The Mount Pleasant High School Mathematics Team placed third in the State of Texas at the UIL State Academic Meet in Austin. The team made up of senior Nayeli Fuentes, junior Daniel Hernandez and freshmen David Barboza and Jose Liera qualified for state by earning the highest second place score in regional competition in the state. Hernandez placed 4th at the state meet.
“I am so proud of the MPHS math team for working so hard to improve throughout the year and being able to perform so well under the pressure at state,” said MPHS Math teacher and team coach Andy Speir. “Although they were improving throughout the year, at times it seemed like an impossible task to even advance beyond district since our district had two other teams that were among the top 6 in the state that had beaten us at the meet right before district. I was proud of them for not giving up but working even harder instead to earn a trip to regionals, then continuing to improve as they earned a spot a state and eventually placing 3rd at state, beating some teams we had never beaten before. It was amazing that Daniel Hernandez was able to place 4th considering how tough the competition was. The only students that beat him are actually all from schools that are moving up to 6A next year.”
Senior Nayeli Fuentes missed several Senior class events – the Honor Graduates Breakfast and Senior Walk to compete at the state meet. She said it was that important. And added: “We started out not believing in ourselves…But now we can’t believe what all has happened.”
Junior Daniel Hernandez who medaled at state, beating all the competitors from arch-rival Hallsville, said “Hard work pays off.”
Just making it to state wasn’t enough for Freshman Jose Liera. The team wanted to place. He said, “Making it to State was an unfathomable feat in itself for MPHS, be we didn’t stop there. All that hard work and dedication wasn’t going to go to waste.”
MPHS UIL Director Regina Crouch put the third place win in perspective.
“Just making it to state takes a lot of hard work and dedication. There are 266 5A schools in the state of Texas. Only two of them had math teams that placed higher than we did. That’s making a statement.”
MPHS Math Department Chair Ann Jenkins also congratulated the team and their coach. She said, “I am so proud of our math team and Mr. Speir for their accomplishments this year. They have shown extreme diligence and determination to place 3rd in State. We were all super excited when we heard how well they had done. This was a perfect honor for a group that has put in many hours of hard work. It just proves what can be accomplished when students work together as a team to achieve a goal.”
MPISD Superintendent of Schools Judd Marshall added, “We are so proud of our UIL math team and their coaches for this achievement. They have all worked so hard to prepare for the math competitions throughout the school year, and they have represented Mt. Pleasant High School very well. It is very difficult to have this kind of success at the 5A level with all of the quality programs across the state of Texas, and very few are able to have this kind of success at the state level. These students are quality kids that anyone would want to have in their school.”
Senior Nayeli Fuentes, the 2016 MPHS Valedictorian, is graduating this year but Hernandez, Barboza, and Liera are all expected to be back next year.
“Their goal for next year is to return to state and bring home the gold,” said Dr. Judith Saxton, MPISD Director of Communication, “with the experience of competing at state once before behind them, they will all know what to expect.”
Pictured are l-r: Team Coach Andy Speir, Daniel Hernandez, Nayeli Fuentes, David Barboza, Jose Liera