Katy Lifestyles and Homes magazine May 2009: Katy School News, Info and Sports News

Three Teams Qualify for State - The Morton Ranch High School FFA participated in the Area III FFA Career Development Events in College Station with more than 200 FFA chapters. The Mavericks had a very successful day, having been named the Meats Judging District and Area Champion for the second year in a row with Joseph Hay, 16th high individual; Austin LaMarr, fifth high individual; Brandon Robinson, third high individual; and Garrett Reed, second high individual.

Morton Ranch FFA received second-place honors in the Poultry Judging District Champion Area Runner –up with Joey Mesa; Jennifer Frie, 17th high individual; Laura Carpentier, third high individual; and Patti Gregoire, second high individual.

The Mavericks were also Livestock Judging District Champion Area runner-up second place with Dylan Robbins; Blake Hewett, 19th high individual; Michael Morrissey, 10th high individual; Bria Richard, ninth high individual; Horse Judging, sixth place District and 45th place in Area with Addie Garner, Taylor Contreras and Amy Hill.

The Poultry, Meats and Livestock teams advanced to the State CDE. The Maverick FFA currently holds the felt for six District VII championship banners and four runner-ups, along with an impressive three Area III Championships and three runner-ups.

Nick Spier Earns Eagle Scout Award - Nick Spier earned his Eagle Scout Award, the highest advancement in Boy Scouting. Nick has been involved in scouting for 12 years. He began as a Tiger Cub in the first grade. He joined his current troop 557 in 2002. Nick has been in many leadership roles including patrol leader, den chief and senior patrol leader. He is also a brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow.

Nick’s eagle project provided 100 care bags for the new recruits in the U.S. Army. He utilized the Scouts in his troop as well as a local Girl Scout troop to help collect items such as shampoo, tooth paste, tooth brushes, towels and bags.

Nick is a senior at Katy High School and is involved in the Katy Band as well as a the varsity track team. He plans to attend Sam Houston State and study to become a coach.

Kilpatrick Elementary SEEK Program - Space Exploration and Enrichment of Kilpatrick, is a program offered twice a year to fifth-grade students at Odessa Kilpatrick Elementary. Twenty-four students (12 boys and 12 girls) were chosen to train for eight weeks for a “Mission to Mars.”

At the end of eight weeks, students “blast off” for their mission that begins in the school gym at 2:30 p.m. and continues overnight until it ’s completion on Saturday morning.

The second mission began with a visit from Astronaut Kimbrough as the special guest.

Katy TKD Academy Knocks Out Competition in Championship - Students and instructors from 13 International TaeKwonDo Alliance academies from the east side of Texas gathered for three days of training seminars, skills clinics, high rank exams and the headline event, the Texas State ITA TaeKwonDo Championship Tournament.

At the spring tournament, The Katy TaeKwonDo and Jiu-Jitsu Academy was represented by approximately 100 participants including competitors, judges and high ranking officials. Eleven of those were selected to represent their school for a team sparring competition. Each of the fighters gave it their all as they sparred peers in 3-point matches to earn the gold medal. The Katy academy has been the winner of this recurring team event more times than any other academy in the Houston region.

Fighters on the Katy team were: green/blue belts – William Longridge, Junior 6-10 years; Brian Madina, Junior 11-14 years; Oliver Borboa, Adult Male; Melissa Furman, Adult Female; brown/red belts – Nathan Furman, Junior 6-10 years; Amanda Barnett, Junior 11-14 years; Travis Atchley, Adult Male; black belts – Bryce Kornblau, Junior 6-10 years; Shyam Popat, Junior 11-14 years; Michael Reade, Adult Male; and Emily Dudek, Adult Female.