Royal ISD FFA members win big at State Fair of Texas breeding heifer show

Two Royal ISD FFA members exhibited their heifers in the Junior Breeding Heifer show Oct. 20-23 at the State Fair of Texas.

In the Pan American Show, Kinleigh Guidry’s Hereford was Champion Horned Hereford Female and second place in her class with her Polled Hereford. Kinleigh also was Champion in Intermediate Showmanship.

Raelee Hacke placed fourth in her class with her other registered breed.

Harmony Public Schools opens applications for Fall 2023

Harmony Public Schools, the largest STEM-focused charter public school network in Texas, has begun accepting for next year.

Harmony offers a free public education with special emphasis on Project-Based STEM Learning, College Prep, Career Readiness, and Character Education to PreK-12 students at 61 campuses statewide. For the current school year, Harmony smashed its previous records for both applications and enrollment, surpassing 40,000 students for the first time.

In 2022-23, Harmony Public Schools received 28 “A” District and Campus Ratings for Overall Accountability from the Texas Education Agency, and recognized by both Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report for its academics and college readiness programs. Harmony also is a seven-time winner of the National School of Character.

Families new to Harmony can apply for enrollment from Nov. 1, 2022 through Feb. 10, 2023 online at HarmonyTX.org/Apply2023 or at their nearest Harmony campus.

To ensure fairness to all applicants, any Harmony campus that receives more applications than there are seats available will randomize all applications and select students via blind lottery. Each campus will set a date for its lottery within two weeks of the application deadline.

Parents will be notified in the spring if their students have been selected for enrollment or placed on a waiting list.

For more information, visit the website HarmonyTX.org.

Cinco Ranch quiz bowl team

The Cinco Ranch Cougar A Team, despite playing a man short, won the Texas Kickoff Challenge for their first win of the year.

Captain Tamim Hasan, Dimitris Kalafatis and Robbie Hahn played through some tough matches, including a real dogfight with Troy Michigan in the finals that went down to the final question.

The B Team, comprising captain Arnav Joshi, Tony Liang, Enina Edosomwan and Grace Park, played some tough matches and only lost to the A Team in the final 8. It handed Troy its only defeat until it lost to the A Team in the finals.

The C Team, comprising captain Sean Padilla, Arsen Imanbayev, Zuhair Asaduddin and Ishan Paliwal, came within one question of knocking off the B Team in the playoffs.

Individually, Hasan was the top-ranked player for the tournament. Kalafatis, Joshi and Liang were also in the top 20. Asadaddin and Paliwal finished 17th and 18^th, respectively, in their first varsity competition.

Meanwhile, the Cinco Ranch junior varsity squad hosted the first in-person Quiz Bowl tournament in almost three years.

The A Team, comprising captain Ella Hill and Bao Vu, went 6-3 and finished second, only losing to a perennial power, Village School. In the individual category, Vu finished 17th.

The B Team, comprising captain Ryan Gover, Nicholas Zang, Maria Waseem, Ethan Moloney and Nina Patel, consists of mostly brand-new freshman. The team earned made it to the consolation final, where it fell to Cy Fair. In the individual category, Gover finished 12th and Zang finished 19th.