Student Achievements: Plenty to Celebrate
Here we catch up on recognizing some great moments from the fall.
1. Band highlights
The Highlander Band completed another award-winning marching season with a fifth-place finish at the UIL State Marching Band Championship Contest in San Antonio. The state trip came after earning top scores at the 5A Regional and area UIL competitions.
Other highlights included claiming Grand Champion honors at the McKinney Marching Invitational, where the Highlander Band competed with 17 other bands. Highland Park also finished second overall and tops among 5A schools in the Mansfield Preview of Champions.
The drumline ranked third-highest overall and won its class as Front Ensemble, Tenors, and Snares at the HEB Drumline Contest and then won first place in the Standstill 1 Red Division at the Lone Star Classic Drumline Competition. It also claimed Best Front Ensemble and Best Snare Line honors while sophomore Rowan Ryan won third place for his solo snare performance of a self-composed piece.
2. More scholars
We recognized Highland Park High School’s National Merit Semifinalists in November. Here we look at other students who distinguished themselves with their performance on the PSAT/NMSQT. Those include 14 named National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars, two National African American Recognition Program Scholars, and one National Indigenous Recognition Program Scholar.
Rescue robot. FROM LEFT: David Pike, Row Dyer, Matt Gates, Capt. Pranjal Rai, Capt. August Ryan, Alison Zou, and Sally Dai. 
Scots singers. BACK ROW, FROM LEFT: Juliet Allan, Olivia Carroll, and Callie Seabolt. FRONT ROW: Dylan Woodward and August Ryan. 
More scholars. FIRST ROW, FROM LEFT: Olivia Fox, Audrey Kelley, Daniel Carrillo, and Lucas Rocha Jaje. SECOND ROW: Alexandra Jack, Claire Binns, Matthew Taylor, and Ana Gonzalez. THIRD ROW: Rosemary Rimmer, Jeneta Nwosu, and Rebeca de la Garza Evia Linan. NOT PICTURED: Isabella Acosta, Campbell Borchers, Andres Gonzalez, Hannah Jud, Isabella Rosas, and Alexander Taylor.
3. Scots singers
Five Highland Park choir students advanced to the 2022 Texas Music Educators Association All-State Choir competition.
4. Rescue robot
Robot competitions are rough. The HPHS drone suffered post-collision damage during each run at the Bell Vertical Robotics Competition (VRC) Earthquake Search & Rescue Competition at the University of Texas at Arlington. But the Scotsbots made quick repairs each time to regain flight worthiness in time for the next run. They finished seventh overall out of 20 teams and fourth their team presentation on drone engineering.
