Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 3, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 18, 1989 Page: 8 of 12
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Page 8-Palacios Beacon, Jan. 18, 1989
Students preparing for Academic Decathalon
BY MICHAEL SCHEIB
Beacon Staff Writer
Eleven PISD students arc
sprinting for the gold at the
1988-1989 United States Aca-
demic Decathlon. They broke
from the starting blocks last
summer and have been leaping
over hurdles ever since.
The Academic Decathlon be-
gan in 1968, as a local competi-
tion in Orange County, Califor-
nia, and has since become a na-
tion-wide event involving
60,000 students from forty
states. (Interestingly enough,
students from Texas and
California have dominated the
LAST-MINUTE CONSULTING with Mr. Webster
found Linda Parsley checking the proper pronunciation
of "desertification" (is it even a word?) at the trial
competition of The United State Academic Decathlon
competition. [Beacon photo by Michael Scheib]
competition every year since it
went national.)
Predictably enough, the Aca-
demic Decathlon consists of ten
academic events: economics,
language and literature, social
science, planned and impromptu
speech, giving an interview,
writing an essay and the truly
unique Super Quiz (this year
concerning the U.S. Presi-
dency). Unprcdictably enough,
the teams are not comprised of
straight-A students. Three A
students are chosen for the team,
three B students and 3 C (or be-
low) students, and one alternate
from each category is allowed.
Every student must compete in
every event, which means the
math whiz must give a speech
too, and the history buff will
have to know his geometry.
The study guide provided to
competing students lists the top-
ics upon which they will be
questioned. It covers an incredi-
ble diversity of subjects and
would be a good study guide for
an adult who wished to become a
more rounded individual. Sub-
jects which will be covered in-
clude such topics as history and
personalities in the American so-
cialist movement, economic and
geologic geology, differential
calculus, analysis of poetry, the
major works of a raft of artists,
laser optics, and the effect of
certain individuals on the
expansion of presidential
powers-and believe me, that's
just a sample.
Of course, after a student be-
ACADEMIC DECATHLON COACH, Susan Joyce, and Decathlon competitor
Robert DeWoody fine-tune DeWoody's presentation at a practice session last Sun-
day in the school's Learning Resource Center. [Beacon photo by Michael Scheib]
comes well versed in what ev-
eryone else says about this array
of study areas, he is asked to ex-
press himself in essays, prepared
speeches and spur-of-the-mo-
ment impromptu speeches.
Last Sunday (an Academic
Decathlon competitor spends
many, many spare moments in
training), the eleven went
through a mock competition in
the prepared speech event. Dr.
William Reaves, Superintendent
of PISD, John Lenihan,
administrator of Leisure Lodge
and Don Landry of City State
Bank graciously agreed to play
judges for the students. Coaches
Susan Joyce and Esther Sjostrom
gave each student a few tips on
how to do it better next time and
his/her performance was video-
taped. After the session the nine
team members, Ann Berlin,
Linda Parsley, Vu Tran, Nikki
Vu, Vanessa Bui, Thuy Nguyen,
Lisa Long, Robert DeWoody
and Laura Isenberger (and the
alternates, Nhung Nguyen and
Alina O'Leary) are no doubt
better prepared for the next
hurdle, the two-day regional
competition at McAllen
beginning January 27. Last year
the Palacios team fell short of
moving to the state competition;
by a heart breaking 160 pointS;..
(out of tens of thousands).
Winners of the state meet go ta.
the national competition in
Rhode Island at the end of April.
Winners receive gold, silver or
bronze medals, sets of en-w
cyclopedias, and scholarships.
Sponsors of the United States-^
Academic Decathlon are World1'
Book, Inc., Xerox Corporation,'
American Honda Foundation,1/
American Airlines, Lennox In-
dustries, Inc., Raytheon, and/:*
TRW. Inc.
Palacios Beacon
Youth
Students named
to UH-Victoria
Fall Dean's List
Several area students were
named to the Dean's List for the
1988 fall semester at University
of Houston-Victoria. To qualify,
undergraduate students taking
nine or more semester hours
must have earned at least a 3.5-
-ftf3da.-point average, out of a
possible 4.0.
On the Dean's List from the
Division of Arts and Sciences
was Helen Ann Reed of Pala-
cios. From the Division of Edu-
cation were Elma Constancio.,
Pauline Louise Maxwell, Chris-
tine M. Nevarez and Diane Gail
Peltier, all of Palacios, and Nina
M. Tomlinson of Blessing.
Round-Up 4-Hers
receive ribbons
at county show
The Matagorda County Food
Show was held Jan. 14 with
seven members from Round-Up
4-H entered.
Those who received a blue
ribbon were: Alicia Elliott,
Matthew Hansen, Charisse
Peltier, Eric Janszen, Kyle Wai-
lis, Julie Stuhrenbcrg, and Jennie
Stuhrenberg.
Julie Stuhrenberg won overall
in the junior division for her nu-
tritious snack and Jennie
Stuhrenberg won in the sub-ju-
nior division for her nutritious
snack. Both will advance to the
district food shows.
Chickens for the fair are
scheduled to arrive and be picked
up on Friday, Jan 20. They
should be picked up immediately
after school at 3:30 p.m. at the
Ag Building.
The next meeting will be
Monday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. at the
Dcutschburg Community Center.
All members should bring one
dozen homemade Valentine
cookies for the monthly service
project.
Blackwell named
to Dean's List
Darrell E. Blackwell, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Blackwell of
Palacios, was named to the Dean
for Instruction's Honor Roll for
the first quarter of his studies at
Texas State Technical Institute in
Waco.
His cumulative grade point
average was 3.8 out of a
possible 4.0. Darrell is a student
in the Diesel and Agricultural
Equipment Mechanics Program.
Long-Time Guiding Light
The Palacios Beacon is the
oldest continuous business in
Palacios, dating from before
1910.
At Kexe Inpram Auditorium
PISD students participate in
All-Region Concert Saturday
Geography Bee finalists
FINALISTS IN the National Geographic Geography
Bee are Eric Frankson and David Tran of PISD Junior
High School. David edged out Eric and moves on to
the state-wide level of competition, The state winner
will go to Washington, D.C. for the national finals.
David Tran captures local
Geography Bee tourney
On Tuesday, January 10,
thirty-seven Palacios Junior
High students participated in the
first round of the National Geo-
graphic Geography Bee. From
the preliminary round, ten final-
ists were chosen. The second
round was held Thursday. This
round was considerably shorter
than Tuesday's bee, and pro-
duced two contestants-Eric
Frankson and David Tran.
These two young men sparred
for several minutes until David
answered correctly the question
Eric had missed plus one other.
All of the students who par-
ticipated did an excellent job.
The questions were not easy.
Because the information about
the bee was not received until
late November, the students did
not have a lot of study time.
As the winner of the local
bee, David will take a written test
before January 31. Tnat test will
be scored in the National Geo-
graphic office, and David will
receive the results in March. If
he does well on that test, he will
be one of 100 students compet-
ing in a state level bee. That
winner goes to Washington D.C.
for the national contest.
DeFore to perforin with
Texas All-State Choir
John DeFore, a member of the
Palacios High School Chorale,
will perform with the Texas All-
State Choir in San Antonio on
Saturday, February 11 as part of
the 1989 Texas Music Educators
Association Convention meeting
there. He was chosen for the
honor in competitive auditions
held this year across the state at
district, regional and area levels.
John sings at school under the
direction of Michael Pctrisky and
Cheryl Green, who are members
of the Texas Music Educators
Association, a 5,400-member
group with headquarters in
Austin. This is his second time
to perform as a member of a
TMEA All-State group.
John is the son of Mr. and
Mrs. John DeFore of Palacios,
JOHN DeFORE
The Palacios Secondary Julie Vu, Danielle Herrera,
Schools choral program will be Charla Hutto and Michelle Goin;
well represented Saturday, Jan. Alto I-My Thuy Hoang and
21 at the Region XIII All-Region Ebelyn Olivarez; Alto II-
Tnniur and Senior High Choirs.'_Stephanie Harris. Lisa Flores,^
Concert. The concert will be at and Jackie Acosta; Tenor PErRT
Keye Ingram Auditorium on the Kana, Kristi Kubecka, and
Bay City High School campus at Randy Losoya; Tenor II-Skyler
7:30 p.m. Schulz and John DeFore; Bass I-
Admission is $1 per person. Ron Chavez, Vu Hoan Tran, and
Recordings of the concert will be Tim Dahl; Bass Il-Carlos
available by placing an order that Acosta,
evening. The cost is $9 per The Palacios Secondary
recording. Schools choral program is under
The Junior High All-Region the direction of Michael Pctrisky
Choir will begin the concert. The and Mrs. Cheryl Green. In addi-
studer.ts representing Palacios tion, Mrs. Green has been named
Junior High arc: Soprano-Minh
Nguyen and Natalie Remlinger;
Alto Hanh Nguyen, Yvonne
Perez, and Tina Young; Tenor-
Reed Bowers, Todd Green,
Phillip Morales, Tuan Nguyen,
and Danny Ottino; and Bass-
Justin Bowers, Michael Harvey,
Clell McCauley and Vinh
Nguyen.
The Palacios High School
Chorale will have 22 students
representing their school. They
are: Soprano I-Molli Into and
Denise Smith; Soprano II-
Suzanne Hclsworth, An Tran,
as accompanist for the High
School All-Region Choir.
The junior high conductor;'
will be Dr. John Paul Johnson of'
Southwest Texas State Univer-'
Memorial will be directing thi v
high school group.
"We are very fortunate to-'-'
have such talented students rep-
resenting our schools this week- ''
end," commented Petrisky. "I.
also feel like Mrs. Green will re-',
ceive some well deserved recog-
nition for her piano talents by.
playing for this prestigious:
group of young people."
BREAKFAST
MONDAY; orange juice,
cinnamon toast, milk
TUESDAY: apple juice,
waffles w/syrup, milk
WEDNESDAY: orange
juice, cereal, milk
THURSDAY: apple juice,
honey buns, milk
FRIDAY: orange juice,
scrambled eggs, toast, milk
LUNCH
MONDAY: beef stew
w/potatocs, tomatoes & onions,
tossed green salad, fruit half,
combread, milk
TUESDAY: tacos, pinto
beans, lettuce & tomato salad,
fruit gelatin, milk
WEDNESDAY: cheese-
burger, french fries, lettuce,
tomatoes & onions, fruit half,
milk
THURSDAY: steak fingers,
whipped potatoes, green beans,
hot rolls, fruit cup, milk
FRIDAY: fishburger, broc-
coli w/chccse, com, apple pie,
milk
Shark Leaders
SELECTED as Leaders of the Sharks last week at East
Side Elementary were, front row left to right, Irene
Gonzales and Harley Marlow. On the second row, left
to right, are Alfredo Alvarez and Derek Houser. Not
pictured is Becky Nichols. Honor Teachers were Janice
Burns, Mary Carroll and Eddie Duke (not pictured).
(Beacon Photo by Nick West)
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West, Nicholas M. Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 3, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 18, 1989, newspaper, January 18, 1989; Palacios, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth730397/m1/8/: accessed July 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Palacios Library.