Mount Pleasant Junior High School 7th and 8th graders competed in the UIL East Texas Junior High Academic Meet at Hallsville Junior High School on February 1 and brought home multiple medals and ribbons.

Mount Pleasant Junior High earned 3 team awards. The 7th grade Science Team of Marilyn Johnson, Montserrat Lopez, Dana Escobar, and Hayden Vickers placed 3rd as a team at the meet. The 8th grade Music Memory Team of Orion Senence, Rocio Herrera, Zach Haygood, and Jake Carr took 2nd place as a team. And the 8th grade Spelling Team of Harley Martin, Sophie Greco, and Angelina Hernandez earned 2nd place as a team.

Numerous students earned individual medals:

7th Grade
Editorial Writing: Jazlynn Juarez—1st place; Christian Johnson—4th place
Spelling: Sam Chappell—2nd place
Social Studies: Alejandro Fernandez—5th place
Science: Dana Escobar—6th place

8th Grade
Chess Puzzle Solving: Luke Muskrat—4th place
Editorial Writing: Sophie Greco—2nd place; Angelina Hernandez—6th place
Music Memory: Orion Senence—4th place; Rocio Herrera—5th place
Spelling: Sophie Greco—2nd place; Angelina Hernandez—6th place

“Our students have been practicing before and after school with their coaches for the last several months,” said MPJH Assistant Principal Todd Daniel. “It is always great to see how excited the students are before, during and after the competition. It never fails that they will talk about doing even more events the next year because they had such a good experience competing academically against surrounding schools.”

MPJH UIL coaches include Phillip Sweeden (Chess Puzzle Solving and Maps, Graphs and Charts), Karen Stayton (Spelling and Dictionary Skills), Josh Miles (Music Memory), Windy Meurisse (Calculator), Terry Fitch (Mathematics), Allison Caddel (Science), and Launa McCord and Randee Dyer (Editorial Writing and Ready Writing).

Photo: Mount Pleasant Junior High School UIL Meet participants