The West Austin Chamber of Commerce hosted the 2019 Austin Regional Spelling Bee with 50 Austin area spellers on March 14 in Four Points.
The 1st and 2nd place winners were the same as 2018 with Pranathi Jammula from Austin ISD’s Kealing MS coming in as the champion, and Pranav Nandakumar from Magellan International School as the runner-up. Eshan Bharadwaj from Cedar Park MS came in 3rd place.
There were four local students in the competition this year.
By KRISTEN HILL, Contributor , MEGAN MESSER, Vandegrift Voice
Before a standing-room-only audience of over 2,500 music educators, the Vandegrift wind ensemble performed their TMEA 6A Honor Band concert on Feb. 15 at the Lila Cockrell Theatre in San Antonio as part of the Texas Music Educators Association annual convention.
The highlight of the Honor Band program was “Symphony No. 4” by David Maslanka, a 27 minute piece that the students worked on for months in preparation. This preparation included a special clinic with University of Texas Professor and Conductor Jerry Junkin. This is a collegiate level work of music that is difficult for most high school bands to master.
L-R Vandegrift seniors Jonathan Kaaua, Zachary Weiss and Bo Yang Deng all received a perfect score of 36 on their ACT exam after taking it for the first time. MIGUEL BLANCO
By MIGUEL BLANCO, Vandegrift Voice
The pressure of a standardized test is palpable as silence overtakes a room of concentrated students rapidly analyzing questions and writing answers. Although high school students are accustomed to the anxiety and weariness surrounding standardized tests, there is arguably no way to fully prepare for a test as crucial to a student’s future as the SAT and ACT.
Last week Four Points News published a column from one of the founders of Viper Nation Education Foundation. The opinion piece was critical of Leander ISD’s Dan Troxell, superintendent, and the district’s goal to form one education foundation rather than have two or more. LISD responded with reasons behind its move to have a single education foundation.
Shack 512 co-owner Bazae Walker wipes down the restaurant’s tables last week. The eatery was engulfed by Lake Travis floodwaters in October. LESLEE BASSMAN
By LESLEE BASSMAN, Four Points News
Mid October floods brought Lake Travis up to the roofline of Shack 512, a waterfront eatery surrounded by a hillside at 8714 Lime Creek Road in Volente. The staff has been working hard and steadily to open the the casual American restaurant’s doors last weekend.
“We came out here and we would grab what we could and just go up a level (on the hillside),” co-owner Bazae Walker said. “The water kept rising. We didn’t anticipate that. We just kept trying to save what we could.”