Waco—Holy Cross Catholic Academy students competed April 9-13 in the TAPPS (Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools) Class A Academic Meet at Midway High School. The HCCA Varsity Choir, under the direction of Donald Zidlicky, earned second place overall in Choral Music. The choir received a “1” in Concert Performance, with four choir members, all juniors, earning “1’s” for their solo pieces. They are Audee Seidenberger, Andrew Sillivent, Sadie Vincent and Kaci Willburn. Other members of the choir are: • Freshmen Kameron Boyd, Kouc Malek and Madison Valdez; • Sophomores Maggie Houlihan and Abi Santos; and, • Juniors Lily Huerta and Ribbon Saisasong
Holy Cross students took part in the TAPPS Art Competition. Sophomore Phillip DeJesse finished fourth in On-site Drawing and took sixth in Seek and Sketch. Junior Madison Heath captured seventh place in Computer Generated Art and fellow Junior Anna Monroe was seventh in Painting.
Holy Cross was the runner-up in the Class A Academic Meet, finishing with 146 points, only six fewer than the champion, Cambridge School of Dallas. HCCA tallied 40 points in the Academic portion, finishing fourth. Nineteen schools participated in the meet. In Number Sense, junior Ribbon Saisasong was fourth, with fellow junior Sadie Vincent finishing fifth. Sophomore Maggie Houlihan was sixth in spelling, with fellow sophomore Rachel Lane taking seventh. In Literacy Criticism, freshman Elizabeth Lewis was sixth and sophomore Maggie Houlihan finished eighth. Senior Anthony Hernandez was fourth in Current Events. Junior Anna Monroe captured second in Ready Writing. The Holy Cross yearbook, The Mustang, Volume 94, was awarded third place in its category.
The Holy Cross Speech Team finished with 106 points and took overall top honors in Class A. The school captured three state championships, with junior Andrew Sillivent winning titles in Lincoln Douglas Debate and Persuasive Speaking, while senior Nasayha Estrada captured first place in Poetry. Sophomore Kelly Le finished second to Sillivent in Persuasive Speaking. Senior Anthony Hernandez was fifth. In Original Oratory, senior Alexander Silva took second place and junior Anna Monroe was third. In Solo Acting, Estrada finished second while sophomore Madeline Britten was fifth. Britten finished second in Prose, with junior Kaci Willburn capturing fourth. Junior Sadie Vincent was second in Poetry, with sophomore Kelly Le claiming third place honors. Freshman Elizabeth Lewis finished third in Lincoln/Douglas Debate, with sophomore Kelly Le taking fourth.