Dripping Springs High School students receive accolades at UIL competitions

Four Dripping Springs High School (DSHS) theatre students earned honors at the One-Act Play bi-district competition on March 24 at Rouse High School in Leander.

Senior Rory Schaeffer-Preston and junior Ben Muscanere were named to the All-Star Cast, while senior Colton Carroll was selected as an honorable mention actor. Best Technician went to sophomore Kinsey Silcox.

The DSHS production of “Woyzeck” claimed the District 26-5A OAP competition earlier in March and was named a regional alternate at the bidistrict contest.

The UIL One-Act Play contest is a competition where similarly sized Texas schools present an 18-40 minute play and may be adjudicated by a panel of three judges or a single judge. At each level of competition, a judge awards individual acting awards as well as selecting three productions to advance to the next level of competition up to the regional level where only two will advance to the state competition. In a separate competition,

DSHS speech and debate students posted strong performances at the UIL CX Debate State

Tournament and the Texas Forensics Association (TFA) State Tournament held virtually over Spring Break. Senior Jackson Kaiser and junior Katherine Mihaly placed second at state in CX Debate to highlight the competitions.

This year’s CX Debate topic was Resolved: The United States federal government should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the United States in one or more of the following: forensic science, policing, sentencing. Kaiser and Mihaly competed against 27 other teams from across the state. They qualified for the state tournament after winning the district meet in January.

Kaiser and Mihaly also competed in the TFA State Tournament, advancing to the double octofinal round in Policy Debate. In addition, Eli Craddock advanced to the semifinal round in Humorous Interpretation. A total of 10 DSHS students qualified for the TFA State Tournament.