The Mount Pleasant High School UIL Academic team was back in action on Saturday, February 16 at the Hallsville Tournament of Hearts held on the Hallsville High School campus. Overall, the team took third place at the tournament.

In Spelling, senior Rocio Hernandez scored a perfect 100 on the spelling test, a rare feat! “It is the first time an MPHS student has made a perfect score since 2004 and only the 3rd time I’ve ever seen a 100 in all the years I’ve been involved with UIL,” said UIL Coordinator and Spelling coach Gina Crouch.

The Speech and Debate team took 1st place as a team. In CX Debate, the team of freshman Connelly Cowan and MPJH 8th grader Anthony Orellana took 3rd place. In NSDA LD Debate, Reid Pinckard placed 2nd and Caroline Rose placed 4th. In Informative Extemp Connelly Cowan placed 1st, Isabella Greco placed 3rd, and Taylor Hubbs placed 4th. Tripp Hinton placed 1st in both Humorous Interp and in Dramatic Interp, 2nd in Program of Oral Interp, and 4th in Prose. Ja’Quacy Minter placed 1st in Program of Oral Interp, and took 2nd in both Dramatic Interp and Poetry. And in Big Questions Debate, Kylie Hedge placed 4th and Caroline Rose placed 5th.

In Mathematics, the team placed 2nd overall. In 12th grade, Jose Liera placed 1st and David Barboza placed 2nd. In 10th grade, Miguel Segura placed 4th. Overall Jose Liera placed 1st and David Barboza placed 3rd.

In Calculator Applications, the team took 2nd place. In 12th grade Jose Liera placed 1st and David Barboza placed 4th. In 10th grade Miguel Segura placed 5th. Overall Jose Liera placed 1st and David Barboza placed 5th.

In Social Studies Ezequiel Salazar placed 3rd.

The MPHS UIL teams will compete again this Saturday at the Sulphur Springs Invitational Meet.