Stroman High School - RoundUp Yearbook (Victoria, TX)

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Competitions Contests involve students on district, regional levels Celebrating its 75th anniversary, Univer- sity Interscholastic League has become so successful that one of every two graduating seniors has participated in a UIL event at one time. Academic contests include one-act play, journalism, spelling, number sense, calculator applications, debate, informative and persuasive speaking, prose and poetry reading, ready writing, science, shorthand and typing. The largest activity is music. Close to 400,000 students competed in band, or- chestra and choir contests. Athletic contests include football, cross country, swimming, basketball, soccer, track, golf, team tennis, tennis and baseball. At the UIL literary meet at Corpus Christi Miller High School, David Lack won first place in prose reading. Mike Filla won third place in prose reading. Both ad- vanced to the regional competition in San Antonio. Cindy Gonzales was named first alter- nate or fourth place winner in journalism newswriting competition. Ruth Ruiz placed fifth and Nicole Mathis placed sixth in typewriting skills at the district meet. At the one-act play competition, Mike Filla and Pauline Rivera won honorable mention and were named to the all-star cast for their parts in the play, Of Win- ners, Losers and Games. Cindy Gonzales won fourth place, first alternate, in newswriting in the district journalism UIL literary meet at Miller High School in Corpus Christi. Mike Filla and Pauline Rivera received an honorable mention and all-star cast at the UIL one-act play competition at Corpus Christi State University. i 250 Academics UIL Competition

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Special Projects Taking on extra responsibility provides for an enjoyable education Washing dishes was the responsibility of HERO Club member Lee Newsom dur- ing the clean-up of a teacher ' s luncheon, hosted by HERO. As Dehlia Ramos and Melissa Gomez hold up a favorable piece of paper to cover the door, Sonya Owens handles the scissors, ready to trim. The threesome decorated Mrs. Kimball ' s door in hopes of capturing the Christmas door decoration contest award, but Mrs. Lockstedt ' s first period class received the first place honors. Reeve Darron Cardosa and Prioress Theresa Miller taste the food of the Tabard Inn, alias room 414. Robbie Barnett, Diana Urbano, Lisa Felkins, and Kim Novak enjoy a medieval feast given by Ms. Perry ' s senior English class to better learn about The Canterbury Tales. Academics Special Projects 249

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Academic Decathlon Team; Standing: Steven Kolar, Brenda Wallace, Michelle Wagner, and Jo Hornish. Sitting; Tracy Moreau, Patrick Felder, Denise McCue and Guy Hoffman. J ecathlon Team Scholars come to school early to compete at academic tournament Df ' RAGGING an armload of books home every day is not the thrill of every student ' s life, but some students actually do more than the required homework. Nine dedicated students came to school each school morning at 7:30 a.m. They dragged themselves out of bed a couple of hours early each day just to be up at school studying, yes, studying. Seniors included Guy Hoffman, Brenda Wallace, Jo Hornish, Tracy Moreau and alternates, Steven Kolar and Randy Torrence. Juniors were Patrick Felder and Denice McCue with Michelle Wagner as an alternate. These seniors and juniors were members of the Academic Decathlon team. The members were selected by Nan Jackson, team sponsor, after careful consideration of persons interested and capable of devoting enough time to the contest. Students were invited to take the entrance test based on their academic records. The Academic Decathlon, started in 1968 in California to provide the opportunity for high school students to experience the challenges of rigorous academic competition, is designed to include students from all academic backgrounds. Students participate in a total of 10 subjects, including economics, fine arts, language and literature, math, science, social Meeting in Nan Jackson ' s classroom, the Decathlon team practiced and studied for the contest as early as 7:30 a.m. each school day. Guy Hoffman listens attentively as Ms. Jackson coaches the members in a total of 10 categories. sciences, speech, interview, essay and super quiz. In the interview category, the student is asked questions and in the speech category, the students must make an impromptu speech. For the essay part of the contest, the student is to make an essay from a format of quotes and poetry. This year ' s essay subject was World War I. The super quiz is based on a single topic and is taken in the presence of a business person. The super quiz is also open to the general public. After the team members were selected, a time was set for study- ing and practicing for the contest. The team met in the library every morning in preparation for the contest. There is a study sheet the participants can go by to give a general idea of what to study for a particular subject. Each student takes the test in each subject, therefore, the making of very rigorous competition. A single student can earn a maximum of 1,000 points, which is added to fellow teammates ' scores to give a total score. Jackson went to a coach ' s clinic on October 13, 1984, in Dallas which enabled her to better train the academic team for contest. Because of bad weather, the team was forced to miss the com- petition Feb. 2 — 3 in Houston. However, the team competed in the competition in Tyler on Feb. 16-17. Hoffman won first place and Felder won third in interview. Listening to Nan Jackson as she helps the Decathlon team learn material for the contest, Brenda Wallace concentrates on Ms. Jackson ' s words, while Jo Hornish takes it all down on paper. After winning medals at the Academic Decathlon Contest in Tyler, Patrick Felder and Guy Hoff- man proudly show off their results of hard work and determination. Felder received a bronze medal in the Interview category, and Hoff- man won a gold medal, also in the Interview category. Decathlon Team 251