Advancing competitors are junior Trevor Ferril in headline writing and sophomore Kori Adair in feature writing, while senior Jonas LaLonde is the alternate in poetry interpretation. To advance, a student must place in the top three at the regional meet, and the fourth place is named alternate. Only 12 students per classification remain in each of their events at the state level.

LaLonde said he is pumped to go to Austin in his event and has always been a fan of poetry.

“I’m excited,” LaLonde said. “I have been able to familiarize myself with a piece that I have created. I got to create a piece out of a bunch of different works from my favorite authors.”

Adair’s competition changes at the state level, as she must write her story from her own notes taken at an hour-long press conference, rather than from a prompt that includes prepared information and quotes.

“I’m pretty nervous about it, just because it’s completely different from what I’ve been doing,” Adair said. “But I figure I’ll get time to prepare for it before I get there. As it is my first year, I did not expect to get this far. I’m glad that my hard work paid off.”

After two previous years in headline writing, the first time making regionals, the second, as an alternate to state, Ferril said, as it rings true, third time’s a charm.

“It always hurts worse when you’re so close, but not in” Ferril said. “At regionals this year, I was in two other events. I did not crack top six in either. But I did in headlines, and after going through all that, after not making it in two other events, it was a huge relief to be able to go for something.”

 WTAMU donated $100,000 to the United Flight 93 Memorial, prompting Clinton to waive his speaking fee. The National Park Service matched the donation, bringing the total to $200,000.

 Clinton spoke first about the Americans on Flight 93 who sacrificed their lives to regain control of the plane from terrorist hijackers. Clinton compared their sacrifice to that of the Spartans at the pass of Thermopolis and the Texan soldiers at the Alamo.

 Clinton also spoke about his visits to Africa and Haiti and his work with Clinton Initiative projects through the Clinton Foundation to better the lives of their citizens. Clinton has worked to help provide sanitization, clean water, shelter and food for various nations throughout Southern Latin America and Africa.

 One point of Clinton’s speech was that Republicans and Democrats should put their differences aside and come together to focus on resolving the nation’s problems.

 ”Half of one percent of our genes is the only thing that makes us different.” Clinton said. “If we focus on the 99.95% of what makes us the same, and put our political differences aside, we can resolve our problems.”

 Clinton also made the point that no one is always right and nothing is perfect in politics.

 ”No one is right 100% of the time, but even a broken clock is right twice a day,” Clinton said.

District Vice President and Senior Tyler Mogford earned first in Senior Prepared Public Speaking and Extemporaneous Speaking. State Officer Candidate and Senior Darby Sullivan won in Soil Stewardship Public Speaking. Sophomore Grainger Fischbacher took second in Junior Prepared Public Speaking.

The following students earned first place in their respective proficiency events at the District Degree Check.

                Tyler Mogford: Ag Communications

                Darby Sullivan: Ag Education

                Colton Meyer: Ag Sales

                Colton Shaw: Agriscience Research—Animal Systems and Veterinary Medicine

                Rhett Bain: Beef Production Entrepreneurship

                Tristan Waite: Beef Production Placement and Emerging Ag Technology

                Payton Vancleave: Equine Science Entrepreneurship and Home and Community Development

                Grainger Fischbacher: Forage Production and Grain Production Placement

                Landry Keith: Landscape Management

                Coleman Curry: Outdoor Recreation

                Chase Christie: Turf Grass Management

                Brittany Zotter: Wildlife Production and Management

Following her address, Bush participated in a question and answer session with Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance, who was once a political opponent of her husband.

Bush spoke about many issues, among them women’s health awareness and origin of the “Power of the Purse.” In addition, Bush shared personal stories and family updates as well as sharing the institute’s impact on women worldwide.

Bush told one story of a woman in Africa who was shunned by her family after being infected with HIV. The woman began to make purses as a way to support herself and was eventually able to regain her independence and her children. Now, others in the woman’s family look to her for financial support.

“That,” Bush said, “is the power of the purse.”

Attendees bid on donated purses to raise funds for the institute, and culinary arts students from Canyon and other area high schools set tables and served at the event.

Key Clubs in the Texas-Oklahoma District are ranked using information from monthly reports submitted by club secretaries for the past year, which summarize all of the club’s activity.  Points are awarded for service project hours, meeting attendance, socials, fundraisers, activities with other Key Clubs and Kiwanis-family clubs, and club publicity.  The more involved a club is, the better its overall ranking will be.

Key Clubs are a part of Kiwanis International and are the high school counterpart to Kiwanis Clubs.  The emphasis at the Canyon HS Key Club is “Leadership Through Service” and the Key Club has been active in several community service projects during the last year, including the ELIMINATE project, coordinating student/faculty blood drives at Canyon HS, an ongoing paper recycling effort at Canyon HS, and providing monthly meals at the Ronald McDonald House of Amarillo.  The CHS Key Club is sponsored by the Canyon-Palo Duro Kiwanis Club.

Art teacher and sponsor Linda Podzemny said this was a first for her UIL program.

“In the 10 years I have sent students, she is my first for a Gold Seal Award,” Podzemny said. “With 20 regions competing in the State of Texas, it is extremely difficult to get this award because all the artwork is awesome.”

Koontz’s piece will also go up on display for the public to see.

“The 150 Gold Seal art pieces hang in the State Capitol for a year for all to view,” Podzemny said. “It was hard for her to leave her artwork there.”

 Koontz left her piece behind, but brings home a rare and prestigious art honor.

At the district level, juniors Tasneem Alvi, Cody Johnson and Zach Howell made honorable mention All-Star cast while senior Chandler Shaw and sophomore Ryan Land made the All-Star cast. Along with Randall, Canyon’s play will perform again in Odessa, April 14, at 6 p.m.

For more details, please see our prior story on “The Liar.”

Artists earning awards for their work included Alex Cordova, Tim Archambault, Bella Burnett, Miranda Goss, Koontz, Casey Miranda, Mason Thompson, Jackson Wells, Shelby Wilburn and Ashley Younger.

Art teacher Linda Podzemny said at least one Canyon artist has competed at state every year for nine years, and almost every year, someone wins.

Koontz, who completed her pen and ink drawings on lapel buttons and paper using Zentangles, said her inspiration came from seeing patterns in the sand on a trip to the beach.

Koontz spent a week on her artwork and said she never thought she’d be the one to make it to state.

“If you feel like you have something to do, do it,” Koontz said.

 Coordinator Lance Culbert and 16 students facilitated the blood drive Feb. 29. Seventy-six people gave blood at the drive with 53 units of blood donated. Culbert has coordinated the event as Key Club adviser for the past three years and was named High School Blood Drive Coordinator of the Year as part of the award. This is the first time Canyon has won the honor from among the 52 schools that participated.

 ”It’s a good honor,” Culbert said. “I’m just glad to get recognition for the school.”

 Culbert said the blood drive is the first time that many students give blood. Culbert assigns students who may be too young to participate as runners or assistants to assist in the blood drive.

 ”The drive works with Key Club and the Coffee Memorial Blood Center,” Culbert said. “It is important for students to participate in the blood drive because everyone benefits.”

Accounting – Brittany Lowry 3rd

Calculator Applications - *Meagan Taylor 2nd, Conner Parker 5th

 Number Sense – *Trevor Ferril 1st,  Alex Mayhew 4th

 Mathematics – Connor Parker 5th

 Literary Criticism – *Tessa Bass 1st, Katie Brigance 4th, David Bishop 6th

 Ready Writing – Janea Robinson 4th, Josiah Tull 6th

 Spelling & Vocabulary- *Trevor Ferril 2nd,  Kelli Hallmark 5th, Ara Potestas 6th

 Science – Sierra Miller 6th

 Editorial Writing – *Chance Walton 1st, *Cortlyn Dees 2nd,

 Feature Writing- *Kori Adair 3rd, Chandler Shaw 6th

 Headline Writing – *Rachel Smith 1st, *Trevor Ferril 2nd, Kyleigh Head 6th

 News Writing – Chandler Shaw 6th

 Lincoln Douglas Debate-Averi Bulla 2nd

Poetry Interpretation -*Jonas LaLonde 3rd, Cody Johnson 5th, Tasneem Alvi 6th

 Prose Interptetation -*McKenzie Jackson 3rd, Tristen Tellman 4th

 Informative Speaking – *Julie Randall 3rd, Bella Barnett 6th

 Persuasive Speaking – *Jayden Beatty 3rd, Connor Lawrence 5th, Brett Howard 6th

 * denotes regional qualifier

 Academic District Championship to be determined one-act play competition.

Current District Standings

1st Canyon High 377 points

2nd Randall High 342 points

3rd Frenship High 322 points

First Place Teams

Number Sense, Literary Criticism,

Spelling & Vocabulary, Journalism,

Speech & Debate

Second Place Teams

Calculator Applications

Third Place Teams

Computer Science

Feb 2 District CX Debate Meet earned points toward overall score

2nd place (state qualifiers)  Brett Howard & Jayden Beatty