Athens ISD

Attention Senior Parents! Time is running out to order a yearbook! And don't forget to celebrate a senior's journey with a personalized ad in the yearbook! Senior ads are the perfect way to honor their achievements, share pride, and give them a keepsake they'll cherish forever. 💡 Why purchase a senior ad? ✔️ Highlight your senior’s accomplishments ✔️ Share heartfelt messages and favorite photos ✔️ Give them a lasting memory of this milestone ⏳ Deadline to purchase ads: March 7 📍 Order now at: yearbookordercenter.com. School code: 6927 Space is limited, so don’t wait! Let’s make this year’s yearbook unforgettable! 🎉📸 #SeniorAds #ClassOf2025 #MemoriesThatLast

👉 If your student receives special education services through an IEP, they may be eligible for a one-time $1,500 grant through the Parent-Directed Special Education Services (PDSES) program! Use the grant for: 📚 Books, laptops, tablets and school supplies 🎨 Sensory & therapeutic items 📖 Tutoring, therapy, social skills classes, and more! 🗓 Application deadline is March 31, 2025. First come, first served! 🔗 Apply & Learn More: https://bit.ly/pdsesGrant

🎉 We're putting the spotlight on the very wonderful Henry Thornton. Mr. Thornton, a former teacher and principal at another district, volunteered for 14 years(!) at Athens High School. He served as a student liaison by befriending hundreds of students — showing kind interest in their lives and encouraging them toward their futures. While he's been absent from the building a few years now, Mr. Thornton still cheers on many of the students he connected with, as well as the staff. We miss you, Mr. Thornton, and we THANK YOU! ❤️👏 #HornetNation

🏆 AHS Debate Dominates! Off to Nationals! 🐝 This past weekend, our Hornet debaters brought their A-game to the National Speech & Debate District Qualifier in Longview. Seniors Cooper Rich and Isaac Hoch took 🥇1st place in Policy Debate, and junior Regan Head earned 🥇1st place in Big Questions Debate—securing their spots at the National Speech & Debate Tournament! 🏆 Our talented underclassmen made some noise too! Sophomores Liam Tinsley and Ariel Silas finished 🥉3rd in Policy Debate (1st alternates to nationals), and freshman Camden Garner placed 🏅4th in U.S. Extemporaneous Speaking (1st alternate). To top it all off, Coach Will Honea was honored as 🏆 NSDA District Coach of the Year! 👏 Huge congratulations to our incredible debaters and coach! 📸 Pictured (back row, from left) Camden Garner, Liam Tinsley, Ariel Silas, and (front, from left) Isaac Hoch, Regan Head and Cooper Rich. 🐝 #RoadToNationals #AHSDebate

🏀🔥 Our 12-0 boys basketball team is headed to the bi-district playoffs! 💪 Athens takes on Pine Tree TOMORROW—Tuesday, Feb. 18, at 6 PM at Wagstaff Gym, Tyler Junior College. (We're the visiting team.) Tickets are $5 for adults & students, and passes are accepted. Get yours online at the link below or at the gate; TJC is card-only! To purchase online: Click the link, scroll down to "HS Playoffs First Round," find Pine Tree vs. Athens, and hit "Get Tickets." Let’s pack the stands, wear our maroon, and cheer our Hornets on to victory! 👏🐝 #HornetNation 🔗 https://www.apacheathletics.com/tickets

🔥🏀 PLAYOFF TIME! The undefeated district champion Hornet boys basketball team (12-0) is headed to the bi-district playoffs! 💪 Athens takes on Pine Tree on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 6pm at Wagstaff Gym, Tyler Junior College. We're the visiting team. Tickets are $5 for adults and students, and passes will be accepted. Let’s pack the stands, wear our maroon, and cheer our guys on to victory! 👏 🐝 #HornetNation

👏🎶 AHS choir students competed in the UIL Solo and Ensemble contest in Whitehouse yesterday — and they ROCKED IT. 🎶👏 These students put in extra time outside of class to prepare and memorize their songs for judges, and their hard work paid off with great ratings and six students advancing to the next level! 🏅 Earning a Superior (1) Rating on their solo and advancing to the Texas State Solo and Ensemble Contest in May: Kelly Burras, Kaitlyn Capps, Cayden Hill, Victoria Juarez, Megan Mayne and Jesus Rodriguez. 🏅 Also earning a Superior (1) Rating on their solo: Justus Booker, Azaneth Flores, Nahomi Fraire, Armani Garcia, Kane Mitchell, Kraven Parker, Jordan Pena, Amelia Santos, Bianca Santoyo, Melissa Sauceda, Dominik Snow, Yolanda Sorto and Kaison Warren-Walker. 🌟 Earning an Excellent (2) Rating on their solo: America Cazares, Trevin Hill and River Lang. Huge congratulations to all these students! 🎶 #HornetNation

✍️ Nominations via the link below are open through Sunday, Feb. 9 for the AISD Distinguished Alumni recognition. The 2025 induction dinner will be held the evening of April 24. Let us know who should be considered by using the link! ✨To qualify, they must have graduated at least 10 years ago.✨ Past inductees include Jerry Rogers, Thelma Griffin, Freddie Paul, Derek Daniels, Vivian Anderson Castleberry, Drew Douglas, Richard Fisher, Eugene Buford, Kaci Koviak, William Wayne Justice, Randy Jones, Dr. Joe Mike Murphy, USAF Sgt. Timothy Johnson, Steve Grant, Katie Leatherwood and John Glover. https://forms.gle/dRabee6xgGPEcgw39

🙌 Athens Middle School students showed up and showed out at the 2025 UIL Academic Meet! With speaking and listening events hosted at AMS on Friday, our students competed across multiple disciplines and delivered outstanding performances. Congratulations to both dedicated students and hardworking teacher/coaches on your hard work and achievements. Here’s a look at our results: 8th Grade Chess: 2nd Place - Sylus Holland, Team: 2nd Place Dictionary Skills: 1st Place - Justin Carpenter, 5th Place - Kennedy Billington, Team: 1st Place Editorial Writing: 2nd Place - Kinley Boyle, 3rd Place - Gracie Robinson Impromptu Speaking: 3rd Place - Karis Williamson, 4th Place - Caleb Burks Listening Skills: 3rd Place (tie) - Karis Williamson & Eisley Diamond, 5th Place - Taryn McAlister, Team: 1st Place Maps, Graphs, & Charts: 5th Place - Kinley Boyle Modern Oratory: 2nd Place - Gracie Robinson Music Memory: 2nd Place - Jayleen Johnson, 6th Place - Rebekah Salazar, Team: 2nd Place Number Sense: 4th Place - Shaun Scheibmeir, 5th Place - Justin Carpenter, Team: 2nd Place Ready Writing: 4th Place - Eisley Diamond Science: 4th Place (tie) - Caleb Burks & Fisher Lang, Team: 2nd Place 7th Grade Art: 6th Place - Jocelyn Anguiano Chess: 2nd Place - Jeffrey Casas, 4th Place - Jack Ottaberry, 5th Place - Wesley Patterson, Team: 1st Place Dictionary Skills: 4th Place - Gabi Arcos Editorial Writing: 4th Place - Samuel James, 6th Place - Lewis Jones Music Memory: 3rd Place - Phoebe Stuckey Number Sense: 5th Place - Allison Subba Rai, Team: 3rd Place Ready Writing: 4th Place - Felicity Smith, 5th Place (tie) - Levi St. Clair & Ella Richardson Science Team: 3rd Place 6th Grade Dictionary Skills: 5th Place - Israel Aguilar, 6th Place - Nelly Powell, Team: 2nd Place Listening Skills: 5th Place (tie) - Alexis Holt & Colton Clark, Team: 3rd Place Maps, Graphs, & Charts Team: 3rd Place Mathematics: 4th Place - Cooper Jennings, Team: 2nd Place Modern Oratory: 2nd Place - Augustus Alen Music Memory: 1st Place - Anna Willy, Team: 2nd Place Number Sense: 1st Place - Cooper Jennings, 4th Place - Mercer Riquelme, Team: 2nd Place And One-Act Play Honorable Mention Cast: Kinley Boyle & Owen Duran

⚡️ Bel Air Elementary preK-3 student Charlotte Rios is having a shockingly good time on the slide. Milder temperatures have caused many of our young students to feel ecSTATIC during recess. 😝 #HornetNation

📣✨ Announcing our 1st Ever Dance Competition! ✨📣 Get ready to cheer on our AHS Stingerettes and AMS Jr. Stingerettes as they host our first dance competition at Athens High School! The campus will be hosting more than 20 schools and several dance studios for this incredible event. The AMS Jr. Stingerettes will compete on Feb. 8 at 6pm, followed by an AHS Stingerettes exhibition performance around 6:45, just before the awards. Plus, some of the I AM DANCE studio dancers will be performing their solos throughout the day. Then on March 1, the AHS Stingerettes will take their contest routines to North Forney to compete! Come out and show your support as we showcase the spirit of dance in #HornetNation! 🎶💫

🥳 Today is a great day for Athens ISD! Central Athens Elementary proudly hosted the Elementary UIL Academic 4A District 15 competition, welcoming talented second- through fifth-grade students from Brownsboro, Mabank, Chandler and Kemp. 👏 We’re thrilled to announce that Athens won the overall sweepstakes award! 🥇Congratulations to our hardworking students and their dedicated teacher/coaches — representing Bel Air, Central Athens, and South Athens elementaries — for such an outstanding achievement! 🎉 Here’s how our Athens students performed: 5th Grade • Maps, Graphs, and Charts: 2nd Place - Maya Duran • Music Memory: 4th and 6th Places - Athens Team • Music Memory Team: 1st Place - Athens Team • Number Sense: 4th Place - Kalvin Roberts, 6th Place - Presley Neal • Oral Reading: 2nd Place - Kaleb Handley, 5th Place - Charlotte Quills • Ready Writing: 1st Place - Olivia Hollifield, 4th Place - Amelia Akin • Spelling: 1st Place - Penelope Davidson 4th Grade • Art Memory: 1st Place - Isaias Cardenas, 2nd Place - Ian Resendiz • Art Memory Team: 1st Place - Athens Team • Number Sense: 1st Place - Mateo Garcia, 5th Place - Frank Capan • Oral Reading: 6th Place - Madeline Pham • Ready Writing: 2nd Place - Rowan Diamond, 5th Place - Sylee Jones, 6th Place - Audrey Turner • Spelling: 4th Place - Maximus Bowman • Chess: 2nd Place - Julieta Olvera 3rd Grade • Oral Reading: 2nd Place - Claire David, 4th Place - Bennett Autry • Ready Writing: 5th Place - Annalees Ruiz • Spelling: 5th Place - Eli Bowlden, 6th Place - Stella Harrell • Storytelling: 4th Place - Miguel Garcia • Chess: 4th, 5th, and 6th Places - Athens Team 2nd Grade • Creative Writing: 3rd Place - Cheyann Strange • Storytelling: 1st Place - Kylah Upshaw, 3rd Place - Charles Carpenter, 5th Place - Karter Wheeler • Music Memory: 2nd Place - Bryce Padilla, 3rd Place - Graham David, 4th Place - Elliot Gorka • Chess Team: 1st Place - Athens Team

🧪 Students in Mr. Schmitz's chemistry class got hands-on in the lab Thursday. They explored how different substances interact by mixing solutions to uncover which combinations form solids. It’s all part of learning about solubility and how ionic compounds behave. Science in action! 👏 #HornetNation

🎶 This past Monday, the AHS Choir lent their beautiful voices to the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Celebration at The Texan. We're so proud of these talented students for contributing to the legacy of Dr. King. #HornetNation

Students from all three of our elementary campuses are proudly representing us this morning at the UIL District Speech Competition in Brownsboro. Best of luck to our talented Hornets! 🐝🎤 #HornetNation

🎶 Congratulations to senior Kelly Burras for being selected to perform with the Texas All-State SSC Choir — the highest honor a Texas music student can achieve! 🎤✨ Kelly is one of only 1,875 students selected statewide from an initial pool of 70,000 competitors. Getting to that point required three rounds of auditions, ranking him among the top 2.6% of student musicians in Texas! 🤩 "Kelly not only has a great deal of natural talent, but a great work ethic to go along with it," said Choir Director Bridget Scott. "He's also incredibly coachable, and in only his second year of choir has emerged as such a leader." 👏 Kelly will showcase his talent at the 2025 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention in San Antonio, performing on Saturday, February 15 at the Henry B. González Convention Center. 🎵 We're so proud of you, Kelly! #TexasAllState #HornetNation

☀️ The next polar vortex may be on its way, but today is a beautiful day to be on the tennis courts or anywhere else outside. Enjoy it while you can, Hornets!🐝

January is school board appreciation month, and, goodness, we are so grateful for these seven individuals who volunteer their time and expertise to guide Athens ISD. 🙏 Not only do they attend meetings and board trainings, each can often be spotted working concession stands, attending PTO meetings, sporting events, booster club meetings, or in any number of other supporting roles across the district. 👏 These fabulous trustees are (top row, from left) Kelley Lee, Place 2; Tilo Galvan, Place 4; Gina Hunter, Place 6; Margaret Richardson, Place 5; (bottom row, from left) Alicea Elliott, president; Eugene Buford, vice president; and Freddie Paul, secretary. 💫 You all are the best! #HornetNation

⭐️ We were so pleased to host members of the Athens Chamber of Commerce's "Leadership Athens" class today. The group gathered at Athens High School where Superintendent Dr. Janie Sims and other district personnel discussed AISD's victories and challenges before touring the campus. Members of Leadership Athens visit many area institutions and organizations over several months in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the community. 🐝 We're proud to be part of such an important undertaking! #HornetNation

❄️ Hornet Nation, after much consideration, we’ve decided to cancel school tomorrow. These decisions are almost never easy to make. It involves a great deal of weather watching, communication with other superintendents, and a healthy dose of intuition. 🥶 Our area happens to be teetering on the forecast dividing line between "this looks really bad" and "maybe it won’t be too bad." While we’re pretty confident about the safety of morning travel, we’re much less confident about everyone getting home safely in the afternoon. Ultimately, that’s not a risk we’re willing to take. 🐝 Calling off school is always a balancing act between keeping our students and staff safe, minimizing disruptions to learning, and understanding that last-minute changes can be tough on families. In the end, whether we get it right or wrong, the motivation is as simple as it is powerful: We want everyone to be as safe as possible. 🙏 Stay warm tomorrow, Hornets!