WHS student wins scholarship in essay contest; 11 high school students across county awarded
Daily Light report
On Sunday, April 25, the Rebecca Boyce Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution held its annual Good Citizen Patriots’ Tea at the First Baptist Church in Waxahachie. Regent Vicki Williams welcomed the 75 members, guests and honorees in attendance.
Each high school in Ellis County was invited to choose their Good Citizen. This student exemplifies leadership, dependability, service and patriotism in their homes, schools and communities. Teachers and peers select the students because they demonstrate these qualities to an outstanding degree.
Once a student is chosen as the DAR Good Citizen from their school, they are invited to participate in the scholarship portion of the program. This consists of a personal statement and an essay about our American heritage and the responsibility of preserving it for future generations. A $1,000 scholarship is awarded to
WHS nominated for 9 Dallas Summer Musicals awards
Ashley Ford
WISD Communications Specialist
Waxahachie High School was nominated in nine categories at the Dallas Summer Musicals High School Theatre Awards for its winter production of “Matilda.”
The 2021 Dallas Summer Musicals High School Theatre Award nominations received by WHS include:
Best Musical
Best Orchestra
Best Direction
The opportunity to perform in a COVID year was a blessing in itself, even though the virus had the potential to cancel the performance in its entirety.
Just one week before showtime, the original student cast for Miss Trunchbull could not perform due to a family exposure to COVID. WHS senior Anthony Gallo was challenged to fill the vacant role even though he had already developed the character Rodolpho, an eccentric dancer. Gallo a first-year musical theater participant immersed himself into the new lead role and persevered to learn the lines, songs, and choreography in just one week.
Trustees discuss ways to achieve better communication with community
Waxahachie Daily Light
The failure of the Waxahachie Independent School District bond election at the polls on May 1 leaves the WISD board of trustees facing what to do next.
The proposed $127 million bond referendum was soundly rejected, with 3,861 votes against to 2,897 votes for. Monday night was the first regular monthly meeting since the balloting, and board members agreed that the district needs better communication with the community.
Newly-installed WISD board secretary Melissa Starnater said the district needs to survey the community and seek out best practices from other parts of the state in order to make the next bond issue work. One suggestion she made was to break future bond votes down into propositions, which she said seemed to fare better in other school districts.
Suspected tornado flips vehicles, blocks traffic; several injuries reported
Waxahachie Daily Light
Severe thunderstorms containing a suspected tornado raked across Ellis County on Monday night, resulting in damage and contributing to a major accident on Interstate 35E south of Waxahachie.
At least three tractor-trailers were overturned on I-35E near Johnson Road at about 8:50 p.m. Television footage from storm chasers showed the big rigs in the southbound lanes having pushed the center barrier into the northbound lanes, with one overturned trailer completely blocking the northbound lanes. Some cars were able to bypass the wreck by driving onto the grassy shoulder.