylor Clark won 2^nd high individual and Jacobs Krebs was 6^th high individual.

The Land Team placed 1^st and Tana Radtke was High Point Individual, Kyle Davenport was 3^rd high point and Matthew Schmidt was 7^th high. The Range Judging team won 2^nd place, with Kandace Davenport winning 5^th high individual, Taylor Clark was 6^th high individual and Rhett Townsend was 7^th.   The Plant ID team participated as well. The next contests will be Wednesday, Sept. 30, when these teams travel to Seguin for the Comal/Guadalupe SWCD Invitational Land, Range and Plant ID contest, followed by the Hill District Contest on Oct. 5 and the Area 7 contest on Oct. 7.

Pictures by Jimmy Hale -See more at  www.lariatajhale.com  

2009-2010 Officers:

President- Rhett Townsend

Vice President- Paige Parker

Secretary- Kallie Davenport

Treasurer-Tana Radtke

Reporter-Jordan Maner

Sentinel-Jessica Felts

Student Advisor-Trina Crenwelge

Chapter Advisors- Doug Townsend and James Hale

Sept. 4---FFA dues must be paid in order to show or compete in any type of FFA activity

Sept. 9---7:00 pm--Booster Club/FFA Meeting-Cafeteria (election of officers)

Sept. 16 Fall District Meeting-Ingram-4:00 pm

Sept. 18—Hog tag orders due for all hogs showing in Gillespie County, Kerr County and all Major Shows—call Ag. Office to order tags

Sept. 26--Blanco Invitational Plant, Land and Range Contest

Sept 26--Hill Country District Junior Livestock Show Fundraiser @ the Livestock Show Fairgrounds in Kerrville @ 5:30pm

Oct. 5--District Land, Range, and Plant ID—Mason

Oct. 7--Area 7 Land, Range and Plant ID---Freeman Ranch, San Marcos

Oct. 8--Gillespie County Lamb and Goat Validation at Fairgrounds@3pm

Oct. 19--Lamb and goat validation at Harper show barn@3 pm

Oct. 22—Gillespie County lamb and goat validation-Fairgrounds—final validation@ 3 pm

Nov. 4---Major show entry meeting--stock show entries @ 7:00 pm-- Ag shop

              ( to fill out paperwork for all stock show entries)

Nov. 9—District Leadership Contests—Blanco

Nov. 10—Gillespie County hog validation—Fairgrounds @3 pm

Nov. 14---6:00 pm--HALO Fundraiser--Harper Community Building

Nov. 18—Area Leadership Contests –Blanco

Nov. 19-- Gillespie County hog validation—Harper@3 pm

Nov. 21-- Gillespie County Wild Game Supper---Fredericksburg

Nov. 23—Gillespie County hog validation—Fairgrounds@3pm

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

____________________________________________________________________________________________

CONTACT:             Doug Townsend/Jimmy Hale

Zachary McMahon of  the Harper FFA Chapter Receives Dick Walrath Scholarship

Dallas– Zachary McMahon of the Harper FFA chapter, was awarded a $10,000  scholarship, sponsored by the Dick Walrath Foundation at the 81st annual Texas FFA Convention held July 7-10, in Dallas, Texas.

McMahon was awarded for his active involvement in and dedication to the FFA, participation as a Chapter Officer, a member of winning judging and leadership teams as well as his competition in the livestock shows.  

Dallas has been home to 13 Texas FFA conventions. Five of the first six Future Farmer conventions, 1929-33, were held in Dallas in conjunction with the State Fair of Texas. This year, the Texas FFA made history in Dallas. Members set an all-time attendance record with 11,760 members and guests, surpassing the record set at the 79th Annual Texas FFA Convention held in Corpus Christi with 10,321 members and guests.

The Texas FFA has evolved from an organization focusing primarily on production agriculture, to a broader-based encompassing organization that addresses the needs and interests of students in urban and suburban schools in addition to the rural communities from which FFA rose in 1929.

Rhett Townsend, Paige Parker, Jessica Felts, Amanda Tenery, Josh Harper, Tina Wasmuth, Trina Crenwelge of the Harper FFA Chapter Receives Lone Star FFA Degree

Dallas –

Rhett Townsend, Paige Parker, Jessica Felts, Amanda Tenery, Josh Harper, Tina Wasmuth, Trina Crenwelge of the Harper FFA chapter, was awarded the Lone Star FFA Degree at the 81st annual Texas FFA Convention held July 7-10, in Dallas, Texas. The Lone Star FFA Degree is the highest degree bestowed by the Texas FFA.

The Lone Star FFA Degree recognizes the members’ agricultural awareness, leadership, career development and active involvement in the FFA organization. More than 1,350 FFA members receiving this esteemed degree.

Dallas has been home to 13 Texas FFA conventions. Five of the first six Future Farmer conventions, 1929-33, were held in Dallas in conjunction with the State Fair of Texas. This year, the Texas FFA made history in Dallas. Members set an all-time attendance record with 11,760 members and guests, surpassing the record set at the 79th Annual Texas FFA Convention held in Corpus Christi with 10,321 members and guests.

The Texas FFA has evolved from an organization focusing primarily on production agriculture, to a broader-based encompassing organization that addresses the needs and interests of students in urban and suburban schools in addition to the rural communities from which FFA rose in 1929.

The Texas FFA is one of the nation’s largest state FFA associations with a membership of more than 63,000 and 1,000 local FFA chapters. FFA gives students the opportunity to apply practical classroom knowledge to real world experiences through local, state and national competitions. For more information about the Texas FFA Association visit www.texasffa.org.

Kandace Davenport of Harper FFA is Named Area VII FFA Star Award Winner

Dallas  – Kandace Davenport, of the Harper FFA chapter, has been named the Star Chapter Farmer in Production agriculture in Area VII of the Texas FFA. Star award winners were recognized at the 81st annual Texas FFA Convention held July 7-10, in Dallas, Texas. 

FFA Stars are chosen based on the most outstanding Supervised Agriculture Experience Program within their respective degree and category. Winners maintain a comprehensive record keeping system to help justify and explain their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) project.

The Texas FFA is one of the nation’s largest state FFA associations with a membership of more than 63,000 and 1,000 local FFA chapters. FFA gives students the opportunity to apply practical classroom knowledge to real world experiences through local, state and national competitions. For more information about the Texas FFA Association visit www.texasffa.org.

Sports

2009-2010 Cheerleaders

The Harper Varsity Volleyball team traveled to the Uvalde Tourney on August 20 & 22.  They won 2nd and Jordan Maner, Amelia Herring, and Amanda Herring were named to the all-tournament team.

The Harper Varsity also won the 2009 Harper Tourney.

Harper Longhorn Band

The band earned a unanimous 1^st division rating from all 3 judges on Saturday, Oct. 17, at UIL Regional Marching Contest in Hondo.  One judge commented, “This music is hard sitting down and you are doing it well AND marching.” Because of their fine showing, they will advance to the area contest this Saturday, Oct. 24, at East Central in San Antonio.  They are in for a very early wake up since they march at 10:45 AM as of right now for the prelim competition.  Should they earn a spot in the finals, the band will need to march again sometime between 7:30 and 10:00 PM.  We hope you will be there to cheer us on.  There will be somewhere in the area of 20 bands at area and only the top 3 or 4 (depending on the final number that make area) will advance to state!  In class AA, the other bands advancing from our region to area are Cotulla and Jourdanton.  Our former competitors Nueces Canyon and Charlotte advanced from class A.

 UIL AREA E

1A/2A CONTEST SCHEDULE (FINAL)

Saturday, October 24, 2009

East Central High School

San Antonio, TX

The HHS Band participated in the Hill Country Marching Festival in Fredericksburg on Saturday, Oct. 3.  The band earned first division ratings from the 3 overall judges.  The band was named the Outstanding Musical Performance of Class 2A and The Outstanding Band of Class 2A.  The band’s next performance will be on October 17^th at 4:00 PM in Hondo for UIL Regional Marching Contest.

2009-2010 Harper High School Band Officers:

Drum Major/1^st Conductor-Tesca Korbelik

Assistant Drum Major/2^nd Conductor-Lance Meier

Brass Captain/Drill Instructor-Lance Meier

Woodwind Captain/3^rd Conductor-Bailey Baethge

Percussion Lieutenant-Sarah Lester

Uniform 1^st Lieutenants-Keshia Fulcher/Sarah Lester/Adela Moore

2^nd Lieutenants-Taylor Clark/Jacob Krebs

Senior Equipment Lieutenant-Jenny Hale

Junior Equipment Lieutenant-Cameron Sander

Librarian-Krissi Green;

Assistants-Mariza Betancourt/Shelbi Korbelik

Middle School Band Representative-Levi Lashley

Harper Elementary School

Harper Elementary is among six Texas schools eligible to be considered for nomination for the 2009 Title I, Part A National Distinguished School Recognition Program.  The purpose of this program is to identify schools that are demonstrating success in ensuring that all students, including all demographic groups of students, make significant progress toward learning. 

The Texas Commissioner of Education has the opportunity to nominate two schools to receive this award from the National Association of State Title I Directors.  The winners will be honored at the Nation Title I Conference in Washington DC, on Jan. 21, 2010, and will be featured in a publication that describes all of the National Title I Award winners.

Harper has met the stringent criteria for identifying these schools and will be involved in further evaluation this fall including visits from a peer review team which includes volunteers from the Regional Education Service Centers, the Texas Comprehensive Center, and educators from school districts in Texas.  This team will examine the overall academic program at the school and will interview teachers, administrators, support staff, and parents to determine the extent to which our school provides opportunities for all children to achieve the state's academic standards.   

Congratulations to our Elementary School on achieving the distinction of being one of six outstanding Texas public schools eligible for consideration of this award. 

Congratulations!   HARPER ELEMENTARY has made the TBEC Honor Roll for 2009.  Of the more than 8,000 Texas public schools less than 4% will be so honored.  The TBEC Honor Roll is the most prestigious award for sustained, academic excellence in Texas.  It recognizes schools that have demonstrated three years of consistent, high performance in all subjects compared to other schools serving similar student populations. TBEC Honor Roll schools have the highest percentage of students performing at the state’s most rigorous standard-commended- in every subject. Harper has truly earned a place on the Honor Roll through hard work and student achievement over an extended period of time.