Cooper Dossey, incoming college sophomore, says his golf experience at Vandegrift helped prepare him to play on the Baylor University team.

Wins golf titles in first year

By CARSON FIELD
Four Points News

The Vandegrift boys’ golf program currently has four former players playing at the collegiate level, and one of them helped lead his team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association match-play quarterfinals.

“The best highlights from my freshman year were reaching the No. 1 ranking as a team, making match-play at the NCAA’s, and winning my first collegiate tournament,” said Cooper Dossey, Baylor University incoming sophomore on the golf team.

Dossey was a four-year varsity golfer for Vandegrift in his high school career and was a part of the team’s three state championships in a row. He owns six program records, including low individual total and career wins.

While he started golfing years before high school, Dossey said his time at Vandegrift helped him rise to the level he is at today.

“My four years at Vandegrift helped me in a lot of ways, but the two most important were playing for Coach Wernecke and competing with each guy on the team,” Dossey said. “Coach Wernecke is one of the best high school coaches in the country, and he believed in me since day one. My teammates pushed me everyday, and that helped me be more competitive.”

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By KIM ESTES
Four Points News

More than one-third of the Vandegrift High School Class of 2017 reported receiving scholarship offers, which when totaled top $19 million in academic, athletic, fine arts, military academy and community awards. Specifically, 192 of 538 graduates, or some 36 percent, received awards, said Amy Rodriguez, lead counselor at VHS.

However, Leander ISD officials said the data could be incomplete.

“In the past, scholarship reporting has been an inaccurate process since students have to self-report. Some are really good about telling their counselors how much they’ve earned in scholarships, others aren’t,” said Jennifer Bailey, senior communications specialist with LISD.

Also of note, offers do not represent what has been accepted. For instance, in early June at VHS, 148 students accepted $7.31 million of the total awards.

“We’re always going to have greater offers than acceptance because students apply to multiple schools but enroll in one,” noted Steve Clark, LISD director of counseling.

As to total reported overtures, district-wide this year’s graduates received $55.1 million in scholarship offers. That is $7 million more than last year when LISD graduates reported $48 million in offers, said Clark.

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By LYNETTE HAALAND
Four Points News

The Travis County Commissioners approved $2.7 million in funding for a Steiner Ranch emergency evacuation route in early March and now the project is out to bid. Public input will likely be sought in February and construction could begin in spring of 2019, said David Greear, Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources engineering division manager.

“We are in the process of asking for qualified contractors to work on this project,” Greear said.

All of the necessary paperwork is done to start advertising for qualified firms to do the work.

Katharine Hardin is the project manager with Travis County TNR.

“The packet to advertise this project for professional services was submitted to our purchasing office,” Hardin said.

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The Steiner Ranch gang with Everest behind them. From left, Payal Chawla, Jayant Vohra, Rohit Chawla and Nainish and Aanika Dalal.

Trek to Mount Kala Patthar,
elevation 18,515 feet

By SARAH DOOLITTLE
Four Points News

Steiner Ranch residents Payal Chawla and her son Rohit experienced the adventure of a lifetime when they visited Everest Base Camp in April.

The stay-at-home mom and eighth grader hadn’t ever even thought about traveling to Nepal to climb to elevations over three miles high.

“Friends of ours were going, and happened to mention, hey, we have a group going. I didn’t think much of it.” But as she discussed the idea with Rohit, the idea began to gain traction, even though it would require three weeks of travel, missed school and leaving her husband and 5th grader behind. Still, Payal thought, “Now is a good time,” before Rohit started high school and college.

Rohit and Payal’s only outdoor experience prior to Everest was camping with their family. So why the leap from car camping to trekking in the world’s tallest mountains? “I just thought of it as an experience that not many people get to have,” Rohit explained.

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