This week the National Youth Arts announced the winners of the Tenth Annual National Youth Arts Awards to honor outstanding work by youth in the arts. This year more than 400 productions were considered for the awards, including shows from more than 160 different members in more than 70 cities spanning 13 states. Kinkaid earned seven awards and seven additional nominations.  

Awards:
Outstanding Production: A Chorus Line
Lead Actor in a Musical: Shrek in Shrek the Musical
Supporting Actor in a Musical: Harrison Poe '15 as Paul in A Chorus Line
Supporting Actress in a Musical: Megan Roberts '15 as Diana in A Chorus Line
Supporting Actress in a Musical: Kerry Sullivan '17 as Val in A Chorus Line
Ensemble: A Chorus Line
Choreography: Krissy Richmond for A Chorus Line
 
Nominations:
Lead Actor in a Musical: Donkey in Shrek the Musical
Lead Actress in a Musical: Fiona in Shrek the Musical
Supporting Actress in a Musical: Gabby Gillespie '15 as Cassie in A Chorus Line
Featured Actress in a Musical: Brock Looser '17 as Sheila in A Chorus Line
Featured Actress in a Musical: Dragon in Shrek the Musical
Costume Design: Shrek the Musical
Direction: Justin Doran for A Chorus Line

This year's award winners were selected from nominations by a panel of more than twenty-five judges and reviewers. In addition to the youth who performed in schools and youth theatre companies, anyone age 18 and under who performed at a show reviewed by a National Youth Arts judge was also considered for the awards, as well as the adults who participated in the youth productions backstage (directors, set designers, costume designers, etc.) and a limited number of guest adult performers in productions designed for youth.

Congratulations to these two productions for all the incredible work and all the unforgettable entertainment over the past year!

Upper School Spanish Teacher Guides Students To Perfect Scores On AP Test

Upper School Spanish Teacher Esteban Longoria saw 100 percent of his Spanish IV students score a five, the highest score achievable, on their AP Spanish Language And Culture Exam last spring.  A grade of five is very significant, as it earns the student a course credit when they enroll at many colleges or universities in the country.

Having all students score a five is an accomplishment very few teachers can say they’ve made. Mr. Longoria attributes this success to the strong students he teaches at Kinkaid and to a talented Spanish department that prepares the students well. Mr. Longoria visits regularly with the teachers in each grade to help coordinate the curriculum.

Starting in 2014, the exam was changed to include Culture as the main focus in order to reflect our globalized society.

He does not employ any unconventional teaching methods to help students prep for the exam; rather, he varies the activities done in class during the year so they’re able to absorb the language at a high level.

“I also teach some strategies to make sure that they’re relaxed. Providing sufficient practices from all of the sections of the AP Exam, makes them feel more confident and prepared,” says Longoria.

A competitor at heart, Longoria also feels he was able to bring out the best in his students by posting the scores of previous classes.  “I was also a gymnastics coach so I feel like they got little motivational speeches from the coach in me,” says Longoria. “Now that the bar has been set pretty high last year, it’s going to be tough to match that.”

Traditionally, Kinkaid students perform exceptionally well on national AP exams. Of the 586 AP exams administered during the 2014-15 school year, 93 percent of students scored a three or higher, while 71 percent scored a four or a five. A grade of three earns credit at some colleges, a four at more schools.

This fall Upper School photography students entered the ATPI fall photo contest (Association of Texas Photography Instructors). The contest judging took place in early November. There were 600 entries from 85 schools across Texas, California, Kansas, Maryland and Oklahoma.

Congratulations to our Kinkaid students who were recognized!

Best of Show: (as in the entire show!!)
Madison Whiteside, "Branding Day"

Advanced Advertising:
Honorable Mention, Shivanki Juneja, "Yellow Footsteps"

Advanced Architecture:
Second Place, Gracey Wallace,  "Wavy"
First Honorable Mention, Madison Whiteside, "Guggenheim in Blue"

Advanced Cellphone:
Honorable Mention, Gracey Wallace, "Intertwined"

Advanced Studio Portrait:
Honorable Mention, Shivanki Juneja, "Veiled"

Advanced Landscape:
Second Place, Madison Whiteside, "Blue Ridge Parkway's Gold"

Advanced Time Exposure:
First Place, Madison Whiteside, "Her Ghost's Silk Dress"
Honorable Mention, Lindsey Siff, "Obscure"
Honorable Mention, Robin Kate Davis, "Spirit"

Advanced Travel:
Honorable Mention, Shivanki Juneja, "As We Head West"
Honorable Mention, Marie Atmar, "Prisoner's Glory"

Beginner Digitally Constructed Image:
First Honorable Mention, Clara Tian, "Awakening"

Beginner Open:
Third, Lauren Nip, "Uncovered"

Beginner Portfolio:
Third, Luke Zarr, "All Pars"

Beginner Time Exposure:
First Honorable Mention, Clara Tian, "Cleansing"

This weekend a number of middle school students participated in various events ranging from a band competition to a speech tournament to a quiz bowl. Below is a summary of the accomplishments.

Houston Area Private Schools All-City Honor Band
PSIA District Speech Tournament
Seven Lakes Quiz Bowl Tournament

Houston Area Private Schools All-City Honor Band
Congratulations to the following student earning a chair in the Houston Area Private Schools All-City Honor Band. Earning a chair in this organization is a reflection of not only technical ability (judged by the audition), but also character (judged by band director recommendation).

The students who earned chairs in the band participated in a clinic and concert over the weekend at Strake Jesuit.

8th Grade:
Julia Burpeau - trumpet
Nicholas Dillon - tuba
Arden Fayard - percussion
Evelyn Mineo - French horn
Nikita Munsif - flute
Tyler Newton - alto sax
Jared Orkin - alto sax
Tom Roff - clarinet
Bennett Wagnon - French horn
Frankie Wimbish - trombone
Brian Xu - bassoon

7th Grade:
Jason Boué - trombone
Devyn Finkelstein - clarinet
Eliot Gottsegen - bass clarinet
Martín Ibarra - tuba
Ben Johnson - trombone
Margaux Marinelli - flute
David Shaw - trumpet
Serena Thompson - clarinet
Anthony Triestman - tenor sax
Aaron Wilson - clarinet

6th Grade:
Jack Chilson - alto sax
Maddalena Horner - clarinet

PSIA District Speech Tournament
Congratulations to all of the students who participated in the PSIA District Speech Tournament. Kinkaid won first place in the three speech events.

In Impromptu Speaking, Kinkaid had two finalists, Margaret Mentz ’21 won sixth place and Amari Venzor ’21 won first place and will represent Kinkaid at the State Tournament.

In Modern Oratory, Kinkaid had three of the six finalists. Christopher Gardner ’21 won fourth place, Ella Brissett ’21 won third place and Ethan Fang ’21 won firstst place and will represent Kinkaid at the State Tournament.

In Poetry reading, Kinkaid had two finalists. Madeleine Gomez ’21 won sixth place and Duncan Lambert ’21 won first place and will be representing Kinkaid at the State Tournament.

Seven Lakes Quiz Bowl Tournament
Five Kinkaid Middle School quiz bowl teams enjoyed a fun day of tough competition at Seven Lakes in Katy. 

A record number of 58 teams competed in this tournament, with 16 teams in the elementary division. Four of our teams made it to the playoffs, and our top-seeded, the undefeated Kinkaid B team were the victors in a finals re-match with Harmony B!

Congratulations to Hallie Brass ’22, Connor Blake ’22, Jack Chilson ’22 and Vedul Palavajjhala ’22 and to all our teams for their perseverance and great teamwork.

On Wednesday, March 9th through Friday, March 11th, the Kinkaid Robotics FTC team competed in the South Super-Regional tournament held in San Antonio, Texas. Also participating in this tournament were 71 other schools, home-school groups and neighborhood teams from the 12 southern states.

The team finished the tournament with a 3-3 record.  In addition to the on-field performance, the teams made a presentation to the event judges. The team was assessed on their outreach, their robot's design and other factors. Out of the 72 teams, the Kinkaid team earned 2nd place for the Rockwell Collin Innovate Award. This ranking earned the team an invitation to the FTC World Championship

The students who were involved at this tournament were:

Daniel King '19
Julian Meyers '19
Jamie Moseley '18
Nikita Munsif '20
Christos Papandreou '18
Paul Thompson '18
Joseph Wagnon '19

Others who worked and provided support leading up to this tournament include Charlie Finch '19 and John Churay '16.

The FTC World Championship will held in St. Louis from April 27th - April 30th. At this tournament, the team will be competing against the best 127 other schools and home school and neighborhood groups from the four regions across the US plus teams from 15 countries.

About the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award:
The Rockwell Collins Innovate Award celebrates a Team that not only thinks outside the box, but also has the ingenuity and inventiveness to make their designs come to life. This judged award is given to the Team that has the most innovative and creative Robot design solution to any or all specific field elements or components in the FTC game. Elements of this award include elegant design, robustness and ‘out of the box’ thinking related to design. This award may address the design of the whole Robot or of a sub-assembly attached to the Robot. The creative component must work consistently, but a Robot does not have to work all the time during matches to be considered for this award. The Team’s Engineering Notebook should be marked with journal entries to show the design of the component(s) and the Team’s Robot in order to be eligible for this award, and entries should describe succinctly how the Team arrived at that solution.


Required criteria for the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award:

• Team must demonstrate respect and Gracious Professionalism towards everyone they encounter at an FTC event.
• Team must submit an Engineering Notebook with an Engineering Section that documents the design process and how the Team arrived at their design solution.
• Robot or Robot sub-assembly must be elegant and unique in its design.
• Creative component must be stable, robust, and work reliably.
• Robot design is efficient and consistent with Team plan and strategy.

Over the weekend, the Middle School quiz bowl teams competed in the Viking Invasion II tournament at the Village School. 

In the Elementary Division, Kinkaid Team A was one of the four teams to qualify for the playoff, going on to win first place after defeating Harmony, Village and St. Thomas in the finals.

In the Middle School Division, Kinkaid Team A ended the weekend team losing a close match to St. John's in the semi-final round after being the first place seed out of 32 teams.

Congratulations to these students for their hard work and outstanding sportsmanship! Listed below are the student participants from this weekend’s event:

ELEMENTARY DIVISON (5th and 6th Grade):

Kinkaid A:  Joycie Brass '23, Canaan Estes '23, Jack Lemon '23, Stockton Lord '23, Will Pielop '23 -- FIRST PLACE

Kinkaid B:  Ammar Ali '24, Sid Agarwala '24, Clara Brown '23, Adam Behr '23, Hannah Jamail Herrick '23

MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION (7th and 8th Grade):

Kinkaid A: Connor Blake '22, Hallie Brass '22, Vedul Palavajjhala '22, Ethan Pintar '21, Ali Yousuf '22 --THIRD PLACE 

Kinkaid B:  Evan Gibson '22, Maddalena Horner '22, Adrián Riesgo-Zamudio '21, Jerry Restrepo '22, Mia Van De Mark '22

Kinkaid C:  Rivers Breeding '22, Vivian Finch '22, Henry Prendergast '22, Sammy Riesgo-Zamudio '22, Henry Segal '22

Nine Kinkaid 5th graders earned medals after competing in a national Halloween mathematics challenge hosted by Mangahigh.com. Competing against 845 schools and 43,000 students throughout the United States and Canada, Kinkaid placed 8th overall after correctly answering over 1,500 math questions throughout an eight-day period. In addition to receiving medals, the class also earned a $250 Amazon gift card. 

Mangahigh.com is one of the world’s first games-based-learning sites, where students learn Mathematics via purpose-built casual games that balance fun and learning. Founded by an experienced team of mathematicians and game specialists, the organization strives to balance game play and education.

Huge congratulations to these talented students! 

Pictured: Onyi Ndee, Camille Pyne, Travis Ainsworth, Peyton Young, Eric Wang, Ethan Goldstein, Hayden Lewitton, Georgia Cooper, Siddharth Agarwala

Kinkaid Debate is finished with a busy fall semester, and it has been a successful one. See below for an update on their many accomplishments! 

November 11-12, Katy Taylor HS Regional Tournament – 49 schools competing: 

• Seniors Sam Richey and Sabrina Bajwa - placed 1st in Policy, receiving 8 of the 12 needed points needed to qualify for TFA (Texas Forensics Association) State Tournament.
• The frosh team of Karm Ghei '20 and Spencer Powers '20 - placed in the semifinals, receiving 10 of the 12 points needed to qualify for TFA State.
• Kinkaid had two more first year teams in the quarterfinals - Hannah Shi '19 & Sahar Punjwani '20 and Camila Vicens '20 & Brian Xu '20.
  

November 19-21 - Glenbrooks Tournament – Chicago – one of the largest & most competitive tournaments in the country with 261 schools competing:

• Sam Richey & Sabrina Bajwa - placed in the top 16 (out of 170 teams) and received their 4th bid to the Tournament of Champions (TOC), sponsored by the University of Kentucky. Sam was awarded the 5th overall speaker & Sabrina the 11th out of 340. Both were invited to attend the Glenbrooks Round Robin following the regular tournament. This is an honor reserved for, what the Glenbrooks believe, are the top 7 teams in the country.
• Senior Jason Yang - placed in the top 32 (out of 180) in Lincoln-Douglas, won his first 6 debates, ending up 6-1, and was awarded the 19th overall speaker award.

November 19-21 – Cypress Creek HS Regional Tournament - 39 schools competing:

• Freshman Shreya Mehta - placed 3rd (semifinals, out of 50+ students) and received points towards qualifying for the TFA State Tournament.

December 2-3 - University Of Texas’ Longhorn Classic – largest tournament in Texas with 113 schools competing:

• Senior Jason Yang - placed 2nd out of 203 competitors in Varsity Lincoln-Douglas (VLD), falling to the top debater from Strake Jesuit in the finals. UT is a TOC qualifier at the semi-final level for LD, and Jason will now be one of the top 72 in the country competing at the University of Kentucky in April.
• Sam Richey and Sabrina Bajwa - placed in the quarterfinals (top 8 out of over 100 teams) in Varsity Policy. Sam was awarded the 3rd overall speaker, out of 200, and Sabrina was awarded the 10th. UT is a TOC qualifier at the quarterfinals level for VP. Sam and Sabrina are one of only 10 teams in the country to have four bids, and they have also qualified for the TFA State Tournament.
• Juniors Minhhy Truong and Lauren Ho - placed in the top 64 out of 140 teams in Varsity Public Forum. Lauren was awarded the 16th speaker award out of 280.
• Sophomores Dani Knobloch and Amy Ho - placed in the top 32 of Policy. 
• Sophomore Jack Scofield was awarded the 11th overall speaker (out of 203 competitors) in VLD.
• We had many successes culminating in the 2nd place overall debate sweepstakes award.  

Congratulations to Kinkaid Debate for a very impressive fall semester of performances! Good luck at the TFA State Tournament and Tournament of Champions!

Congratulations to Kinkaid Middle and Upper School students for their success!

Houston Art Society Juried Fall Show 2016 

First Place:

Claire Wexler 6th grade: watercolor

Eliza Lawrence 9th grade: mixed media

Adelaide Randall 9th grade: photography

Emma Sykes 10th grade: ceramics, hand-building

Sophia Sole' 12th grade: ceramics, pottery wheel throwing

Second Place:

Katherine Zhang 6th grade: watercolor

Emma Hurley 7th grade: drawing

Duncan Harper 9th grade: mixed media

Caroline Cone 10th grade: ceramics, hand-building

Tyler Baldridge 10th grade: ceramics, hand-building

Emmy Heyser 12th grade: ceramics, pottery wheel throwing

Third Place:

Laurel Davis 6th grade: watercolor

Morgan Le 7th grade: drawing

Audrey Ho 10th grade: ceramics, hand-building

Katie Erikson 11th grade: ceramics, pottery wheel throwing

First Honorable Mention:

Caroline Cone 10th grade: ceramics, hand-building

Caroline Moseley 10th grade: ceramics, hand-building

Tyler Baldridge 10th grade: ceramics, hand-building

Honorable Mention:

Patrick Brown 10th grade: ceramics, hand-building

Houston Young Artist's Concert - Visual Arts Competition

• The policy team of Sabrina Bajwa '17 and Sam Richey '17 placed 2nd, losing a close finals round on a 2-1 decision. Sabrina was awarded the 3rd overall speaker and Sam the 4th. Sabrina and Sam have received their 5th bid to the TOC.
• In Lincoln-Douglas Jason Yang '17 placed in the top eight (quarterfinals), losing on a 2-1 decision to cross town rivals, Strake Jesuit. Jason was awarded the 2nd overall speaker in LD. Jason is now fully qualified for the Texas Forensics Association (TFA) State Tournament.
• Sam Segal '18 placed in the top 16 (octofinals) in Lincoln-Douglas.  Sam has 10 of the 12 points needed to qualify for TFA State.

• Sabrina Bajwa '17 and Sam Richey '17 received their 6th bid to the TOC by reaching the finals of the Lexington tournament.  The final round was postponed until February.  Sabrina was awarded the top overall speaker award out of 120 individuals.
• Jason Yang '17 placed in the top 8 (quarter-finals) at Harvard Westlake. He went undefeated in preliminary rounds and was awarded the 4th overall speaker out of 108 individuals. 
• At Katy HS, the policy debaters closed out the final round receiving 1st and 2nd place.  Amy Ho '19 and Dani Knobloch '19 received first since they went undefeated in preliminary rounds and were the top seed. Sahar Punjwani '20 and Hannah Shi '19 received second.  Sahar and Hannah are now fully qualified for TFA State and Amy and Dani are one point away.
• In Lincoln-Douglas, Sam Segal '18 was the top speaker of the tournament and finalist, losing on a 2-1 decision. Sam is now fully qualified for TFA State.
• Vivian Liu '17 was the 2nd speaker and was a quarterfinalist.
• Shreya Mehta '20 was undefeated in preliminary rounds and reached the top 16. Shreya is now 2 points away from qualifying for TFA State.

Congratulations Debate students!

The Kinkaid Music Program is proud to recognize flute player Seb Seager ‘19, for his selection to the ATSSB All-State Symphonic Band.

Seb is one of over 1,500 student musicians who were selected from a process that began with over 60,000 at the start of the school year. Prior to being named to the All-State Band, Seb competed in one of 28 region competitions where he placed first chair flute in November. From there, he competed at one of seven area competitions where he again placed first chair. All-State is the highest honor a Texas music student can receive.

Seb will perform in San Antonio, February 11, 2017 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center as part of the Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention. This is the largest music convention in the country, and the students chosen to the ATSSB/TMEA All-State ensembles represent the top 2% of all high school musicians, public and private, across the state of Texas. Join us in congratulating Seb! 

Taqi Hasnain '18 placed 1st in the art contest for his ink drawing. May Moorefield '19 placed 2nd on the Latin Grammar and Reading Comprehension exam (advanced level). Lastly, Seb Seager '19 placed 2nd on the Roman Life and Culture exam (advanced level). 

It has been an exciting wrestling season!  While injuries sidelined several Kinkaid wrestlers this season, the remaining team proved it is small but mighty!  The first stop on the road to Prep Nationals was the Prep State Duals, held January 21 at St. John's, where four Kinkaid wrestlers went undefeated with 5-0 records:  Brighton Huynh '17, Max Mannetti '18, Noah Chan '18 and Colin Lawler '18.  Following an impressive showing at the Prep State Duals, six Kinkaid wrestlers were ranked in the top five for their weight classes in the Texas Prep Coaches Poll going into the Texas Prep State Tourney, February 4 at McKinney Christian Academy in McKinney, Texas:

113 lbs - Brighton Huynh '17 - ranked 4th

120 lbs - John Goettee '17 - ranked 2nd

138 lbs - Max Mannetti '18 - ranked 4th

145 lbs - James Goettee '17 - ranked 5th

152 lbs - Noah Chan '18 - ranked 1st

220 lbs - Colin Lawler '18 - ranked 1st

And they did not disappoint!  Four wrestlers proudly represented Kinkaid on the Prep State Tournament podium!

L - R:  Noah Chan '18 - 1st place and awarded Most Outstanding Wrestler, John Goettee '17 - 2nd place, Brighton Huynh '17 - 3rd place, Colin Lawler '18 - 1st place

All four Prep State Tournament winners qualified for the 82nd National Prep Wrestling Tournament, which will be held February 24-25 at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.  Congratulations to these athletes for their accomplishments, and good luck at Nationals!

During the weekend of February 9-12, Kinkaid took twenty-two students to Baltimore for the Johns Hopkins University 20th Annual Model UN Conference. Over 1500 students from all over the country (and three international schools, as well) competed this year. Kinkaid's team did very well, and two of our students won awards.

Anvi Nandish '17 won the Outstanding Delegate Award for playing the part of Sommai Phasee in the Government of Thailand 2014 Committee, and Camila Vicens '20 won the Honorable Mention Award for playing the part of our very own Bob McNair in the NFL Owners Meeting Committee.  Congratulations to Anvi and Camila!

Anvi Nandish '17

Camila Vicens '20

Colin Lawler '18 was named a Prep All American at the Prep Nationals Wrestling Tournament at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania on Saturday, February 25 by placing 4th in the Tournament finals.  Coach Bobby Eggleston said, "Colin wrestled superbly, winning his first match vs the six seed.  Colin then faced the number 3 seeded wrestler from national power Wyoming Seminary, who had beaten Colin the previous day in a close match.  Revenge was sweet as Colin was in control the entire match before pinning the three seed.  Wow!  It was impressive.  That put Colin in the 3rd/4th place match and, although he was ahead 1-0 in the 3rd period, he came up one point short.  It was tough because there was an inadvertent whistle dispute at the end of the match, but Colin handled the situation like a true champion and did not let it dampen his spirits as he walked away with a 4th place finish."  Colin's 4th place finish earned him distinction as a Prep All American.

As a team, Kinkaid ended the Tournament with a top 25 finish out of 136 teams, finishing as the highest ranked Texas team in the Tournament.  Congratulations to Colin on his All-American honors and to the entire Kinkaid team on an excellent season!

Coach Bobby Eggleston, Colin Lawler '18, Coach Derrick Waldroup