INSIDE DSISD

The Dripping Springs High School FIRST Robotics team, The Spring Konstant, paired up with teams from Vandegrift High School (Austin) and Conrad High School (Dallas) to capture the UIL FIRST Division State Championship on Saturday, April 5, in Houston.

At the state championship, The Spring Konstant competed against 90 teams split between two fields: Apollo and Mercury. After two days of qualifying, the squad finished in 14th place and were chosen to join the No. 1 alliance of 6800 Valor (Vandegrift) and 3005 RoboChargers (Conrad). The trio dominated the Apollo field to advance to the finals and defeated Mercury’s top alliance in a best-of-three showdown in just two matches.

The victory qualified The Spring Konstant for the FIRST World Championships, April 16-19, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

Dripping Springs High School seniors Elliott Kling and Jackie Truesdell have been selected as National Merit Finalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors are recognized with this prestigious honor.

In September, Kling and Truesdell were named National Merit Semifinalists based on their performances on the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). To become a National Merit Finalist, students must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, plan to enroll full-time in college the following fall, be endorsed and recommended by the high school principal, write an essay, and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm their earlier performance on the qualifying test.

Kling is a member of the Tiger Band and the Foreign Exchange Club. He is the clarinet section leader and a three-time UIL State Solo & Ensemble qualifier as part of the clarinet choir.

Truesdell is a member of the DSHS Speech & Debate team and the National Honor Society. He was named a 2024 All-American by the National Speech & Debate Association, and as a freshman, he captured a state title in the Texas Association for Pupil Transportation (TAPT) School Bus Safety Speech Contest. Truesdell has advanced to the Texas Forensic Association (TFA) State Tournament three times.

Both students were also recognized as an AP Scholar with Distinction in October for receiving an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more exams.

Throughout the spring, roughly half of the National Merit Finalists will be notified that they have been selected to receive a Merit Scholarship award.

Dripping Springs ISD students Grant Gillum and Nora Gillum each captured state titles at the Texas History Day Contest on Saturday, April 5, to advance to the National History Day Contest.

Junior Grant Gillum, now a five-time state champion, presented his website, “The Price of Patriotism: The Evolution of Rights and Responsibilities for World War I Veterans”, to win the Senior Division Individual Website category. His faculty sponsor is Kibbie Jensen.

Nora Gillum, a seventh grader at Dripping Springs Middle School, repeated as state champion in the Junior Division Individual Website category with “Beyond the Blast: The Texas City Disaster Sparks a Clash of Rights and Responsibilities”. Nora also won the C.M. Caldwell Memorial Award which goes to the best project focusing on a Texas history subject. Her faculty sponsor is Kristen Miller.

Over 60,000 Texas students competed in the contest this year. This is the sixth-straight year a DSISD student has advanced to the national contest.

National History Day® (NHD) is a non-profit education organization that offers year-long academic programs that engage more than 500,000 middle- and high-school students around the world annually in conducting original research on historical topics of interest. The 2025 theme was “Rights and Responsibilities in History”.

The National History Day competition will be held June 8-12 at the University of Maryland in College Park.

DSISD's final Taxpayer Tuesday event of the school year will take place April 15 at Rooster Springs Elementary. If you plan to attend, please RSVP at dsisdtx.us/taxpayertuesdays.