Students, school district recognized at final Board meeting of the year

At 7:30 p.m. on Monday evening, the Vonita White Administration Building was packed with students and parents, flooding out into the hallway. The last regular Board of Trustees meeting of the 2015-2016 school year would be one of celebrations and recognitions.

To begin, recently re-elected board member Anthony Hill addressed the crowd. Hill would lead in the nights’ lengthy awards portion, a reflection of a successful year for both schools and students.

The top 10 ranked students from Coppell High School were recognized: No.10: Zach Begland, No. 9: Shawn Huang, No. 8: Pratyusha Manthena, No. 7: Mayuri Raja, No. 6: Taddie Cook, No. 5: Sajani Raja, No. 4: Giselle Peng, No. 3: Ananya Rajesh, No. 2: Vinay Kalvacherla, No. 1: Pooja Marella.

The top 10 from New Tech High@Coppell followed: No. 10: Catherine Jackson, No. 9: Jaime Arthur, No. 8: Megan Ratton, No. 7: Kim Tran, No. 6: Sameen Jiwani, No. 5: Andrea Villarreal, No. 4: Jarrett Hubbard, No. 3: Skylar Gion, No. 2: Maddie Campbell, No. 1: Samantha Finglass.

Next to be recognized were the four competitors in the State Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) competition. Among those recognized were state medalist and CHS senior Taylor Stiff, state medalist CHS junior Eunice Cho, double-medalist and CHS junior Kristen Boyer and state medalist CHS junior Anjana Rajamani.

This year, DECA had eight state winners move on to the international competition, the most ever for Coppell. The competitors who traveled to Nashville, Tenn. included NTH@C senior Madison Traver for Hospitality and Tourism, NTH@C juniors Jacob Gonzales, Kara Peterson and Taylor Clark for a Public Relations Project, NTH@C sophomores Rebekah Penton and Derek Green for an Innovation Plan, and CHS seniors Sriram palepu and Sakina Daresalamwala for Business Marketing.

The next portion of awards would be geared towards sports, beginning with state track winners. CHS senior Zachary Holmes finished sixth place in pole vault and Colin Echols won gold in discus.

To continue, qualifiers for Academic All-State, which requires athletes have at least a ninety average throughout their athletic career, were recognized.

The recipients for boys track Academic All-State: CHS seniors Luke Conlon, Len Conkleton, Josh Fink, Allan Slette, Taylor Wilhelm and Killian Carlsen-Phelan.

The recipients for girls track Academic All-State: CHS seniors Jordan Brown, Sasi Bowatsi, Kennedy Birch, Camila Cabrera, Emma Jett, Brenna Kidwell, Alexa Nerren, Chinma Omoga, Natalia Ramirez, Lilly Saunders, Kaeli Stayer and Laura Taylor.

The recipients for girls tennis Academic All-State: CHS seniors Seshu Brahma, Vinay Kalvacherla, Serubi Raul and Sakina Daresalamwala.

To end the awards portion of the Board meeting, Coppell ISD schools Cottonwood Creek Elementary, Denton Creek Elementary, Pinkerton Elementary were recognized as National Schools of character and CISD was recognized as a National District of Character.