Junior high takes first-ever TCSIT Title

High school settles for second; younger students rule math event From the moment the first BCS vehicles rolled onto the Abilene Christian University campus last week, other students’ knees began to knock and their hands began to tremble. High school and junior high students who had come from all across Texas knew what Brentwood’s arrival meant: There was now a higher chance of them not placing first.

Since they won their first high school sweepstakes trophy in 1994, Brentwood Christian has been a frontrunner in the Texas Christian Schools Interscholastic Tournament, an academic and dramatic competition for private Christian schools. But until this year, their reputation as a Goliath has chiefly come from efforts of the high school students rather than those in junior high. High school has won the sweepstakes 13 times; junior high, never.

But this year the roles reversed. High school finished a close second, while the junior high won first by a landslide. Brentwood’s secondary students brought home both a first and second place trophy, which has only happened one other time in Brentwood’s 26 years at TCSIT.

As they often do, this year’s participants faced the obstacle of having theTAPPS statelevel choir competition on the same weekend as TCSIT, meaning a number of students who typically participate in TCSIT were unable to do so. Also, Brentwood suffered the loss of several outstanding now-graduates, such as Matthew Gardner, who won first place in five events last year.

“We did the best we have ever done,” said elementary principal and TCSIT coordinator Dr. Libby Weed.  “The timing of TAPPS choir really hurt us; we lost a lot of people. I’m just very proud of those who stepped in and picked up for having lost Matthew and other star students.”

Of the almost 70 students from Brentwood who made the trip, BCS won first in 17 events between junior high and high school. Junior Megan Monacelli placed first in two newspaper events and second in another, while junior Carlos Franco won both Spanish comprehension and Spanish Bible reading.

Sophomore Serene Nermal was first in computer-animated design, and senior Caleb Kronke took first in dramatic interpretation. For junior high, seventh-graders Andrew Armstrong, Brendan Holloway, and Josh Sass, along with sixth-grader Gabby Nguyen, served as a sort of super-team, together sweeping many math events. Armstrong took the top prize in three of them; he and Holloway also placed first and second in high school Algebra I.

In other junior high events, seventh-grader Tiara Allen and her sixth-grade brother Luke tied for first in spelling, to no one’s surprise. Eighth-grader Matthew Scarborough won a math event, classmate Mia Dedear won music memory, and seventh-grader Natalie Williams took first in poetry. Brentwood students enjoyed their time spent with each other and often with students from other schools. It would not be rare to see a BCS student performing a dramatic event for a student from Northland Christian or Fort Worth Christian to get feedback on what he or she should work on.