Student Achievements: Five to Thrive

1. Preston Hollow Pageantry 

J-Belle Kimbrell, Miss Texas’ Outstanding Teen and Miss Southlake’s Outstanding Teen, was named second runner-up to Miss America’s Outstanding Teen 2023. The national competition was held Aug. 10-12 at the Hyatt Regency Dallas. Kimbrell, a Preston Hollow resident and Booker T. Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts senior, competed with her “Street Smarts: Steer Clear of Distractions” social impact project to educate people on the dangers of distracted driving and how to avoid it.

2. St. Mark’s Scholar

Lone Star Ag Credit awarded six 2022 scholarships, including one to Spencer Burke, a recent St. Mark’s School of Texas alumnus. He is majoring in engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. The scholarship is worth $2,500, and the rural lending cooperative awarded $500 to each recipient’s home 4-H club or FFA chapter. To qualify, Burke submitted an essay about what agriculture and natural resources meant to him and the role they would play in the future. Lone Star Ag Credit says winners shared stories of their leadership in agriculture, innovation, and community service. 

3. Golfing Champ

Sonia Hao, an Ursuline junior, won her first American Junior Golf Association at the Stewart Jr. Championship in early August. She’s played golf for nine years and fell in love with the sport after growing up watching her dad playing, eventually trying it out for herself. She won the tournament by one stroke, competing in the tour of many players from around the world. 

4. Queen Bee

Hockaday senior Ayla Summers was named a Honeybee Princess of Collin County. In this role, she gives presentations about bees (often joined by a live beehive) to schools, chamber meetings, and other groups. When she applied for the program two years ago, she didn’t know much about bees, but now she’s an active beekeeper who maintains two hives in her backyard. She worked through the Institute for Social Impact to partner with Joppy Momma’s Farms in South Dallas to install hives to add another food and revenue source for the food desert community. 

5. Quiz Bowlers Take Third

Greenhill’s quiz bowl team tied for third place at the Texas Quiz Bowl Alliance Jamboree on Sept. 17. In the semifinals round, the team fell short to Heights A in a close loss but kept a 6-3 record against the competitive field. The team members were freshmen Maya Jagsi, Aaron Kuang, and Kate Ponnambalam, led by junior and captain Nikky Nandipati.