Presbyterian Pan American School

February 26, 2017 •VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 4• KINGSVILLE, TX 78363

Eagle X-Press

Boys basketball season comes to a closeby Leonardo GarzaStaff Writer

Alumni baseball game rescheduled

by Sharis Del CarmenStaff Writer

Girls basketball season ends

Staff Writerby Paulina Boudesocque

by Maylin DiazStaff Writer

Students visit Mo Ranch Pennies for Patients to kick off in March

Eagles 4H receives ‘Herdsman Award’by Hannia SanchezStaff Writer

The boys and girls basketball teams had their last game of the season against Juan Diego Academy in Mission on Feb. 9.

35 students attended Mo Ranch Leadership Conference Feb. 17-19.

Photo provided by:www.gcmsk12.org

Photo provided by: PPAS FB

At Presbyterian Pan Ameri-can School, it has become a tradition going to a place called Mo-Ranch. On Febru-ary 17, students left campus to go on a three day trip, to finally reach Hunt, and en-joy a different experience.

According to moranch.org, “The mission of Presbyte-rian Mo-Ranch Assembly is to foster growth in God through Jesus Christ by shar-ing its unique living, learn-ing, Christian environment.”

Mo-Ranch is a Christian con-ference center and summer camp that is open to the pub-lic for spiritual retreats, wed-dings, vacations, school field trips, and even family reunions.

“It was a unique experi-ence that helps you be a bet-ter person in your daily basis, and as well helps you improve your skills in your own way,” said Senior Sara Mendoza.

This year, 35 students were selected by Pastor Mary Rog-ers Ellsworth and Principal Ellie Perez. As usual, three staff members accompanied the students to this trip. This year it was Bible Teacher Charles Lillie, School Nurse Anna Mireles, School Presi-dent Dr. Doug Dalglish and

Dorm Parent Tamra Ellsworth. “I think it is a good opportu-

nity for the kids to get out from the technological world, and experience nature and work with one another,” Mireles said.

Since 1949, Mo-Ranch has served as a sacred and trans-formative place for those who retreat to the Hill Country

Next month, starting on March 2, Pres-byterian Pan Ameri-can School’s (PPAS) faculty and students will participate do-nating pennies to the Pennies for Pa-tients foundation.According to the

Leukemia & Lym-phoma Society’s Studentseries.org, “Pennies for Patients is a three-week pro-gram for Elementary and Middle Schools where students col-lect change and raise funds online while learning about service and philanthropy.”The money collected

by each school helps patients that suffer from leukemia, lym-phoma and other can-cer related diseases.PPAS Principal, El-

lie Perez said that PPAS has been par-ticipating in the pen-nies for patients pro-gram for 14 years.“We began partici-

pating in Pennies for Patients to help raise

for worship, fellowship, relaxation and renewal, at this special place along the banks of the crystal-clear Guadalupe River.

“It was exciting to try this new activity called rope wwing, which consists of the team pulling a rope to get you to the top, then you need to let go of the rope in order to start swinging around like you are in a giant swing,” said Junior Oliver Iracheta.

Mo-Ranch Summer Camp is a place where students will grow in character, faith and confidence through meaning-ful relationships in a Christ-centered natural setting.

“Everything that Mo-Ranch helped me to develop will be useful in my future. It taught me how to work as a team, have patience, communication and even defeat my own fears,” said Senior Fernanda Vargas.

Presbyterian Pan American School (PPAS) Lady Eagles’ basketball team played two games recently. One was on February 2nd and they lost, 14-28. The other game was on February 6th and lost with a score of, 27-36.“Both games were lost,

but the team gave their best effort,” said Se-nior Fernanda Vargas.The games were at the

Harte Center at PPAS and started at 5:00 p.m. “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them. Some people want it to happen, some wish it would hap-pen, other make it,” said Coach Ryan Martinez.

“A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist,” said Senior Astrid Saldana.On February 6th, the

Lady Eagles played against South Texas Christian Academy (STCA). At the begin-ning of the game, the STCA girls were scor-ing a lot of points. Later

the Lady Eagles started to score, but it was not enough and they lost. “It was a hard game,

we had to give the best of us. We focused on the practices,” Vargas said.On February 2nd, the

Lady Eagles played against Brownsville 1st Baptist Crusaders. Se-nior Henriette Mbawm-baw scored the first basket. At the first half there was no improve-ment, and then the Lady Eagles started to grow stronger and put points on the scoreboard. “They are a really good

team even when you mess up like missing a basket, you still get a lot of support,” said Junior Tabitha Barakagwira.

On February 4, 2017, the annu-al alumni base-ball game was scheduled to take place at Presbyte-rian Pan American School (PPAS-but was cancelled due to weather. “Wet grass would have gotten the baseballs wet. A baseball is very slip-pery and it’s hard to throw accurately which makes it dan-gerous,” said Coach Hardy Robertson.

Senior Jesus Perez said he was really excited to have his first game and he couldn’t believe when Robertson told him it was can-celled and people started to leave. Perez said he felt frustrated but there was nothing to do. The game was re-scheduled for Febru-ary 25, one day after Eagles’ first game.Robertson said that he felt disappoint-ed when he found out they weren’t

going to play and that the players still wanted to play.“The news of the wet field and being unable to play re-ally upset me. The good thing is that the game was not totally cancelled, it was simply re-scheduled, so that gives us more time to improve in areas we need more work on. It was still very good to see past se-niors back together as a family,” said Se-nior Luis Martinez.

This new bas-ketball season is coming to an end. During this sea-son, the Presby-terian Pan Amer-ican School’s (PPAS) boys’ bas-ketball team, led by Coach Mat-thew Mayorga, went through a lot of progress dur-ing the season.17-year-old new-

comer Fernando Ruiz, who was only part of the team for the last month of the sea-son, said that dur-ing his time as part of the team

he could see the little improve-ments that surged through time. Ruiz pointed out

that he noticed the team’s improve-ment during one of their games against South Texas Chris-tian Academy on February 6th. “It has been

a nice season and I hope next year will be bet-ter, even though I’m not coming back,” Ruiz said.Coach Mayor-

ga said that this season was good

overall, the team members got bet-ter every day and had to prove since the very first game.“I have a lot of

hope for the next season, with four of my five start-ers returning,” Mayorga said.This season,

the basketball team had a total of twelve games through the sea-son, against schools like Juan Diego Academy, Corpus Christi Wings, First Bap-tist School, etc. .

2016-2017 Eagles 4H members.

2016-2017 Girls basketball team.

Photo provided by: Reili Cantu

Fourteen members, eleven lambs, and five months of preparation for one final event. The Kleberg-Kenedy County Junior Livestock Show started Wednesday February 1st. The 4-H team, sponsored by Niki Tijerina, represented Presby-terian Pan American School (PPAS) in the annual contest.

The 4-H team is composed by high school students from different nationalities that work together for one tar-get and brought significant places in their respectives categories. The club is com-posed by lamb owners and supporters. It is composed by Seniors, Leonardo Tremari, Jaime Sarmiento and Leo De la Fuente. Juniors, Saida Castrellon and Oliver Ira-cheta. Sophomores, Daniela Lara, Angelita Mireles, Omar Ortiz, Oscar Bugarin, Julio Galvan, and Alvaro Barrios.

Freshmen, Fidel Canseco, Re-gina Cano and Cristian Pena.

They all competed in one of the following cat-egories: ‘Down Wool Cross’ and Medium Wool Cross.

In Down Wool cross Gal-van got 1st place, Mire-les won 4th, Lara won 3rd and Tremari got 5th.

In Medium Wool Cross, De la Fuente won 4th . Irach-eta won 2nd. Bugarin won 2nd , Barrios won 3rd , Can-

seco won 3rd, Cano won 3rd and Pena got 1st place.

They worked all the year un-til the registration day came and the following three days.

The members registered their lambs on Wednesday, February 1. Then, the follow-ing day they performed to see if they qualified and covered all the criteria to participate in the selling. Finally, on Sat-urday the sale took place and the winners were proclaimed.

“This livestock was excit-ing. We gave our best and that make me happy,” said Mireles, 4-H Sophomore President .

The team achieved to gain a special acknowledgement for having the cleanest pins in the competition called ‘The Herdsman Award’ as a club in the Lamb Division. Also, Sophomores Lara and Mireles were selected for the ‘Live-stock Show Judging Contest’.

“I really enjoyed this contest. It is an experience that I would never forget. It is more than raising lambs, it is becoming part of a new family who looks for a common goal,” Lara said.

In the end, the judges declared a new winner.

“We play with them, we nourish them, we raise them and prepare them for whatever their fate is,” said Junior Oliver Iracheta.

In the meantime, they have said that their next goal is to get the Grand Champion title.

by Antonio RuizStaff Writer

money for the So-ciety to be a part of helping them find a cure. It is a small donation that we do since it is mostly all student raised but every effort helps. It is great to be a part of something life changing. It also helps us realize that there is always some-one that could use a little more help. It is good to be serving others in their time of need,” Perez said.Although no prize

is awarded to the school that collected more money by the foundation, PPAS does offer a pizza party to the class who collects the most pennies at the end of the three weeks.“It is important for

us to help people with diseases because we will never know when we would be the ones looking for help,” said Stu-dent Council Presi-dent Jesus Perez.

Photo by: Michelle Day

Photo provided by: Niki Tijerina

FEATURES & OPINION

Students gather to watch Superbowl LIby Hope ShobhaStaff Writer

Eagles X-Press Staff: Adviser, Desiree Alegria. Paulina Boudesocque, Ana Karen Campuzano, Michelle Day, Sharis Del Carmen, Maylin Diaz, Leo Garza, Naisel Montalvo, Antonio Ruiz, Hannia Sanchez, Hope Shobha.

by Naisel MontalvoStaff Writer

Juniors participate in community service projectby Michelle DayStaff Writer

by Ana Karen CampuzanoStaff Writer

by Ana Karen CampuzanoStaff Writer

Choir travels to Georgetown

by: Antonio RuizStaff Writer

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

NHS member named Student of the Month

Students celebrate Valentine’s Day

Photo by: Antonio Ruiz

Senior Marianee Canales.

Students in Mi-chael Verderber’s junior seminar class are working on a year-long project of social services. Verderber’s purpose for the project is to have resume build-ing college prepara-tion and to develop beneficial habits for the betterment of our community.“By instilling good

character traits, we are helping students

become more active in their community by strengthening their own charac-ter,” Verderber said . Many students

have been helped out by these ju-niors, as well as teachers and staff. “I have helped my

friend study for U.S. History class and I have worked on the weekend, help-ing Ms. Jennifer Ortega in the bank,” said Miel Lee, 17-year-old junior.

Photo by: Ana Karen Campuzano

On February 3, Dr. Doug Dalglish, school president, welcomed the newest mem-bers of the Presby-terian Pan American School (PPAS) Board of Trustees to cam-pus for an orientation session visiting the girls’ dorm and other places like the main building.They had a tour of the campus, met with staff, and learned more about the mission of the school and teachers. “They all are volun-

teers that volunteer their time to make the school as best as it can be,” Dalglish, said.On February 3, they

had the first Board of Trustees Meet-ing of the year and a social gathering.Teachers introduced

themselves and gave a little history about them. They explained what attracted them to PPAS and the rea-sons that helped them to be here teaching. “They [Board of

Trustees] help the school by support-ing faculty and staff in their decisions and responsibili-ties,” said Ellie Per-ez, school principal.They meet three

times a year and one of them is at graduation in May.“I believe that the

Board of Trustees is called to oversee the school and do all they can to make it a wonderful educa-tional experience for all students,” said Tamra Ellsworth, girls’ dorm director.

P r e s b y t e r i a n Pan American School’s choir performed at First Presbyterian Church-George-town on February 11 and 12, 2017.“Going to a choir

trip is the best ex-perience in life because you get to learn many things on how oth-ers worship and praise God,” said Nadine Karaba-ranga, 17-year-old junior.The choir mem-

bers were able to perform three songs which were, I will rise and go to Jesus, We will worship the Lord and Christ

be in my waking. “During my free

time while on the choir trip, I got to talk with people I met about the school and our spiritual life,” said Ana Karen Santiago, 16-year-old junior. Choir trips are

important to the school because they build a strong relationship with the church that donates money to the school said Joe Garcia, choir director.While on a choir

trip as a choir member you get the opportunity to meet new peo-ple and worship God with a dif-ferent audience, Karabaranga said.

The Super Bowl is the annual fi-nal game of the National Football League (NFL) sea-son, in which the NFL Champion-ship is disputed. This year, the two

teams that made it to the Super Bowl were the New Eng-land Patriots and the Atlanta Fal-cons. The game was held in the NGR stadium in Houston, Texas on Sunday, February 5th. In the end, the New England Patri-ots beat the Atlanta Falcons with a final score of 34 – 28.

Students from Presbyterian Pan American School (PPAS) gathered in the New SUB to watch the game and have a great evening while enjoying a meal prepared by the kitchen staff which

according to Din-ing Hall Director, Marlene Zamora; had to start to be prepared the week before the game.Each year, stu-

dents from PPAS enjoy a little bit of this American tra-dition while shar-

ing the experience with one another. “The activity

was fun because, even though my team lost, I still watched the game with my friends and had a good time before going back to school,” said Sophomore Rodrigo Chapa.“Students were

able to hang out to-gether and enjoy a good game of foot-ball experiencing some of the tradi-tional American education and life in high school,” said Student Coun-cil Vice-President Sara Mendoza.

Love is in the air for the Presbyte-rian Pan Ameri-can School (PPAS) students. The stu-dents celebrated Valentine´s Day by throwing a dance on Feb. 10 at the Stu-dent Union Build-ing (SUB) organized by the school´s Campus Ministry.The celebrations

started on Tues-day morning when the seniors deliv-ered chocolates, brownies, can-dies, roses and

Once again, stu-dents of Presby-terian Pan Ameri-can School (PPAS) prove to us that dedication and hard work is an impor-tant key to success and to accomplish one´s goals. Senior Marianee Canales, from Valle Hermo-so, has been select-ed as Student of the Month for February.“I couldn´t believe

when they told me I was selected. This means so much to me,” Canales said.Canales participates

in many of PPAS activities includ-ing National Honor

Society, Ambassa-dors, track & field and basketball. She is also enrolled in the school´s dual credit program, cur-rently attending college classes at Coastal Bend Col-lege (CBC). She

is taking English, Economics and Al-gebra this semester.“I have been work-

ing really hard to get here. To me, it isn´t that much about the grades as it is to learn new things that will help me later in

Students are re-quired to help oth-ers or their environ-ment at least once a month. At the end of the month, they submit their finished work on a piece of paper with a statement and sig-nature of the per-son they helped. “I like this proj-

ect because helping other people makes you more respon-sible,” Lee said. Juniors will be

working on this

Board of Trustees meeting held

other treats to the students.“I sent roses to all my friends because they

always support me and are there for me in the hard times,” said Paulina Longoria, a junior. Senior boys even per-

formed serenades for students.

“I think this is a really good way to tell somebody the way you feel about them,” said Juan Vasquez, part of the serenades group.During the dance

that took place Fri-day, Feb. 10 in the evening, stu-dents danced and sang along to the love songs played.“I had a lot of fun

at the dance. I really liked the music they played and I had a lot of fun with my friends,” said Jaime Sarmiento, a senior.

Photo provided by: Fernando RuizStudents enjoyed candy, flowers, balloons and serenades

for Valentine’s Day.

project for the rest of the semester. They are also currently working on a pre-

sentation about ac-ceptance in group. “This project is

about doing some-thing to help others without a reward. I have helped my classmate when they were injured and in a wheel-chair by taking her backpack and oth-er stuff to class,” said Angie Rivera, 18-year-old junior.

my future education. I have learned a lot of things here at Pan Am,” Canales said.She identifies hard

work and dedica-tion as the main factors of success.“I believe that with

hard work and dedi-cation anyone can be Student of the Month. They also will help us ac-complish our goals in life and get to where we want to be,” Canales said. For now, her plans

are to keep focus-ing on school and do her best to en-joy her last months at PPAS until she graduates this May.

Photo provided by: PPAS FBThe PPAS Board of Trustees met Feb. 3 & 4 on campus.

Photo provided by: PPAS FB

PPAS Choir performed at First Presbyterian Church in Georgetown.

Students gathered at the SUB to watch Superbowl LI.