Campus News Archives - 2008-2009

Austen Gilfillian and Cale Kennamer recently entered their woodshop projects in the Youth Project Show held in Anahuac. In the youth auction, Gilfillian won grand champion with his cedar chest, and Kennamer won reserve champion with his oak chest. Bret McDonald is their teacher.
 

The annual ECHS academic banquet was held on Tuesday, May 12, at the Winnie-Stowell Community Building. Students were recognized for outstanding achievement in UIL academic competition, drill team, band, perfect attendance, top 10 percent, and outstanding performance in individual subjects. In addition, the valedictorian and salutatorian for the 2009 graduating class were revealed. This year's valedictorian is Katy Stout and salutatorian is Shaena Oldham.

East Chambers High School hosted the "Shattered Dreams" program on Monday, May 4, 2009. The Fatal Choices/Shattered Dreams event is an incredibly powerful program used in schools throughout the country to educate high school students regarding drinking and driving. The goal of the program is to promote responsible decision-making by staging a deadly car accident and involving students in the aftermath of what happens. The students will experience first hand, the sensations of being involved in a tragic, alcohol-related collision. The staged crash scene occurred in front of the high school at 8:30 a.m., with law enforcement, EMS, and fire & rescue participating.

On Tuesday, the program events continued in the auditorium and students and audience members heard various speakers affected by drunk driving incidents either personally or through their jobs. A mock funeral was held with obituary programs handed out, and a video of the East Chambers "Shattered Dreams" accident was viewed.

Congratulations to the following students that competed at the Regional UIL Academic Meet in Tyler this past weekend. The results are:  Editorial Writing 1st Place– Kelli Neuman, 4th Place– Katy Stout; Newswriting 2nd Place– Kelli Neuman; Journalism Team won Sweepstakes Award. Sponsor: Bret McDonald; Science 4th Place – Taylor Reddell, 2nd Place Top Biology – Taylor Reddell, Sponsor: Beth Glenn; Computer Applications 6th Place – Ben Wilchek, Sponsor: Faye Gardner; Prose 4th Place – Dallas Gibson; Sponsor: Dennis DeMoss; Carson Campbell - OAP Best Actress, Tanner LeBlanc – OAP Honorable Mention All-Star Cast. Kelli Neuman will compete at the UIL State Academic Meet on May 7.

Congratulations to all of the students that represented East Chambers at the UIL Regional Meet.

The ECHS OAP traveled to Jasper on Saturday, April 11, 2009, to compete in the area round of the UIL One-Act Play competition. With their performance of Antigone, the play was chosen best play and will advance to regionals. Individual recognitions included: Tanner Leblanc - Best Actor; Carson Campbell - Best Actress; Kyle White - All-Star Cast; Taylor Redell and Kaci Bull - Honorable Mention All-Star Cast.

Regional competition will be held on Friday, April 24, 2009, in Tyler at Tyler Junior College. District results can be viewed at this link.
 

District 23-2A UIL Competition which was hosted at ECHS, concluded on Saturday, April 4, 2009. East Chambers High School won the overall competition with a total of 519 points, followed by Buna – 269; Anahuac – 177; Kountze – 141; Warren – 113; Hardin – 98; and Deweyville - 90.

Saturday's results are as follows:  Calculator Applications - 3rd Place – Trey Lambert, 4th Place – Shaena Oldham, 1st Place Team – Trey Lambert, Shaena Oldham, Katelyn Domingue, Ethan Brevard, Tyler Chambless, & Kirby Johnson; Current Issues and Events - 1st Place – Zachary Zbranek, 2nd Place – Joseph Melancon, 1st Place Team – Zachary Zbranek, Joseph Melancon, Jared Matlock, Gloria Ramirez & Allison Harrington; Computer Applications - 1st Place – Lesley Valastro, 3rd Place – Ben Wilchek, 4th Place – Laci Breaux; Computer Science - 6th Place – Ben Wilchek, 2nd Place Team – Kaylee Genest, Johnny Kwok, Cheyenne Majors & Ben Wilchek; Editorial Writing - 1st Place – Kelli Neuman, 2nd Place – Katy Stout, 3rd Place – Shelby Franzen; Feature Writing - 1st Place – Kelli Neuman, 3rd Place – Lesley Valastro; Headline Writing - 2nd Place – Kelli Neuman; Newswriting - 1st Place – Kelli Neuman, 1st Place Team in Journalism – Kelli Neuman, Lesley Valastro, Shelby Franzen, Katy Stout, Chelsea Vayon & Lindsey McDonald; Literary Criticism - 4th Place – Sadie Long, 5th Place – Brandi Stevens; 2nd Place Team – Sadie Long, Brandi Stevens & Katy Stout; Mathematics - 2nd Place – Zachary Clark, 5th Place – Austen Gilfillian, 2nd Place Team – Zachary Clark, Austen Gilfillian, Paige Miller, Ethan Brevard & Taylor Reddell; Number Sense - 3rd Place – Austen Gilfillian, 5th Place – Spencer Glenn, 2nd Place Team – Austen Gilfillian, Spencer Glenn, Shantrey Glenn & Ethan Brevard; Ready Writing - 2nd Place – Joseph Melancon; Science - 1st Place – Taylor Reddell, 2nd Place – David Hasson, 6th Place – Shantrey Glenn, Top Biology – Taylor Reddell, Top Chemistry – David Hasson, Top Physics – David Hasson, 1st Place Team – Shantrey Glenn, Taylor Reddell, David Hasson, Chace Olivier, Cullen Sonnier, Jace Silcox, & Gloria Ramirez; Social Studies - 4th Place – Joseph Melancon, 5th Place – Zachary Zbranek, 1st Place Team – Joseph Melancon, Zachary Zbranek, Xavier Broussard & Gloria Ramirez; Spelling & Vocabulary - 6th Place – Abby Walker.

Thursday's results are as follows:  Prose: 1st Place – Carson Campbell, 2nd Place – Dallas Gibson, 4th Place – Mallory Franzen; Poetry: 1st Place – Paige Miller, 4th Place – Tanner LeBlanc, 6th Place – Heather Harrison; Informative Speaking:  2nd Place – Allison Harrington, 6th Place – Colby Touchet; Persuasive Speaking: 1st Place - Zachary Zbranek, 5th Place – MaKenzie Hunt, 6th Place – Jared Matlock; LD Debate: 3rd Place – Zachary Clark, 4th Place – Jared Matlock.

Earlier competitions included CX-Debate and One-Act Play in which EC won 1st place in both.

The District 23-2A UIL One-Act Play competition was held on Thursday, March 26, 2009, at the East Chambers High School auditorium. After a full day's competition of 7 plays, ECHS was chosen best play with their performance of Antigone and will advance to area competition at Jasper High School on April 11. Best Actor and Actress were Tanner LeBlanc and Carson Campbell; All-Star Cast - Kaci Bull; Honorable Mention All-Star Cast - Kyle White; and Best Crew - Micah Frugia. 

Other cast members included: Taylor Reddell, Shaena Oldham, Cole Hoffpauir, Chase Olivier, Zach Clark, Sadie Long, David Hasson, and Jared Matlock. Crew Members were Heather Harrison, Jordan Daniels, Micah Frugia, and Marisol Hernandez.  Alternates included Alexis Aulds, Colby Touchet, Paige Miller, and Emily McKnight. Director is Dennis DeMoss.
 

EC also had 2 additional teams competing, and these novice teams were both within points of making the finals. The two teams consisted of Kyle White and Spencer Glenn; and Jared Lacombe and Tanner Mazzola. They placed 5th and 6th respectively. Coaching debate is Ms. Lynda Warren.

The Student Council traveled to the Beaumont Civic Center for the District 17 Spring Convention on Thursday, February 26, 2009. The members attended break-out sessions, voted on next year’s District 17 officer schools and were inspired by keynote speaker, Ken Johnson. Several EC StuCo members will attend the State Convention in March and receive awards in Community Service, Pride and Patriotism and DASH. The members pictured are Desire Boyd, Kara Rutherford, Kirby Johnson, Carson Campbell, Chelsea Vayon, Jordan Spencer, Kelli Neuman, Xavier Broussard, Dallas Gibson, Zachary Zbranek, Shantrey Glenn, Taylor Reddell, Jay Kuman, Sadie Long, Mallory Franzen, Shelby Franzen, Logan Silcox, Shaena Oldham, Cole Hoffpauir, Courtney Clark, Tanner LeBlanc, Thalia Comacho, Tanner Mazzola. Sponsors are Joy McDaniel and Beverly McDonald.
 

ECHS students traveled to Little-Cypress Mauriceville High School to participate in an invitational UIL meet on February 7, 2009. The results are: Poetry Interpretation - 4th – Paige Miller, 6th – Heather Harrison; Prose - 1st – Carson Campbell, 5th – Mallory Franzen; Computer Applications - 5th – Lesley Valastro, 6th – Ben Wilchek; Newswriting - 5th – Lesley Valastro; Persuasive Speaking - 1st – Zachary Zbranek; Informative Speaking - 1st – Alllison Harrington, 4th – Colby Touchet; LD Debate - 3rd - Zachary Clark.

ECHS students traveled to Hamshire-Fannett High School to participate in an invitational UIL meet on January 9-10. The results are:  Editorial Writing - 5th – Shelby Franzen; Computer Applications - 5th – Laci Breaux; Newswriting - 1st – Kelli Neuman, 4th – Lindsey McDonald;  Feature Writing - 3rd – Kelli Neuman; Headline Writing - 3rd – Kelli Neuman; Prose Interpretation - 2nd – Carson Campbell; Current Issues and Events - 2nd – Zachary Zbranek, 6th – Joseph Melancon, 2nd Place Team – Joseph Melancon, Zachary Zbranek, Jared Matlock, and Allison Harrington; Extemporaneous Speaking - 5th – Allison Harrington.

The 2009 EC Project Graduation wants to mark Buccaneer territory by painting gold ECs all over the community. For just $20, show EC athletes that you and the community support them and let their opposing teams know that they are in Buccaneer territory! Contact Brenda East or Marlo Hunt for order forms and to make payment.

The 2007-2008 yearbooks have arrived.  If you bought a book during the pre-sale, it can be picked up in Room 302 of the Media Center (high school students) or in the campus office where you will be enrolled this year. If you would like to purchase a yearbook, extra copies are available in the Media Center and at each campus office for $50.  A limited number of books are available, so don’t delay – get your copy soon.

East Chambers High School participated in Red Ribbon Week activities this week. On Monday, Student Council members tied red ribbons on the cars in the parking lot. On Tuesday, the slogan was “Shade Out Drugs” and students were allowed to wear their sunglasses to school.  To show EC’s support against drugs, students and faculty “Dressed Red” on Wednesday.  Student Council members will pass out red ribbons to all high school students on Thursday, and Friday is “Scare Away Drugs” with a Halloween costume contest which goes in conjunction with the theme of the Pep Rally on Friday – “Scare Away the Lions!”