There have been quite a few extraordinary accomplishments by the Eagles this first semester, here’s a few of them:

Freshman Ryan McLaughlin made 3rd chair bassoon for the CODA (Central Oklahoma Director Agency) Honor Band, the first Eagle to achieve this distinction since 2014. McLaughlin says he was relieved to make the band, but believes he could have done better. “I got really nervous while playing. I am just glad I made it,” McLaughlin said.

The Speech & Debate team had their first tournament at the Westmoore JAG Invitational, and despite losing most of their veteran debters to graduation last year, every eagle that went to the tournament made it to finals in their events. Seven students earned spots at the Regional Meet in March by medaling in their events.

The team brought home plenty of medals from the tournament. Senior Nikita Lewchuk placed 1st in Original Oratory and Foreign Extemporaneous Speech, Freshman [citation needed] Bell Frazier placed 2nd in Original Oratory, freshman Faith Morrison placed 2nd in Monologue and sophomore Victoria Peter placed 3rd in Standard Oratory. The duo of Jesslyn Chain & sophomore Camryn O’Dell placed 2nd in Humorous Duet, and freshmen Reese Mears and Olivia Castle were the undefeated tournament champs of Novice Public Forum Debate.

Seniors Asher Agee-Moser and Dylan DelCol achieved impressive feats with the National Merit Competition for exemplary scores on standardized tests. Agee-Moser was recognized as Commended scholar and DelCol was named a National Merit semifinalist. DelCol reflected upon his accomplishment, stating “It felt really good to finally see the results of being a math tryhard and all the work in PSAT team with the payoff with being a semi-finalist.”

The 2018 yearbook staff earned the Highest Honor and the All-Oklahoman Honors award in Division III at the annual Fall Media Monday event hosted by the University of Oklahoma.

The returning staff members included Madison Ellis who received the 2nd place award in student life for her story about the drama play “Good Cop, Bad Cop, Bad Cop, Good Cop.” “We were shocked (in a good way) about the awards because it showed how hard work pays off,” said Ellis. They hope that next year they are able to win the Sweepstakes Award. The other awards won by the staff included: Overall Ad Section, 3rd place, Academic Story, Arian Farkhoy, 3rdplace, Organization Spread, Ariani Fife, 3rd place, Index, Arian Farkhoy, 3rd place, Packaging and Structure, Arian Farkhoy and Karissa Henning, 3rd place and Academic Photo, “Staff”, 1st place.

The annual All-City Honor band audition was held on Saturday, Nov. 10. Eight members made the band which included seniors Joseph LaSala and Violet Parrott, juniors Gwen Harada and  Fatima Jaime, sophomores Gage Catteeuw and Simone Pico, and freshmen Ryan McLaughlin and August Biggs. These students will rehearse and perform with other band students in the district on Jan 25-26.

Juniors Victor Nguyen and Jackson Burnette performed with the North Central Honor Orchestra on Nov. 16-17 at Oklahoma City University. They were directed by Dr. Thomas Dickey, orchestra director at Oklahoma State University. Auditions were held in Oct.