All three Kinkaid cheerleading teams attended UCA Cheer Camp in Dallas over the summer. Each team competed and placed very well. In addition to the team competitions, individual cheerleaders were named All-American. For the first time in Kinkaid cheerleading history all varsity members were named All-American. Congratulations to all three teams! Go Falcons!

Varsity:

• Champions in Overall Game Day Competition
• 1st Place in Cheer and Chant Evaluation
• 3rd Place Extreme Routine Competition

Junior Varsity:

• Champions in Overall Game Day Competition
• 1st Place in Cheer and Chant Evaluation
• 2nd Place in Extreme Routine Competition

Middle School:

• 3rd Place Overall Game Day Competition
• Superior Team Recognition

Varsity All-American:
Channing Allshouse
Crafton Deal
Katlyn Feldman
Chloe Fondren
Margaret Frandina
Kennedy Gamble
Marie Mays
Caroline Petersen
Christiana Reckling
Quincy Steele
Skylar Steele
Emma Sykes
Caroline Totz
Lindsay Wolf

Junior Varsity All-American:
Megan Altsuler
Katelyn Gamble
Shianne Hale
Eliza Lawrence
Kate Riley

Middle School All-American:
Avery Ham
Serena Thompson

Seniors Kaylie Mings, Chinaza Ndee and junior Caroline Hanan all received preseason honors this week for their respective sports.

Chinaza Ndee was named to PrepVolleyball.com’s Class of 2017 Senior Aces top 100 at #80.  The article had this to say about Ndee: 

“Ndee is a powerful player who can hit effectively in every position across the front row. She has a lightning quick arm and hits high and hard, beating the block with regularity… Combined with her vision and timing as a blocker, she is one of the premier blocking right sides in the country. A naturally humble person, a great block is the one time on the court that Ndee lets her emotions show. It really fires up her teammates. Ndee is comfortable in pressure situations and works hard on and off the court…A good student and great teammate, she is expected to contribute offensively and defensively at Pitt.."

Chinaza is committed to join Pitt’s volleyball team in the fall of 2017.

Field Hockey players Kaylie Mings and Caroline Hanan were selected by MAX Field Hockey as members of the West/Mid-West Region top 20 players for 2016. Mings and Hanan were recognized for their NFHCA All-West Region and All-SPC honors. Mings is a previous MAX Field Hockey All-West/Mid-West Region player as well.

Program Head Jackie Ciconte was not surprised to see these two young ladies recognized by the region. “The time and effort both Kaylie and Caroline put into improving and perfecting their all around game certainly leaves a mark on those around them. Kaylie’s ability to maintain possession under high-pressure situations is truly remarkable. She is the epitome of an elite field hockey player. Caroline’s explosive play stands out on the field from all angles. She is a tenacious player who can control the speed of the game and create goal scoring opportunities.” Mings and Hanan are the only athletes from Texas to be awarded this honor for 2016. 

Kaylie is committed to play for Stanford’s field hockey team in 2017. Caroline has recently committed to become a Duke Blue Devil and become a member their 2018 team. Duke Coach, Jarred Martin, had this to say, "We are excited to have Caroline join the Duke Blue Devil family.  She has worked very hard to get to where she is today and that work ethic and athleticism is what is going to make her a very good collegiate player. Caroline is a perfect example of a dedicated student-athlete excelling both on the field and in the classroom.  That will carry over nicely to Duke. I know Caroline has high aspirations both individually and for the Kinkaid team over her final two years. We will be following and thrilled when she bring her game to Duke."

The Kinkaid Varsity Field Hockey team was also named as a Top 20 program for the West/Mid-West Region by MAX Field Hockey. The West/Mid-West Region includes all public and private schools in the states of California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wisconsin.

To see the full list of top 20 of athletes and schools selected click here.

MAX FH Top 20 Schools

MAX FH Top 20 Players

Congratulations to this impressive Falcon Trio!

In spring 2016, over 150 Kinkaid Middle and Upper School students participated in the annual World Language Contests. The contests included competitions utilitzing French,Spanish and Latin at multiple levels. Thank you to the sponsors of the event including The American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) and The American Classical League (ACL).

Listed below are the student who placed in each category. Congratulations!

Join us on Sunday, September 25 at 2:00 p.m. for our second
AJ Carothers Visiting Artist Series!

Comedy writer Jeff Martin '78 and actor Eric Ladin '97 will give insight into the fascinating world of movies and television -- from Page to Stage!

Click on the video below for a sneak preview. 

RSVP to: Events@kinkaid.org

What an awesome first month of school we've had. Click on the video below to see Dr. Martire's look back on September and preview the upcoming events in October. 

Over the weekend, the Middle School quiz bowl teams competed in the Viking Invasion II tournament at the Village School. 

In the Elementary Division, Kinkaid Team A was one of the four teams to qualify for the playoff, going on to win first place after defeating Harmony, Village and St. Thomas in the finals.

In the Middle School Division, Kinkaid Team A ended the weekend team losing a close match to St. John's in the semi-final round after being the first place seed out of 32 teams.

Congratulations to these students for their hard work and outstanding sportsmanship! Listed below are the student participants from this weekend’s event:

ELEMENTARY DIVISON (5th and 6th Grade):

Kinkaid A:  Joycie Brass '23, Canaan Estes '23, Jack Lemon '23, Stockton Lord '23, Will Pielop '23 -- FIRST PLACE

Kinkaid B:  Ammar Ali '24, Sid Agarwala '24, Clara Brown '23, Adam Behr '23, Hannah Jamail Herrick '23

MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION (7th and 8th Grade):

Kinkaid A: Connor Blake '22, Hallie Brass '22, Vedul Palavajjhala '22, Ethan Pintar '21, Ali Yousuf '22 --THIRD PLACE 

Kinkaid B:  Evan Gibson '22, Maddalena Horner '22, Adrián Riesgo-Zamudio '21, Jerry Restrepo '22, Mia Van De Mark '22

Kinkaid C:  Rivers Breeding '22, Vivian Finch '22, Henry Prendergast '22, Sammy Riesgo-Zamudio '22, Henry Segal '22

The Kinkaid debate team found great success last weekend at the Cypress Lakes High School tournament. Among the 43 schools in attendance, senior Vivian Liu and junior Jiva Ghei placed first and second respectively in the finals of Lincoln-Douglas (LD). Sophomore Jack Scofield also placed in the top 32 in LD. Lastly, Kinkaid's first year team of Karm Ghei and Sahar Punjwani placed in the quarterfinals (top 8) in the varsity policy debate.

Congratulations to these students on a great weekend and good luck moving forward!

Kinkaid's Upper School Theatre Company takes the stage this weekend with You Can’t Take It With You by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, kicking off the 2016-17 Fine Arts season. Originally written in 1936 as a form of comic relief from the Great Depression, the play tells a story of a young couple falling in love whose families couldn’t be more opposite from each other.
 
Veteran performer Ashton Lambert ‘17, who plays one of the lead roles, Tony Kirby, embraces the variety of the cast and how it has pushed them to grow as performers. “All of our characters are so different. They all have to have their little quirks about them so finding those quirks and also making it three generations of characters when we’re all the same age here is a really fun challenge,” says Lambert.
 
Eloise Detmering ’17, starring opposite Lambert as Alice Sycamore, relishes in the challenge of balancing out her ‘normal’ character in a family that’s not so normal. “The most fun part about playing Alice is finding ways in which her family’s weirdness and oddities carry through in her personality. Sometimes it can be hard to be the normal one and not get to play as much as the rest of the cast does,” says Detmering.
 
While much of the show focuses on comedy, the cast believes viewers can walk away having learned a few lessons. “I think the main one is that you should do what you want to do. People should do what they want to do and no matter what they think is societally following the status quo, they should make themselves happy,” says Lambert
 
Michelle Ludwig, Director of Drama at Kinkaid, notes how much fun the larger-than-average cast has had as they’ve prepared over that last seven weeks. “A rehearsal process can often take on the personality of the script we’re working on, and if our rehearsal process is any indication, this show will be full of joy, chaos, laugher, camaraderie and lots and lots of fun. It's been a very entertaining process,” she says.   
 
You Can’t Take It With You happens Saturday, October 15 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, October 16 at 2:00 p.m. in the Katz Performing Arts Center. Students can receive a complimentary ticket by presenting a student ID card at the box office within the hour prior to the performance. Community members can also purchase tickets through the Box Office by contacting them at box.office@kinkaid.org.

Hayden Rome, class of 2018 kicker on the Kinkaid Varsity Football team, has been selected by USA Football to represent the United States as the Kicker/Punter. Rome will be playing for the U.S. Under-18 National Team at the 2017 North American Championship against Team Canada. 

Rome was selected from a pool of over 10,000 athletes and Kinkaid could not be more proud of such an impressive honor. Varsity football coach and Interim Athletic Director, Nathan Larned shared this about Rome, “Hayden is the hardest working kicker I've been around. He's just a great all around athlete so kicking was something that he was naturally good at. However, he's only been truly working at it for a year or so.” Larned went on to say, “Hayden's potential is through the roof and he'll get there because of his exhausting work ethic and desire to be great at everything he does. He's a pretty remarkable young man.”

The game will be held on January 28, 2017 in Orlando, Florida at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex as part of the 2017 NFL Pro Bowl festivities and televised on ESPN. 

Congrats to Ethan Fang and Vivian Ye for being selected into the Region 23 of Honor Orchastras! Way to go! 

Kinkaid Orchestra students auditioned this month in the TMEA Region 23 competition. Out of hundreds of participants, Upper School students Kristine Yang ’17 (Violin) and Jonathan Mitchell ’20 (Bass) were both selected to be a part of the Philharmonic Honor Orchestra.

For Middle School, Ethan Fang ’21 (Violin) was selected to be a part of the Symphony Orchestra as 1^st chair, while Vivian Ye ’22 (Violin) was selected to be 6^th chair of the Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Region 23 Honor Orchestra concerts will be held at Cinco Ranch HS on Saturday, November 19th beginning at 5:00 p.m. MS and HS honor orchestras will be featured during this Regional concert.

Please send your congratulations to these talented students! 

The fall tournaments took on a new look this year by spanning over two weeks for first rounds through championship games. 

Our MS Cross Country teams were the first to compete last week and 8^th grader Alison Zhang (pictured left) led the way by finishing first place in the girls’ race with a time of 13:57. Victoria Gonzalez (7^th grade) set a personal record and finished in sixth place while Zoe Price (8^th grade) finished strong in seventh place with a time of 15:45. The Kinkaid girls’ team collected enough points to earn fourth place overall. The boys’ cross country team closed out their meet with an eighth place finish.

Monday night, our 8^th Grade Field Hockey team battled a strong St. John’s opponent to a 1-0 loss in the final play of the game and earned a third place finish. Our 8^th Grade Boys Volleyball team also fell to St. John’s in the semi-final match for a third place recognition. Last night, the 8^th Grade Football team defeated St. Francis 12-8 to win the third place title along with the help of the MS cheerleaders’ support all season long.

The 8^th Grade Purple Girls Volleyball team beat Village in two sets in the first round of play, then battled a strong John Cooper opponent with the second game going all the way to 29-27 before the Falcons earned a spot in the championship game. They played two close matches last night (19-25, 23-25) against St. Francis to earn the second place trophy.

Congratulations to ALL of our Middle School athletes on a fantastic fall season!  

It's been a busy month around campus! 
Please click on the video below to view Dr. Martire's October message. 

The annual Kinkaid Book Fair is almost here! On November 7th and 8th, the Melcher Gym will be transformed into an amazing bookstore.

Book Fair has books for all age levels as well as a selection of calendars, games and toys. There will also be a coffee/smoothie bar by Java Pura (KOA and cash accepted)! 

Find out all you need to know and more about Book Fair by checking out the offical page, here. 

Get excited about this awesome event by taking a look at the official Book Fair music video starring Gurple and your fellow teachers and students!

5th grade students, please follow the "Flipped Friday" schedule posted on your class room doors.

Have a wonderful Friday! 

Senior Chinaza Ndee has been named to the Honorable Mention team in the 11th annual Under Armour Girls High School All-American Program.  Ndee was selected by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) in a pool of over 600 nominations based on her senior season individual stats.

Ndee will join the Falcon Varsity Basketball in the winter before she heads off to play at the next level for the University of Pittsburgh in the fall. 

To read the full list of honorees, please click here.

The Kinkaid Middle School Quiz Bowl teams had another great weekend competing in Prep Bowl XLIII at Strake Jesuit. Over 62 teams were in attendance at Strake.

Eight of the 14 5th/6th grade teams went to the playoffs, and all three of our teams qualified. The 8th seed Kinkaid F lost to the 1st seed St. Thomas Episcopal in the first round, and the 3rd seed Kinkaid D battled it out with the 6th seed Kinkaid E and won by just a few points.  Our Kinkaid D team then lost a tough match to the 2nd seed Village team in round 11, ending the tournament in 3rd place.

Sixteen of the 26 7th/8th grade teams made it to the playoffs, and Kinkaid A was the 2nd seed. They defeated 15th seed AOS C, 7th seed TH Rogers A, 6th seed AOS A, and then lost a VERY close match to the 1st seed St John's A team in the semi-final round. They went home with the second place trophy.

Thanks for congratulating the following kids on being great teammates and strong competitors!

ELEMENTARY LEVEL:
Kinkaid D:  Joycie Brass '23, Canaan Estes '23, Jack Lemon '23, Stockton Lord '23, Will Pielop '23 -- 3rd seed
 
Kinkaid E:  Siddarth Agarwala '24, Ammar Ali '24, Ian Kim '23, Eric Wang '24, Peyton Young '24 -- 6th seed

Kinkaid F: Clara Brown '23, Hannah Jamail-Herrick '23, Sarah Grace Raynes '23, Soha Sewani '23 -- 8th seed

MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVEL:
Kinkaid A: Connor Blake '22, Hallie Brass '22, Vedul Palavajjhala '22, Ethan Pintar '21 -- 2nd seed --SECOND PLACE
 
Kinkaid B: Adrián Riesgo-Zamudio '21, Sammy Riesgo-Zamudio '22, Henry Segal '22, Mia Van De Mark '22  (22nd place)

Kinkaid C:  Rivers Breeding '22, Henry Prendergast '22, Jerry Restrepo '22, Ali Yousuf '22  (18th place)

A big congratulations goes out to the Varsity Girls Cross Country team, who dominated the SPC Championships in Austin over the weekend. Winning the title with a three point advantage over Greenhill, the Girls Varsity team ran away with the SPC trophy. In addition to winning SPC, the team also won the South Zone Championships. Bravo on a job well done!

SPC  

Camila Vicens                     18:26              2nd  All SPC Honors
Mikela McCauley                 19:18              6th   All SPC Honors
Alexandra Blake                  19:44              9th   All SPC Honors
Ali Ammons                         19:53             10th  All SPC Honors
Lindsey Ho                          20:43             22nd
Caroline Keller                     21:00              26th
Margaret Durning                21:54              44th
Audrey Ho                          22:28             56th
Jordan Jafarnia                   22:40              61st
AnaClare Solé                    23:23              73rd

South Zone

Camila Vicens             18:28                          1st
Ali Ammons                19:46                          3rd
Alexandra Blake          20:24                          6th
Caroline Keller            20:28                          7th
Lindsey Ho                  20:38                         9th
Margaret Durning        21:21                         23rd
Audrey Ho                   23:03                        42nd   
Rebecca Noel             23:16                          43rd

A BIG congratulations to our MS Choir, Band and Orchastra students who performed this past week! We are very proud of you!

Jason Boué ('21) - 8th chair Trombone; Region

Christopher Gardner ('21) - 2nd chair Horn; Region

Eliot Gottsegen ('21) - 2nd chair Bass Clarinet; Region

Stephanie Han ('23) - 3rd chair Flute; Region

Tommy Holstead ('21) - 4th chair Euphonium; Region

Anthony Treistman ('21) - 1st chair Tenor Sax; Region