Back-to-back State Championships! During two days of TAPPS State Academic competition, St. Michael’s swept past 29 other schools to win first place overall, capturing the 2016 TAPPS 4A Academic Championship. Students placed in 19 separate disciplines, and won a first place award in the TAPPS 4A Speech Championship, pushing St. Michael’s ahead of competitors to an overall win totaling 122.5 points, up from 81 points last year. The win represents the second year in a row that St. Michael’s has won this prestigious State Academic award. This year, more than five times as many St. Michael’s students won first place in individual categories as in the previous year.
Following St. Michael’s in the 2016 win were The Village School, Houston, 72 points; St. Dominic Savio Catholic High School, Austin, 61 points; All Saints Episcopal School, Tyler, 60 points; and Grace Community School, Tyler, 51.5 points.
In the Speech Championship, the St. Michael’s score was more than double the number of points earned by the second place winner, Cypress Christian School in Houston.
The St. Michael’s Academic team was comprised of the following students: Daniela Alvarez, Susi Arguello, Quentin Bentzin, Tom Cen, Alyssa Duan, Alan Kane, Won Kim, Camila Lashbrook, Phuong Dong Le, Cam Lutz, James Mahoney, Matthias Mahoney, Connor McKenzie, Austin Obermeyer, Antonio Resines, Conrad Rippy, Olivia Sigel, James Suffoletta, Thomas Suffoletta, Kevin Swanson, Sumi Thakur, Michael Welleck, Jo Jo Wu, and Sophie Manying Zhang.
Many congratulations to all of our TAPPS competitors for their individual wins, hard work, dedication, and fine job in representing St. Michael’s. And many congratulations to the following teachers for their tireless efforts in organizing the 2016 TAPPS competition: Ms. Kimberly Campbell and Ms. Kathleen Reeves, Academic; and Mr. Ivan Klousia, Speech.
St. Gabriel’s Catholic School and St. Michael’s Catholic Academy do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, age, gender, national or ethnic origin in : (i) the admission of students; (ii) the offerings of rights, privileges, programs, or activities generally made available to their students; or (iii) the administration of educational policies, financial grant programs, athletic programs, employment practices or policies, or other school-administered programs.