Archive for the 'Academic Update' Category

Three Teams, Three Trophies for Certamen

Published
by
lmote
on November 6, 2009
in Academic Update and Uncategorized
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HCCSA brought three teams to compete in the Cougar-tamen Certamen Tournament hosted by Hill Country Middle School of Eanes School District.  We competed in Middle School, Intermediate and Advanced and took home three trophies for our efforts.

In each division, our team advanced to the final round.  Schools represented at the tournament included St. Andrew’s Upper School, Westlake, St. Michael’s Academy, Hill Country Middle School, Paragon Prep, Kealing, Crockett, McCallum and Westwood.

One of our middle school teams, made up of Adam K. , Matthew R., Nathan B., Elizabeth S., Zac R. and Seth J., advanced to the final round and placed third.  This was their first Certamen of the year, and for many of them the first Certamen ever!  It was a strong showing and we’re proud of their achievement.

Our second middle school team, made up of 6th graders Holden B., Collin R., Jonathan I., Noah P., Grant B. and Ricky T, have been practicing with our team manager and assistant coach HCCSA junior Josh A. to prepare for their first Certamen tournament.  We are proud of their first efforts and look for many years of Certamen fun for them in the future.

Our advanced team, consisting of Aidan A., Jesse J., Kyndal P. and our adopted teammate Laura M. advanced to their final round convincingly.  They placed third against the St. Andrew’s team which represented Texas at Nationals in July, and Westlake whose players advanced to State in 2009.  It was a great start to the year and the team is looking forward to an exciting rematch against our rivals in December at the Crusader Classic.

Our intermediate team, consisting of Jonathan M., Shane J., Sara J., Thomas E., Steven B. and Chloe P. advanced to the final round and took first place against perennial Texas and National powerhouses St. Andrew’s and Westlake.  They are looking forward to friendly, but intense, competition against the excellent teams in the San Antonio area at November’s Clark Certamen Tournament.

Our region of the Texas State Junior Classical League is not only one of the strongest in the state, but also one of the top regions in the nation for secondary Latin education.  For HCCSA students to have the opportunity to compete in scrimmages against these excellent programs is a great privilege and it highlights the significance of their hard work and achievements.

Certamen is the Latin word for “struggle” and anyone who has observed a tournament knows that this name is appropriate.  Students compete in a Jeopardy-style quiz bowl on topics related to Latin and Classical history and mythology.  There are three rounds of twenty toss-up questions.  Teams can have up to four players.  HCCSA students practice regularly as part of our Certamen elective, during study halls and sometimes after school.  It is a big commitment for them and for their parents. 

If you’re curious about seeing an academic struggle in action, join us at one of our upcoming tournaments to cheer on the home team and witness some amazing brainwork.  Our schedule is:

Saturday, November 7     Clark Certamen, San Antonio                         10:30am - 3:30pm
Saturday, December 5     Crusader Classic, St. Michael’s Austin             8:00am - 12:00pm
Saturday, January 30       Westwood Certamen, co-hosted by HCCSA     8:00am - 12:00pm
Friday/Saturday, February 20-21    
Area Tournament (determines State participation), St. Andrew’s Upper School.

Pax Christi vobiscum,
Erin Davis-Valdez
Chair, Department of Foreign Languages

Hill Country Academics Provide Impressive Showings

Published
by
lmote
on August 9, 2009
in Academic Update, Headmaster's Blog, News and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

I am  pleased to share some good news about the state of our academic program at HCCSA. This summer, I have taken advantage of the opportunity to look at how our students are doing compared to students in other schools across the country. As you know, we administer the Stanford Achievement Test to all students in grades 1-8. This norm-referenced test allows us to compare the academic skills of our students with students in both public and private schools throughout the nation. I also reviewed the PSAT and SAT scores of our high school students. Below are the results of my analysis.

 On the Stanford Achievement Test our students, after averaging each grade level, scored in the top 14% on the National Percentile Rankings (NPR). Three years ago, our students were scoring in the top 18%. If we narrow the comparison to students in Christian schools, a more selective group or norm, our students average in the top 28%. Three years ago, HCCSA students were in the top 34% on ACSI NPR.

 You will be interested to know that the two sub-tests in which our students scored highest were thinking skills and math problem-solving. I believe this is an endorsement of our classical philosophy which emphasizes critical thinking and problem-solving. In 7th and 8th grades, our students were achieving at the grade equivalency of Post-High School in these two areas.

 What is most interesting to me is that I looked at individual grade performances over a three year period and I observed that the average increase in the NPR was 3%. In other words, as our students advance in grade level, their relative performance improves.

 I am also pleased with the academic performance of our high school students. Looking at the last three years of 11th graders taking the PSAT, HCCSA students improved their Selection Index from an average of 162 to 173. The Class of 2009 had a mid 50% range of 1140-1350 on the two-part (verbal and quantitative) SAT compared to a range of 1030-1300 two years ago.

 Perhaps the most impressive statistic about our high school, however, was the amount of academic scholarships awarded to our senior class as they matriculate into college next year. 12 of the 18 graduates (2/3 of our senior class) were offered a cumulative total of $811,350 in merit-based (non-financial aid) scholarships. This is an average of over $67,000 per student. The cumulative amount of academic scholarships accepted by these 12 students amounted to $445,650, or an average of $37,138. The value of scholarships accepted by our students ranged from $1500 to $110,000. These scholarships were offered by highly selective colleges and universities such as Trinity University, Austin College, Baylor, TCU, UT-Dallas, Texas A&M, and University of Mary-Hardin Baylor. Furthermore, two of our graduates recently tested out of 16 and 10 (respectively) credit hours for Spanish placement in college. Clearly, the investment these families made in HCCSA has paid great dividends!

 Thank you for taking time to read this lengthy update. I hope you are as proud of our school and its academic excellence as I am!

Soli Deo Gloria,

Bill McGee
Head Master

 

Impressive Scholarship Dollars Received by Senior Class of 2009

Published
by
lmote
on June 10, 2009
in Academic Update, News, Press Release and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Congratulations to our HCCSA Seniors who reflect their academic excellence by garnishing over $800,000  in scholarship dollars for their college education.  The exact scholarship number as determined by the Office of Student Services is $811,350.  An impressive amount for a senior class of 18 students.

HCCSA students continue to place extremely well among other private and public schools in a number of areas.  The area of scholarship dollars awarded is just one of several areas where HCCSA students excel. 

Congratulations Seniors!

 

 

Congratulations 6th grade Science Fair Winners!

Published
by
lmote
on May 3, 2009
in Academic Update and News
. 0 Comments

1st- Hannah Parsons

2nd-Rachel Pokorney

3rd-Jake Pokorney

4th-Zach Day

5th-Will Wilson

6th- Ashley Luker

7th- Madison Benkovic

 

5th grade Science Fair Winners-

1st-Madelyn Morneault

2nd- Noah Policke

3rd-AJ Ybarra

4th-Marian Herring

5th-Hannah Brooks

6th-Elissa Myers

Tie-7th-Cade Cottrell

Tie-7th- Grace Tinsley

 

Certamen Latin Teams Results; Advance to State March 26 & 27

Published
by
lmote
on February 25, 2009
in Academic Update, News, Press Release and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Dear HCCSA Family,

 

The Latin Department is thrilled and grateful to share with you the accomplishments of our Latin Club members this weekend at the Texas State Junior Classical Association Central Texas Regional Convention.  This year, it was held just down the road at Westwood High School.   Over 600 students, representing twenty-one Central Texas public and private schools, were in attendance.  In total, twenty-eight HCCSA students participated by taking classical knowledge tests, creating classically themed costumes and artwork, and competing in athletics and certamen. 

 

The competition began Friday night with the Certamen (Latin Quiz Bowl) preliminary rounds.  The top three teams in each division advance to the final round on Saturday afternoon.  Our Middle School team, consisting of Jonathan Mitchell, Thomas Ebner, Christian Johnson, and Shane Jasek, decisively won the preliminaries and moved on the final round, which they won against Hill Country Middle School and Kealing Middle School.  This team will now advance to represent the Central Texas Region at the State Convention on Friday, March 27 – Saturday, March 28  at S.M.U. in Dallas. 

 

Our Lower team (High School), consisting of Aidan Aannestad, Kyndal Payne, Jesse Jasek and Mitchel Janssen also convincingly won the preliminary rounds on Friday.  Saturday afternoon’s Lower Division battle was very hard fought against Westlake and St. Andrew’s.  In the end, Westlake contested the last question which sent the round into a sudden death match.  Because no team gave the correct answer, the score before the question stood and this allowed Westlake to advance to represent Central Texas at State without having to including any members of the second place team, HCCSA.  Our players are even more motivated to win for next year now!

 

Saturday morning began with the Academic Testing.  There are fifteen tests, covering all areas of classical knowledge.  Each of the Latin Club members could take two each.  The top three scores from each test are added up for each school’s Latin Club chapter.  Our Middle School Chapter (7th – 8th grades) took third place in the Middle School Division.  This is a huge victory for them, as there were eight other middle schools from all over the Central Texas region represented in this division.  The High School chapter (9th – 10th) competed against four other chapters in the Lower Division and won first place in the Academic Sweepstakes by a large margin. 

 

In the Pentathlon general classical knowledge test (which did not count towards the Sweepstakes prize) all of our twenty-eight students scored above the 75th percentile, with 42% in the top 25th percentile.  Aidan Aannestad won the High Score Award for all divisions.

 

Five students competed in the Olympika, or athletic events, earning the Middle School Athletic Sweepstakes prize as well.  What well-rounded students we have!

 

Joshua Andrews and Rachel Shanks created costumes for this year’s them  - Pluto (Boys’), and Ceres (Girls’).  Joshua won first place and Rachel fourth place in their categories.  We will have pictures up on the web page soon – stay tuned!

 

Individually our students distinguished themselves in remarkable ways.  In all, HCCSA had four High Score Awards, which recognize students for receiving the highest score on a test out of all the divisions.  In the Decathlon test, which encompasses ten different areas of classical knowledge, from Latin grammar to mythology and history, two of our students took away the top prize.  Aidan Aannestad received the High Score Award for all divisions save senior, and Thomas Ebner took second place in the Middle School Decathlon.  Justin Andrews won the High Score award in the Latin Poetry Reading Comprehension, and Jesse Jasek earned the High Score Award  in Mythology for missing only one out of fifty-five questions.

 

Here is a summary of the individual awards earned by HCCSA students: 

 

 

Middle School

            Steven Baker - Pentathlon, Magna Cum Laude; Certamen Team Alternate

            Stephen Banks - Pentathlon, Summa Cum Laude; 3rd Place, Decathlon; 2nd Place Latin Derivatives

            Dacien Barnes – Pentathlon, Maxima Cum Laude; 2nd Place, Greek Derivatives

            Courntney Boorman – Pentathlon, Maxima Cum Laude; 3rd Place, Roman Life

            Nathan Brown – Pentathlon, Summa Cum Laude

            Olivia Dahl - Pentathlon, Magna Cum Laude

            Thomas Ebner – Pentathlon, Summa Cum Laude; 3rd Place, Latin Grammar; 2nd Place, Middle School Decathlon;                   Middle School Certamen Team Language Specialist

            David Hannah – Pentathlon, Maxima Cum Laude; 2nd Place, Greek History

            Jack Horton – Pentathlon, Magna Cum Laude; Middle School Certamen Team Alternate

            Sara Jackson - Pentathlon, Magna Cum Laude; 3rd Place, Decathlon; Middle School Certamen Team Alternate

            Shane Jasek - Pentathlon, Summa Cum Laude; 1st Place, Mythology; Middle School Certamen Team Mythology                   Specialist

            Christian Johnson - Pentathlon, Summa Cum Laude; 3rd Place Roman History; 2nd Place, Geography; Middle                                     School Certamen Team History Specialist

            Laura Mahaney - Pentathlon, Maxima Cum Laude; 2nd  Place Olympika (Athletics) Sweepstakes

            Alivia Martin  - Pentathlon, Maxima Cum Laude; 2nd  Place, Greek Life; 2nd  Place Olympica (Athletics)                           Sweepstakes

            Lindy Martin - Pentathlon, Maxima Cum Laude; 2nd Place Olympika (Athletics) Sweepstakes

            Jonathan Mitchell - Pentathlon, Summa Cum Laude; 1st Place, Grammar; Middle School Certamen Team Captain

            Chloe Policke - Pentathlon, Magna Cum Laude; 2nd Place Olympika (Athletics) Sweepstakes       

            Matthew Roberson - Pentathlon, Magna Cum Laude; 3rd Place, Latin Derivatives

 

High School

            Aidan Aannestad - Summa Cum Laude – Area F High Score Award;  1st Place Grammar; 1st Place Decathlon –                      Area F High Score Award; Lower Division Certamen Team Captain

            Josh Andrews - Pentathlon, Maxima Cum Laude; 1st Place Costume – Pluto

            Justin Andrews - Pentathlon, Summa Cum Laude;1st Place Poetry Reading Comprehension – Area F High Score;

                        3rd Place Advanced Grammar

            Victory Day -  Pentathlon, Magna Cum Laude

            Caroline Janssen -  Pentathlon, Summa Cum Laude; 2nd Place Poetry Reading Comprehension

            Mitchel Janssen - Pentathlon, Summa Cum Laude; 3rd Place Roman History; Lower Division Certamen Team                         History Specialist

            Jesse Jasek - Pentathlon, Summa Cum Laude; 1st Place Mythology – Area F High Score Award;

                        2nd Place Greek History; Lower Division Certamen Team Mythology Specialist

            Kyndal Payne - Pentathlon, Summa Cum Laude; 1st Place, Roman Life; Lower Division Certamen Team Life and                  History Specialist

            Rachel Shanks -  Pentathlon, Magna Cum Laude

            Morgan Winslow - Pentathlon, Magna Cum Laude

 

 

          In all, it was an exciting and God-glorifying weekend for our students.  We are looking forward to taking all twenty-eight students to the State Convention in Dallas on March 26-27 for more tests, certamen, athletics, and fun!  Please support the trip by purchasing our now-infamous “Mr. T-shirts.”  For more information, contact Erin Valdez, TSJCL Latin Club adviser and sponsor, evaldez@hccsa.org. 

 

HCCSA Launches Mock Trial Team

Published
by
lmote
on November 12, 2008
in Academic Update, News and Press Release
. 0 Comments

Hill Country Christian School of Austin is pleased to announce that it’s 9th through 12th grade students now have the opportunity to participate in the new Mock Trial Team.  This academic competition provides an extracurricular activity that provides insight to our students on the judicial and legal process of our country. Further, competing in such a forum gives invaluable experience to the students in their skills of critical thinking and listening, quick analysis, oral advocacy, role playing, improved communication skills, data analysis as well as the opportunity to meet and work with members of the legal profession.

The team will be co-coached by a strategy coach and an attorney-advisor.  We are excited to have two experienced coaches leading our Knights.  Mr. Jeremy Valdez is a litigator in the State Administrative Courts here in Texas and also happens to be married to our Certamen Coach and Latin Teacher, Mrs. Erin Valez.  Mr. Valdez’ legal experience will enrich our team as they rehearse their parts. He will provide “trial technique and training” to our students. The strategy coach is Mrs. Lia Mote, Director of Communication here at the school.  Mrs. Mote comes with significant experience as a former college debater and coach.   She holds a B.A. degree in Public Speaking and a M.A degree in Dramatic Production. 

Please attend the information meeting to be held, Wednesday, November 12th on the fourth floor at 11:45 am.

HCCSA strives to bring competition and excellence in every aspect of our school’s extracurricular activities.  This year we’ve seen this reflected in our school being acknowledged by the public in both athletics and academics.  For more information about this exciting new opportunity for our students, please contact Lia Mote at lmote@hccsa.org.