Boys 8th Soccer Team Members celebrate winning the HJPC Championship with (L) Coach Johnny Galic, (C) Headmaster Dr. Andy Martire, (R) Coach Diego Onuchic, and (far R) Middle School Principal Chelsea Collins.

The 2015-16 winter season has come to an end for our Middle School athletes and many teams had strong finishes in the HJPC Championships, City Championships and State Meets. Listed below is a recap of team and individual finishes:

This weekend a number of middle school students participated in various events ranging from a band competition to a speech tournament to a quiz bowl. Below is a summary of the accomplishments.

Houston Area Private Schools All-City Honor Band
PSIA District Speech Tournament
Seven Lakes Quiz Bowl Tournament

Houston Area Private Schools All-City Honor Band
Congratulations to the following student earning a chair in the Houston Area Private Schools All-City Honor Band. Earning a chair in this organization is a reflection of not only technical ability (judged by the audition), but also character (judged by band director recommendation).

The students who earned chairs in the band participated in a clinic and concert over the weekend at Strake Jesuit.

8th Grade:
Julia Burpeau - trumpet
Nicholas Dillon - tuba
Arden Fayard - percussion
Evelyn Mineo - French horn
Nikita Munsif - flute
Tyler Newton - alto sax
Jared Orkin - alto sax
Tom Roff - clarinet
Bennett Wagnon - French horn
Frankie Wimbish - trombone
Brian Xu - bassoon

7th Grade:
Jason Boué - trombone
Devyn Finkelstein - clarinet
Eliot Gottsegen - bass clarinet
Martín Ibarra - tuba
Ben Johnson - trombone
Margaux Marinelli - flute
David Shaw - trumpet
Serena Thompson - clarinet
Anthony Triestman - tenor sax
Aaron Wilson - clarinet

6th Grade:
Jack Chilson - alto sax
Maddalena Horner - clarinet

PSIA District Speech Tournament
Congratulations to all of the students who participated in the PSIA District Speech Tournament. Kinkaid won first place in the three speech events.

In Impromptu Speaking, Kinkaid had two finalists, Margaret Mentz ’21 won sixth place and Amari Venzor ’21 won first place and will represent Kinkaid at the State Tournament.

In Modern Oratory, Kinkaid had three of the six finalists. Christopher Gardner ’21 won fourth place, Ella Brissett ’21 won third place and Ethan Fang ’21 won firstst place and will represent Kinkaid at the State Tournament.

In Poetry reading, Kinkaid had two finalists. Madeleine Gomez ’21 won sixth place and Duncan Lambert ’21 won first place and will be representing Kinkaid at the State Tournament.

Seven Lakes Quiz Bowl Tournament
Five Kinkaid Middle School quiz bowl teams enjoyed a fun day of tough competition at Seven Lakes in Katy. 

A record number of 58 teams competed in this tournament, with 16 teams in the elementary division. Four of our teams made it to the playoffs, and our top-seeded, the undefeated Kinkaid B team were the victors in a finals re-match with Harmony B!

Congratulations to Hallie Brass ’22, Connor Blake ’22, Jack Chilson ’22 and Vedul Palavajjhala ’22 and to all our teams for their perseverance and great teamwork.

On Wednesday, March 9th through Friday, March 11th, the Kinkaid Robotics FTC team competed in the South Super-Regional tournament held in San Antonio, Texas. Also participating in this tournament were 71 other schools, home-school groups and neighborhood teams from the 12 southern states.

The team finished the tournament with a 3-3 record.  In addition to the on-field performance, the teams made a presentation to the event judges. The team was assessed on their outreach, their robot's design and other factors. Out of the 72 teams, the Kinkaid team earned 2nd place for the Rockwell Collin Innovate Award. This ranking earned the team an invitation to the FTC World Championship

The students who were involved at this tournament were:

Daniel King '19
Julian Meyers '19
Jamie Moseley '18
Nikita Munsif '20
Christos Papandreou '18
Paul Thompson '18
Joseph Wagnon '19

Others who worked and provided support leading up to this tournament include Charlie Finch '19 and John Churay '16.

The FTC World Championship will held in St. Louis from April 27th - April 30th. At this tournament, the team will be competing against the best 127 other schools and home school and neighborhood groups from the four regions across the US plus teams from 15 countries.

About the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award:
The Rockwell Collins Innovate Award celebrates a Team that not only thinks outside the box, but also has the ingenuity and inventiveness to make their designs come to life. This judged award is given to the Team that has the most innovative and creative Robot design solution to any or all specific field elements or components in the FTC game. Elements of this award include elegant design, robustness and ‘out of the box’ thinking related to design. This award may address the design of the whole Robot or of a sub-assembly attached to the Robot. The creative component must work consistently, but a Robot does not have to work all the time during matches to be considered for this award. The Team’s Engineering Notebook should be marked with journal entries to show the design of the component(s) and the Team’s Robot in order to be eligible for this award, and entries should describe succinctly how the Team arrived at that solution.


Required criteria for the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award:

• Team must demonstrate respect and Gracious Professionalism towards everyone they encounter at an FTC event.
• Team must submit an Engineering Notebook with an Engineering Section that documents the design process and how the Team arrived at their design solution.
• Robot or Robot sub-assembly must be elegant and unique in its design.
• Creative component must be stable, robust, and work reliably.
• Robot design is efficient and consistent with Team plan and strategy.

Over the summer, Middle School Science Teacher Shari Hiltbrand was selected from across the nation for the prestigious LiftOff Summer Institute held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. This program is sponsored by NASA’s Texas Space Grant Consortium and selects teachers from across the U.S. to increase their knowledge of space education. The theme of this year’s Institute was Exploration: Past, Present and Future.  The competitive week long institute featured a series of workshops, hands-on activities, field investigations and presentations by NASA scientists and engineers working on various missions.

Mrs. Hiltbrand had the opportunity to interact with astronauts, flight directors and engineers affiliated with the Apollo, Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs.  She toured research facilities at JSC exploring comets, meteor impacts, Lunar rocks and Mars, seeing the most up to date information being processed by the “Curiosity” rover.  Speakers included: Apollo 13 astronaut, Fred Haise; Apollo 13 (and other Apollo and Space Shuttle Missions) Flight Director, Gene Kranz, who is known for his vests; “The Ordinary Spaceman” Clayton Anderson; and senior engineer, Norman Chaffee, who is known for directional engines on both Apollo and Space Shuttle vessels.  Scientists and engineers from the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Program and the Mars Rover Program also spoke to the group of teachers.  

In between speakers, Mrs. Hiltbrand worked with other teachers doing hands-on activities to reinforce ideas and concepts being explored during the week “creating” a comet, comparing the Earth and the Moon and other planets, making mini-spectroscopes and other activities that can be used in the classroom.  Besides doing hands-on activities, teachers shared a lesson with the group that teachers can then take back to their classrooms. Mrs. Hiltbrand presented her “Physics of Angry Birds” lesson as it helps students better understand how things move, which is important for objects moving in space.  The group of teachers also toured the training facilities that are used by astronauts and scientists in preparation for ISS missions, going into “badge only” areas including Mission Control and Robotics and Neutral Buoyancy Lab where astronauts train for ISS missions.  Wrapping up the week, Mrs. Hiltbrand went through a NASA certification process that allows her to check out Lunar and Meteorite samples for use at Kinkaid with students.          

Over the weekend, the Middle School quiz bowl teams competed in the Viking Invasion II tournament at the Village School. 

In the Elementary Division, Kinkaid Team A was one of the four teams to qualify for the playoff, going on to win first place after defeating Harmony, Village and St. Thomas in the finals.

In the Middle School Division, Kinkaid Team A ended the weekend team losing a close match to St. John's in the semi-final round after being the first place seed out of 32 teams.

Congratulations to these students for their hard work and outstanding sportsmanship! Listed below are the student participants from this weekend’s event:

ELEMENTARY DIVISON (5th and 6th Grade):

Kinkaid A:  Joycie Brass '23, Canaan Estes '23, Jack Lemon '23, Stockton Lord '23, Will Pielop '23 -- FIRST PLACE

Kinkaid B:  Ammar Ali '24, Sid Agarwala '24, Clara Brown '23, Adam Behr '23, Hannah Jamail Herrick '23

MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION (7th and 8th Grade):

Kinkaid A: Connor Blake '22, Hallie Brass '22, Vedul Palavajjhala '22, Ethan Pintar '21, Ali Yousuf '22 --THIRD PLACE 

Kinkaid B:  Evan Gibson '22, Maddalena Horner '22, Adrián Riesgo-Zamudio '21, Jerry Restrepo '22, Mia Van De Mark '22

Kinkaid C:  Rivers Breeding '22, Vivian Finch '22, Henry Prendergast '22, Sammy Riesgo-Zamudio '22, Henry Segal '22

Kinkaid Orchestra students auditioned this month in the TMEA Region 23 competition. Out of hundreds of participants, Upper School students Kristine Yang ’17 (Violin) and Jonathan Mitchell ’20 (Bass) were both selected to be a part of the Philharmonic Honor Orchestra.

For Middle School, Ethan Fang ’21 (Violin) was selected to be a part of the Symphony Orchestra as 1^st chair, while Vivian Ye ’22 (Violin) was selected to be 6^th chair of the Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Region 23 Honor Orchestra concerts will be held at Cinco Ranch HS on Saturday, November 19th beginning at 5:00 p.m. MS and HS honor orchestras will be featured during this Regional concert.

Please send your congratulations to these talented students! 

The annual Kinkaid Book Fair is almost here! On November 7th and 8th, the Melcher Gym will be transformed into an amazing bookstore.

Book Fair has books for all age levels as well as a selection of calendars, games and toys. There will also be a coffee/smoothie bar by Java Pura (KOA and cash accepted)! 

Find out all you need to know and more about Book Fair by checking out the offical page, here. 

Get excited about this awesome event by taking a look at the official Book Fair music video starring Gurple and your fellow teachers and students!

The Kinkaid Middle School Quiz Bowl teams had another great weekend competing in Prep Bowl XLIII at Strake Jesuit. Over 62 teams were in attendance at Strake.

Eight of the 14 5th/6th grade teams went to the playoffs, and all three of our teams qualified. The 8th seed Kinkaid F lost to the 1st seed St. Thomas Episcopal in the first round, and the 3rd seed Kinkaid D battled it out with the 6th seed Kinkaid E and won by just a few points.  Our Kinkaid D team then lost a tough match to the 2nd seed Village team in round 11, ending the tournament in 3rd place.

Sixteen of the 26 7th/8th grade teams made it to the playoffs, and Kinkaid A was the 2nd seed. They defeated 15th seed AOS C, 7th seed TH Rogers A, 6th seed AOS A, and then lost a VERY close match to the 1st seed St John's A team in the semi-final round. They went home with the second place trophy.

Thanks for congratulating the following kids on being great teammates and strong competitors!

ELEMENTARY LEVEL:
Kinkaid D:  Joycie Brass '23, Canaan Estes '23, Jack Lemon '23, Stockton Lord '23, Will Pielop '23 -- 3rd seed
 
Kinkaid E:  Siddarth Agarwala '24, Ammar Ali '24, Ian Kim '23, Eric Wang '24, Peyton Young '24 -- 6th seed

Kinkaid F: Clara Brown '23, Hannah Jamail-Herrick '23, Sarah Grace Raynes '23, Soha Sewani '23 -- 8th seed

MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVEL:
Kinkaid A: Connor Blake '22, Hallie Brass '22, Vedul Palavajjhala '22, Ethan Pintar '21 -- 2nd seed --SECOND PLACE
 
Kinkaid B: Adrián Riesgo-Zamudio '21, Sammy Riesgo-Zamudio '22, Henry Segal '22, Mia Van De Mark '22  (22nd place)

Kinkaid C:  Rivers Breeding '22, Henry Prendergast '22, Jerry Restrepo '22, Ali Yousuf '22  (18th place)

Nine Kinkaid 5th graders earned medals after competing in a national Halloween mathematics challenge hosted by Mangahigh.com. Competing against 845 schools and 43,000 students throughout the United States and Canada, Kinkaid placed 8th overall after correctly answering over 1,500 math questions throughout an eight-day period. In addition to receiving medals, the class also earned a $250 Amazon gift card. 

Mangahigh.com is one of the world’s first games-based-learning sites, where students learn Mathematics via purpose-built casual games that balance fun and learning. Founded by an experienced team of mathematicians and game specialists, the organization strives to balance game play and education.

Huge congratulations to these talented students! 

Pictured: Onyi Ndee, Camille Pyne, Travis Ainsworth, Peyton Young, Eric Wang, Ethan Goldstein, Hayden Lewitton, Georgia Cooper, Siddharth Agarwala

Over the summer, Middle School Science Teacher Shari Hiltbrand was selected from across the nation for the prestigious LiftOff Summer Institute held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. This program is sponsored by NASA’s Texas Space Grant Consortium and selects teachers from across the U.S. to increase their knowledge of space education. The theme of this year’s Institute was Exploration: Past, Present and Future.  The competitive week long institute featured a series of workshops, hands-on activities, field investigations and presentations by NASA scientists and engineers working on various missions.

Mrs. Hiltbrand had the opportunity to interact with astronauts, flight directors and engineers affiliated with the Apollo, Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs.  She toured research facilities at JSC exploring comets, meteor impacts, Lunar rocks and Mars, seeing the most up to date information being processed by the “Curiosity” rover.  Speakers included: Apollo 13 astronaut, Fred Haise; Apollo 13 (and other Apollo and Space Shuttle Missions) Flight Director, Gene Kranz, who is known for his vests; “The Ordinary Spaceman” Clayton Anderson; and senior engineer, Norman Chaffee, who is known for directional engines on both Apollo and Space Shuttle vessels.  Scientists and engineers from the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Program and the Mars Rover Program also spoke to the group of teachers.  

In between speakers, Mrs. Hiltbrand worked with other teachers doing hands-on activities to reinforce ideas and concepts being explored during the week “creating” a comet, comparing the Earth and the Moon and other planets, making mini-spectroscopes and other activities that can be used in the classroom.  Besides doing hands-on activities, teachers shared a lesson with the group that teachers can then take back to their classrooms. Mrs. Hiltbrand presented her “Physics of Angry Birds” lesson as it helps students better understand how things move, which is important for objects moving in space.  The group of teachers also toured the training facilities that are used by astronauts and scientists in preparation for ISS missions, going into “badge only” areas including Mission Control and Robotics and Neutral Buoyancy Lab where astronauts train for ISS missions.  Wrapping up the week, Mrs. Hiltbrand went through a NASA certification process that allows her to check out Lunar and Meteorite samples for use at Kinkaid with students.          

Over the weekend, the Middle School quiz bowl teams competed in the Viking Invasion II tournament at the Village School. 

In the Elementary Division, Kinkaid Team A was one of the four teams to qualify for the playoff, going on to win first place after defeating Harmony, Village and St. Thomas in the finals.

In the Middle School Division, Kinkaid Team A ended the weekend team losing a close match to St. John's in the semi-final round after being the first place seed out of 32 teams.

Congratulations to these students for their hard work and outstanding sportsmanship! Listed below are the student participants from this weekend’s event:

ELEMENTARY DIVISON (5th and 6th Grade):

Kinkaid A:  Joycie Brass '23, Canaan Estes '23, Jack Lemon '23, Stockton Lord '23, Will Pielop '23 -- FIRST PLACE

Kinkaid B:  Ammar Ali '24, Sid Agarwala '24, Clara Brown '23, Adam Behr '23, Hannah Jamail Herrick '23

MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION (7th and 8th Grade):

Kinkaid A: Connor Blake '22, Hallie Brass '22, Vedul Palavajjhala '22, Ethan Pintar '21, Ali Yousuf '22 --THIRD PLACE 

Kinkaid B:  Evan Gibson '22, Maddalena Horner '22, Adrián Riesgo-Zamudio '21, Jerry Restrepo '22, Mia Van De Mark '22

Kinkaid C:  Rivers Breeding '22, Vivian Finch '22, Henry Prendergast '22, Sammy Riesgo-Zamudio '22, Henry Segal '22

Kinkaid Orchestra students auditioned this month in the TMEA Region 23 competition. Out of hundreds of participants, Upper School students Kristine Yang ’17 (Violin) and Jonathan Mitchell ’20 (Bass) were both selected to be a part of the Philharmonic Honor Orchestra.

For Middle School, Ethan Fang ’21 (Violin) was selected to be a part of the Symphony Orchestra as 1^st chair, while Vivian Ye ’22 (Violin) was selected to be 6^th chair of the Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Region 23 Honor Orchestra concerts will be held at Cinco Ranch HS on Saturday, November 19th beginning at 5:00 p.m. MS and HS honor orchestras will be featured during this Regional concert.

Please send your congratulations to these talented students! 

The Kinkaid Middle School Quiz Bowl teams had another great weekend competing in Prep Bowl XLIII at Strake Jesuit. Over 62 teams were in attendance at Strake.

Eight of the 14 5th/6th grade teams went to the playoffs, and all three of our teams qualified. The 8th seed Kinkaid F lost to the 1st seed St. Thomas Episcopal in the first round, and the 3rd seed Kinkaid D battled it out with the 6th seed Kinkaid E and won by just a few points.  Our Kinkaid D team then lost a tough match to the 2nd seed Village team in round 11, ending the tournament in 3rd place.

Sixteen of the 26 7th/8th grade teams made it to the playoffs, and Kinkaid A was the 2nd seed. They defeated 15th seed AOS C, 7th seed TH Rogers A, 6th seed AOS A, and then lost a VERY close match to the 1st seed St John's A team in the semi-final round. They went home with the second place trophy.

Thanks for congratulating the following kids on being great teammates and strong competitors!

ELEMENTARY LEVEL:
Kinkaid D:  Joycie Brass '23, Canaan Estes '23, Jack Lemon '23, Stockton Lord '23, Will Pielop '23 -- 3rd seed
 
Kinkaid E:  Siddarth Agarwala '24, Ammar Ali '24, Ian Kim '23, Eric Wang '24, Peyton Young '24 -- 6th seed

Kinkaid F: Clara Brown '23, Hannah Jamail-Herrick '23, Sarah Grace Raynes '23, Soha Sewani '23 -- 8th seed

MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVEL:
Kinkaid A: Connor Blake '22, Hallie Brass '22, Vedul Palavajjhala '22, Ethan Pintar '21 -- 2nd seed --SECOND PLACE
 
Kinkaid B: Adrián Riesgo-Zamudio '21, Sammy Riesgo-Zamudio '22, Henry Segal '22, Mia Van De Mark '22  (22nd place)

Kinkaid C:  Rivers Breeding '22, Henry Prendergast '22, Jerry Restrepo '22, Ali Yousuf '22  (18th place)

Nine Kinkaid 5th graders earned medals after competing in a national Halloween mathematics challenge hosted by Mangahigh.com. Competing against 845 schools and 43,000 students throughout the United States and Canada, Kinkaid placed 8th overall after correctly answering over 1,500 math questions throughout an eight-day period. In addition to receiving medals, the class also earned a $250 Amazon gift card. 

Mangahigh.com is one of the world’s first games-based-learning sites, where students learn Mathematics via purpose-built casual games that balance fun and learning. Founded by an experienced team of mathematicians and game specialists, the organization strives to balance game play and education.

Huge congratulations to these talented students! 

Pictured: Onyi Ndee, Camille Pyne, Travis Ainsworth, Peyton Young, Eric Wang, Ethan Goldstein, Hayden Lewitton, Georgia Cooper, Siddharth Agarwala