Tenaha Robotics Teams Dominate in Lufkin Competition - November 20, 2009
Submitted by Judy Owens

Junior High first place team left to right: Pablo Valdez, Brenda Farmer-sponsor, and Caleb Garcia.

In what is becoming the norm for Tenaha, another group of students brought home “hardware” from an interscholastic competition on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mr. and Mrs. Farmer’s Junior High and High School Robotic teams dominated the competition in Lufkin. This small 1A school competed against teams from schools of all sizes and areas.

For these hard working junior high and high school students preparing for the Robotics competition is no easy task. Using only Lego blocks, and their imagination, each team had to design, build, and program their robots to complete a task. This year the task was called Fruit Farm Frenzy. Each robot was to pick apples, oranges, watermelons, cantaloupe, honeydew and grapes and place them in a basket. Each fruit was a different size ball that was either on the ground or suspended in the air. The goal of each team is to accumulate as many points as possible from harvesting the fruit. The students worked daily fine tuning their robots until their mission was complete. Their efforts paid off.

Over 100 teams would compete in the middle school division. For Tenaha, sixth graders, Caleb Garcia and Pablo Valdez, would run away with the 1st place trophy by scoring over 200 pts. Sixth graders, Jacob Samford, Blane Cummings, and Trevin Stewart, would finish 2nd, and seventh grader, Cheyenne Koller and sixth grader, Mikaela Hutchison finished 4th.
Much like the Tenaha Junior High Robotics team did on Tuesday, the High School participants once again dominated the competition. Out of over 40 competing teams, Tigers placed 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 10th. Johnathan Watson and Vergel Casey would bring home the big trophy with the 1st place finish ahead of Center. DeAaron Roland, Octavious Griffith, and Assuntay Cleaver would head up the Tigers’ 3rd place team, and Annette Barrientos would place 5th. Also finishing in the top 10 for the Tigers was Jasmine Ivy, Tia Thomas, and Courtney Edwards.

The Tenaha Junior High and High School Robotics Teams are certainly off to a great start. Their next big competition will be the Area Robotics Contest scheduled to take place on December 5th at the UT campus in Tyler.

Junior High second place team left to right: Jacob Samford, Brenda Farmer-sponsor, Blane Cummings and Trevin Stewart.

Junior High fourth place team left to right: Brenda Farmer-sponsor, Cheyenne Koller, and Mikaela Hutchison.

High School Team front row left to right: Vergal Casey, Jonathan Watson, Octavius Griffith, Asunte Cleaver, C. J. Cooks, DeAaron Roland
Back Row left to right: Annette Barrientos, Jasmine Ivy, Latia Thomas, Courtney Edwards, Sponor-Brenda Farmer, and Ryan Palmer

Veteran’s Day Program at Tenaha High School - November 12, 2009
Submitted by Judy Owens

Wednesday, November 11th , students, faculty, and community members honored those brave men and women who have served in the Armed Forces and defended our Nation. Tenaha High School Beta Club and Band sponsored the annual Veteran’s Day Program held in the new Tenaha Cafetorium. A large crowd turned out to recognize members of our community that have displayed courage, dedication to duty, and love of our country.

The Tenaha Tiger Marching Band knew they had a long road ahead of them to make it to State Competition this year. With record rainfall hampering practices they only had three opportunities to march at football games. This according to band director, Rhonda Cates, is pertinent to mastering a performance. The band did however manage to perfect an outstanding performance that would catapult them to the State Contest held in the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, Texas.

Having secured a position in preliminary rounds by receiving straight 1’s at the Region 21 marching contest, held on Oct. 17th, and finishing in the top three during the Area C Marching Band Contest held on Oct. 24th, they easily advanced to the final level of State Competition. Here sixteen bands battle it out to be called the best in Texas. Only seven would advance to the final rounds. Tenaha and Carlisle, two top bands in our district, would make the cut. They also happen to be the only Military style marching band to make the final round.

“The final round would prove to be the best performance for The Roarin’ Band from Tiger Land.” Rhonda Cates, Tenaha Band director, stated. “They definitely saved their best for last.” With a nearly flawless performance they would finish fourth overall. Carlisle would come up in seventh place. Corps style bands Sundown, Forsan, and Canadian would finish in the top three respectively.

“The Tenaha High School Band is like a machine in terms of precision and excellence,” stated judges. The Tenaha High School Band is the premier band of East Texas. With 68 members strong, they have proven that they are one of the best 1A bands in the state of Texas and the best Military Style marching band in Texas. Under the proud leadership of Senior Drum Major Eddie Flores, the band completes a successful marching season. Congratulations to the Tenaha Band directors, Rhonda Cates, Eric Sanford, and Kasi Trent.

2009 Tenaha Homecoming Queen - October 21, 2009
Submitted by Judy Owens

Senior Amber I. Evans was crowned the 2009 Tenaha Homecoming Queen. She is escorted by Marcus Bell.

The 2009 Tenaha High School Homecoming Court has been chosen. Nine lovely young ladies will represent Tenaha High School. One lucky girl will be crowned Homecoming Queen on October 17th. Pre-game activities begin at 7pm at Tiger Stadium.

Amber I. Evans was chosen by her classmates as Senior Class Duchess. Angela Plata is the Duchess voted to represent the Junior Class. The sophomore class chose Taylor Killey as their Duchess. The freshman class will be represented by Duchess Cristal Tovar.

Senior Duchess, Amber I. Evans	Junior Duches, Angela Plata
Sophomore Duchess, Taylor Killey	Freshman Duchess, Cristal Tovar

There were also five Sweethearts chosen to be on the court. This year’s Athletic Sweetheart is Whitney Jackson. The BETA club chose Jasmine Ivey as their sweetheart. The JCC Sweetheart is Brittany Paige. Molly Gray will represent the Roarin’ Band from Tiger Land as their sweetheart. FFA Sweetheart is Courtney Tovar.

Left to right: JCC Sweetheart Brittany Paige, Band Sweetheart Molly Gray, Beta Sweetheart Jasmine Ivey, Athletic Sweetheart Whitney Jackson, and FFA Sweetheart Courtney Tovar.