Winter Break Edition

All SMCISD campuses and offices will be closed December 19-January 2. Staff will return on Tuesday, January 3 and students will return on Wednesday, January 4.

Rodriguez Elementary hosted "Twas the Knight before Christmas" on Thursday, December 15. The community and family engagement night included ornament making, a school-wide dance, and performances by the Rodriguez kindergarten students.

On Wednesday, December 14, the San Marcos High School AP Statistics class took the classroom to the court. All year long the Stattlers, under the direction of Coach Stoughton, have traveled to various SMHS Athletic games to flex their stat skills. The Spurs organization gave the Stattlers a tour of their booth, talked them through game-day protocols they follow in the NBA and they even got to hear from a member of the Spurs Analytics team.

Dedicated to benefitting Texan Alum with their post-secondary endeavors, Travis Elementary staff and students held their annual Texan Scholarship fundraiser. In partnership with San Marcos Rotary Club, the Texans will be awarding a $1,500 Scholarship to a 2023 San Marcos High School graduate and Texan Alum this spring.

On Tuesday, December 7, Bonham PTO hosted a family night. Students and their families made ornaments, Rudolph bells, listened to festive music, drank hot cocoa and enjoyed one final community night before heading into the SMCISD Winter Break.

The San Marcos High School golf team finished 2022 with the Rattler Winter Invitational. The team will compete in the Lampasas Invitational on February 2. SMHS Golf is looking to add golfers for next semester. If interested, email head Coach EJ Mungia, everett.mungia@smcisd.net .

The Mendez Elementary Strikers combined their efforts to bring joy and music at their first ever Dual Language Night. Performances included Kindergarten singing "Cascabeles" (Jingle Bells), 1st graders singing "Mi Burrito Sabanero", 2nd graders singing "Noche de pas" (Silent Night), and 3rd-5th graders combined to sing and act out "Rudolph el reno de nariz roja" (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer), and the grand finale song with all Kinder-5th grades singing "Feliz Navidad," together, in front of a crowded gym floor full of family and friends!! It was a great night of entertainment, and ALL songs were sung in Spanish!

The San Marcos High School Dance Department held their annual Winter Spectacular on Tuesday, December 6. Sixteen holiday numbers were performed and all of our Rattler student-athletes did a fabulous job. Congratulations on a great show, unique choreography and spreading festive spirit all amongst the Performing Arts Center!

Kaila Adams, Evan Foor, Niko Hall, Ben Keller, Bubba Ward have been extremely busy this past semester. They were playing some great music working with some great clinicians: Matthew Moreno from Jasper HS from the Dallas area (he is a Texas State grad!) and world renowned composer/conductor Kirt Mosier. (Our philharmonic orchestra here at SMHS played one of his most popular pieces for our fall concert, The Dance of Iscariot!). The SMHS orchestra is under the direction of Gabriel Balderrama.

On Tuesday, December 13, Goodnight Middle School Fine Arts team put on a great show with Theatre Arts, Hip Hop by the Dancing Stars, and cheerful holiday music by the Band, Choir, and Mariachi. Thank you to the Diamonds at DeZavala for being such a great audience!

The San Marcos High School Choir department had 8 qualifying students compete in the Texas Music Educators Association Pre- Area Vocal competition at Churchill HS in San Antonio. A total of five of our singers placed, and three of those students will be advancing to the Area/All-State round on January 7th, 2023.

The three students advancing to the next level are:

Samantha Irvin- Junior, 1st chair Alto I

Cora LaCoss- Junior, 3rd chair Soprano II

Reuben Cruz- Senior, 3rd chair Tenor I

The alternates to Area are:

Natasha Schimelman- Junior, Soprano I

Zada McElroy- Senior, Soprano II

We are extremely proud of all of our singers who competed. They represented San Marcos HS and the Choir Department well and achieved much more than just these immediate results. The process of working on music of this difficulty, as well as attaining the level of artistry and precision needed to qualify for the competition was a huge accomplishment in itself!

SMHS Choir Directors- Dawn Sheridan-Reinhuber and Brigitte Smith-Rolfe