DSISD staff member selected as finalist
Elaine Cogburn, DSISD Assistant Superintendent for Business Services, was one of three statewide finalists for the Commitment to Excellence Award presented by the Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO).
The Commitment to Excellence Award is the highest individual honor presented annually by the organization. It is awarded to the member who “best distinguishes themselves within their profession, within their district, and within TASBO.”
Cogburn has been Dripping Springs ISD’s Chief Financial Officer since August 2013. She previously served as CFO at three other Texas school districts over an 11-year period.
The award was won by Lindy Finley of Jacksonville ISD; Deborah Ottmers of Fredericksburg ISD was the other finalist.
TIGERS Place at UIL
DSHS students won five individual and three team events at the UIL District 26-5A Academic Meet. All will advance to regional competition.
Also qualifying for regional competition are four students who placed second or third in their events. Two runner-up teams are alternates to the regional meet.
Placing first in individual events were: Hailey Hodsden in both Ready Writing and Literary Criticism, Rachel Nix in Computer Applications, and Michael Martinets in both Spelling and Math.
Other individual regional qualifiers are Katie Haberman (Second, Feature Writing), Ryan Gahagan (third, Number Sense), Varun Varna (third, Computer Applications), and Ken Gossett (third, Spelling).
The Spelling, Math and Literary Criticism teams also were first and will head to regional competition.
The regional meet will be held April 8 at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Speech and Debate wins district UIL tournament
The Dripping Springs High School Speech and Debate Team won the UIL 26- 5A UIL District Tournament March 23. The margin of victory for DSHS was more than 50 points. Five students earned the right to advance to the regional tournament.
Placing first in their events were Gwyneth Pietrzyk in Poetry Interpretation and Tori Listoe in Prose Interpretation. Placing second were Catherine Manning in Persuasive Speaking and Jackson Laws in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Rounding out the regional qualifiers was Julia Roldan, who placed third in Prose Interpretation. Griffen Smith was fourth in Informative Speaking and is a regional alternate. Also placing was Sam White (fifth in Prose Interpretation) and Mason Mohon (sixth in Persuasive Speaking).
The district standings also included the previously completed CX Policy Debate event. DSHS had 50 points added to its overall Sweepstakes points thanks to first-place district finish by Christopher Gearing and Riley Wheaton, and a second-place finish by Christian Pundt and Katy Reeves.
