Sabine Pass sets its sights on state meet, 10th championship title

Six of the school's UIL academic teams -- One-Act Play, Accounting, Calculator Applications, Computer Science, Literary Criticism and Social Studies -- and 15 students advanced to state from the Region IV AA competition, held April 21-22 in Corpus Christi. 

The school won sweepstakes with 299 points -- more than 50 points ahead of second place competitor, Mason High School. This earns Sabine Pass their 11th consecutive region title, according to Principal and UIL Coordinator Andy Bates.

Sabine Pass students advancing to State:

• Ty Schaller in Accounting, Calculator Applications, Computer Science, Mathematics, Number Sense
• Soleil Tran in Accounting, Calculator Applications
• Hazel Mistry in Literary Criticism
• Alexander Jackson in Social Studies
• Hang Bui in Spelling

"Competition was fierce, as expected, since the top overall runners-up at state have come from this region in the last few years," he said.

Over the next couple of weeks, students will study their materials and practice their lines, each aiming to earn the coveted distinction of being one of Texas' top academic competitors.

Regardless of the outcome of the competition, the Sharks have worked hard this year and have more than their fair share of plaques to prove it. In the school's front office Wednesday, the plaques that donned the table outside of Bates' office when this series began in February already had been replaced by another dozen or so that the teams have won since.

History in the making

For Social Studies sponsor Zachary Defrancis, the experience is almost a full-circle moment. 

Defrancis, who also serves as the middle school history teacher, tennis and speech and debate coach, knows what it takes to win. Not too long ago, he himself was on Sabine Pass' UIL Social Studies team, at that time led by Bates. The year of his graduation from the school, 2012, is when the school's record of overall state championships began.

"I was really happy to come back here and work with some of my former teachers and also make an impact and help kids just like me do really well and excel in these events," he said, adding that it was intimidating to take over Social Studies from Bates, who had six championships under his belt by that point. "I knew what it took, but coming in with brand new kids and a brand new topic every year, it's always daunting to build it up. But I've luckily had success and every year I've been here, we've won the state championship again."

If they take home the gold this year, it will be the school's 12th consecutive Social Studies title, Defrancis said. But they do have tough competition. On the back white board of his classroom, there's a list of the competitors' and Sabine Pass' own scores -- they're all within about five points of each other.

"We're all neck and neck with these other schools. So, it's anyone's game," he said. "I tell the kids, 'We can work really hard and excel and maybe beat these guys, or we can lay back and let them get past us.' This is the closest I've ever seen, both in my years as an educator and my years as a student. We've been putting in a lot of work every day now after school at practice."

Social Studies requires a lot of practice. It's a unique contest because it changes every year, Defrancis said. 

"Every year, it's a brand new topic over some sort of history, social studies-related event in the world," he said. "This year, our topic is the 1920s -- Prohibition, music, art, culture, getting into the Great Depression and serious things like the (Ku Klux Klan) and racial issues and immigration issues of the time."

While changing topics keeps the contest interesting, it also keeps it challenging, Defrancis said. The contest itself is comprised of a 45-question multiple choice exam with three sections. The first section covers basic terms, events and people related to the topic, while the second section focuses on a chosen book. Section three focuses on primary sources such as laws, documents and speeches.

"It's a very time-intensive event to really prepare for and do well," he said. "After the multiple choice, there's also an essay portion, which has a random question about something related to the event that the kids have to write on. The multiple choice score decides the team score and decides whose essays get graded -- the top eight (scorers have their essays read). Once they grade the essays, they add that to the objective score and that's how they decide first place (and so on)."

In Defrancis' classroom after school Wednesday, juniors Lashly DeLuna, Alexander Jackson and Sophie Tarver, who will all be at the state meet, were creating magnets that will eventually be used to create a giant timeline for the team to study.

For DeLuna, joining the Social Studies team was two-fold: she liked history and she had nothing else to do.

"History was always one of my favorite (subjects) to learn because it was like a storybook," she said.

For Jackson, it was a chance to try something new. Plus, Defrancis was one of his favorite teachers in middle school. Tarver intends to continue studying history in college and said that UIL has only opened her eyes to new topics to learn.

"When I was in U.S. History last year, we didn't really go into detail about the 1920s," she said. "We didn't learn most of the things we're learning (through UIL) -- we're learning more than we ever would have any way else."

Yes, there's some anxiety amongst the students as they prepare for the May 17 and 18 competition, but the close scores make them want to try harder, Tarver said.

"It would mean a lot to us to win state," Jackson said. "(To say) out of hundreds of kids, dozens of teams that we won, that'd be incredible."

A team effort

As successful as many of the school's UIL academic teams have been in the past decade, One-Act Play arguably started it all for Sabine Pass. Before sponsor Chris Rector came to the school, the program already made a name for itself.

Longtime community support for the theater is one of the reasons One-Act Play has been so successful for the school, he said. The school's theater is named after former Sabine Pass director Frankie Schexnayder, who helped make the program what it is today.

This year will mark the school's 20th appearance in the state meet for One-Act Play. Rector has led the program for the past seven years and said he knew he had "big shoes to fill" when he first took the job.

If there was ever a team UIL academic event, it is One-Act Play. 

Schools pick one from an approved list of plays and a team of up to 24 students has to create its set, lighting and act out the show all under 40 minutes -- with only seven minutes to assemble the set. Students present the same production throughout the entire season, which essentially starts in the playoffs, Rector said. Heading into the state competition, Sabine Pass has already advanced from the District, Bi-district, Area and Region levels.

Just two productions from each region make it to state. Sabine Pass will be joined at the Austin Performing Arts Center May 5 by Mason High School, and only one team will come out on top.

Even with their past success, Rector said it's never guaranteed. The contest is ultimately subjective and the other schools work hard, too. 

"Nothing's ever given," he said. 

This year, Sabine Pass is presenting "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," which they've been working on for more than four months at this point.

"The majority (of the competition) is an acting contest," Rector said. "But (the judges) do look at the entire play as it's put together. The play's been going well, we got a lot of good feedback. It's a difficult play, especially for that lead character. There's so much nuance and subtlety and conflict that happens within that character (the priest, in this adaptation)."

The key to competition is more about dedication, as opposed to sheer talent, Rector said.

"I always tell (the students), 'You can never know if you're going to have the most talent, but you have control over whether or not you're the hardest working group,'" he said. "If you work hard, you always put yourself in the running, at least."

And these students work hard. It's hard to only wear one hat at Sabine Pass, as a student or a teacher. Many students who compete in UIL do so in multiple events, often in addition to participating in other extracurricular activities such as sports and just keeping up with daily school work.

"We spend probably eight hours a week working on the show here (at school), but then they have to continue to work on things at home because we're not going to have enough time just here at school to do what they need to do," Rector said. "It's like with any other academic event, they've got to go home and continue to work on it, continue studying."

UIL theater consists of more than just One-Act Play. Sabine Pass also competes in Film and Theatrical Design, which the same group of students have been participating in at the same time. In fact, just days before they're set to perform One-Act at state, two of the show's main actors will be participating in the Theatrical Design state meet on May 2 and 3.

On the surface, theater might not seem particularly "academic." But Rector said the multitude of skills students must utilize to be successful carries beyond the stage.

"When people think about acting, they think you just get up there and do it," he said. "But there's so much going on and you're sitting there -- remembering your lines and where you're supposed to move and what props you're supposed to be doing and why is your character doing this -- all these different things are happening at once."

Additionally, being able to stand in front of a crowd of people and perform will always be a useful skill, Rector said.

"That will always be a skill that will come in handy for someone, just that ability to get up in front of people and talk," he said. "And you see the growth (in the students) as they go through (the competitions)."

That growth in confidence is seen in one of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" leads, senior Caleb Daniels, who plays Claude Frollo.

"If you told me several years ago that he'd be doing this part, I probably wouldn't believe it because he was just so quiet," Rector said. "But he gets out of his shell and he just continues to grow and now he's grown to the point that he's doing things and working on parts that I didn't even think that he would do."

Many students join theater thinking they'll only work in crew positions and then later find themselves earning top distinctions for their lead acting performances, Rector said.

"It's neat to see them grow," he said. "I think a lot of people look at theater in small schools and they expect it to be less than what the bigger schools can do. And granted, bigger schools will have a lot of times bigger budgets and more students, but (smaller schools) can work just as hard. Some of the best shows I've seen have come out of the smaller divisions."

Daniels credits his co-lead, senior Claire Londenberg, who plays Esmeralda, for inspiring him to get involved in theater. 

"I wanted to do crew -- everybody did," he said. "But as the years go on and you get more comfortable, I like it a lot more now."

Londenberg on the other hand comes from a theatrical family. In fact, her older brother previously earned the top acting distinction at UIL state and her younger brother, freshman Abram Ramon, plays alongside her in their current production as Quasimodo.

But the Theatrical Design competition is new for her. She's competing in the Marketing division, in which she has to create marketing materials for a chosen show. This year, it's Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein."

"Marketing...it's not something that I would ever have found an interest in," she said. "But I did Theatrical Design for makeup my freshman year and walking around state, I started looking at all the other people's marketing projects (and) I was like, 'Oh, I want to do that.' It's something that I really fell in love with and I'm actually going to go to college for marketing, it really opened my eyes. At a bigger school, I might not have had the opportunity to try a bunch of different things, I probably would have just stayed with theater."

Daniels is also competing at the Theatrical Design state meet in Set Design. He was working on his project Wednesday in Rector's classroom, gluing and connecting pieces of his set together.

"I do like designing things and architecture, so I thought design might be a good route to go," he said. "I just thought it'd be fun."

For their projects, Daniels and Londenberg have to related "Frankenstein" to modern audiences in a way that is still relevant to them, Rector said.

"(For marketing), you have to create a poster, a program that has to be four to eight pages and three campaign specialties," Londenberg said. "One that I did was create a trailer for the show. With my background in film, that really helped. I wanted to involve the community and hit the younger audiences so I did a story competition...and an art competition where people could create their own monster."

The group has just under a week before they go on stage, but Rector said his students should be proud whatever the outcome may be.

"This is it, this is the end of the road," he said. "There's no reason to hold anything back -- just give everything you've got and just be proud of what you did when you get off that stage. Whatever happens, happens because it's out of your hands. It's three people's opinions and as long as you're happy with what you're able to do, (then) that's the best you could do."

Daniels and Londenberg are excited about the trip, of course, and excited that it's their senior year, which makes everything a little more special. But perhaps what they're most looking forward to is putting "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" on for their school and family members to see, which they will do once they come back from state.

"(The school) and our parents will be able to see what we've been working on this whole time," Daniels said.

As the trio of actors, Londenberg, Daniels and Ramon rehearsed a scene in the theater Wednesday with Rector directing, a glance down at an open notebook read as such: "Notes 4 State: Be better."

But that might be difficult, because they're already so good.

olivia.malick@hearst.com