GRANTS, N.M. - The Grants High School Scholastic Publications team finished second in the State at the recent New Mexico Activities Association competition.
The team, which brought home the championship blue trophy last year, came up just short to the winning team, Centennial High School, in a contest that featured all Schools’ best broadcasters and writers. Portales High School finished third overall.
“I’m incredibly proud of our finish,” GHS advisor Ron Gonzales said. “We certainly felt like we were in position to repeat as champions, but Centennial was just a little bit better than us.”
Grants notched six total first-place individual medals: Cassandra Condon in the literary magazine illustration category, Logan Hooper in the podcast interview category, Reina Lemos in the poetry category, Madison Orona in the short story category, Marli Prendergast in the news anchor category and Joel Small in the review writing portion of the contest.
Grants added 11 other individual medals, listed below.
Gonzales said that he and the members of the Publications team came back with some good feedback to work with to get ready for next year’s competition.
“The judges’ critiques certainly gave us some information that we can work with to get better,” Gonzales said. “But the fact that we have been in the competition for four years, and have come back with a first-place and second-place team trophy tells me that we’re all doing something right.”
The contest ended the competition season for the Publications team, but Gonzales’ SkillsUSA Video News Production team will be in Atlanta for the National SkillsUSA Conference the first week of June. Three members of that team also competed in Atlanta last year following its State Championship victory. LIST OF INDIVIDUAL WINNERS / NMAA Scholastic Publications Championships
POETRY
Reina Lemos 1st Place Jenna Chavez 3rd Place
LITERARY MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION Cassandra Condon 1st Place
EDITORIAL CARTOONING
Alex Almazan 3rd Place Caesar P. Chavez HM Editorial Cartooning
REVIEW WRITING Joel Small 1st Place
YEARBOOK DOUBLE PAGE LAYOUT Sophia Romasanta 3rd
BROADCAST ANCHOR Marli Prendergast 1st Place Reilly Burress 2nd Peyton Dimitt 3rd
BROADCAST FEATURE
Olivier Paras and Ethan Thayer 3rd Place Gabriella Gonzales and Myla Waconda Honorable Mention
BROADCAST SPORTS STORY
Cardenio Chavez, Isaiah Ortega and Zeth Villasana Honorable Mention
PODCAST INTERVIEW Logan Hooper - 1st Place
SPORTS WRITING
Jayden Chavez - 3rd Place Xavier Pena - Honorable Mention
SHORT STORY WRITING Madison Orona - 1st Place Aleah Chavez - 2nd Place Tempest Saiz - 1st Place