- Dripping Springs ISD
- Honors and Awards
Honors and Awards - District
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- In the 2022 state accountability ratings by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Dripping Springs ISD received an overall A rating and a numerical score of 93. DSISD was one of 396 districts in the state (33%) to receive an A rating.
- In 2022, five of the eight DSISD campuses earned A ratings compared to just two schools in 2019.
- All DSISD schools received grades of at least an “A-” on the website Niche.com, with DSISD receiving a rating of “A+”.
- Dripping Springs students at all grade levels consistently perform well on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests. The number of DSISD students meeting the standard and scoring in the higher range far exceeds their statewide peers in all subjects and grade levels.
- For the past three years, Dripping Springs ISD has been honored with the "Best Communities for Music Education" designation from the NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education.
- The district’s bond rating is ‘AA’ according to Standard & Poor’s and Aa2 according to Moody’s.
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- In the 2021-22 Lone Star Cup standings, Dripping Springs High School finished in ninth place in Conference 5A with 69 points. The top-10 finish was the fifth straight for the Tigers (excluding the 2019-20 year, which was not awarded).
- Dripping Springs had a graduation rate of more than 99 percent in 2022 with approximately 95 percent of students pursuing higher education.
- The Class of 2022 logged 28,313 hours of community service and received $7.58 million in scholarship offers.
ACADEMICS:
- In Sept. 2022, a school-record eight seniors were named National Merit Semifinalists. Ten other Dripping Springs students were recognized as Commended Scholars in the National Merit Competition.
- DSHS currently offers 13 ACC (Austin Community College) courses and six through the University of Texas OnRamps program. At the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, 117 students in the Class of 2023 have earned 3-12 college hours, 27 students have earned 13-24 hours, and eight students have earned more than 25 college hours.
- In 2021, senior Connor Miller was recognized as the first student in school history to graduate with an associate’s degree, thanks to dual-enrollment courses.
- DSHS offers 22 Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Ninety-three current DSHS students combined to take a total of 421 AP exams in the spring of 2022 with 78 percent of the exams receiving scores of 3, 4, or 5, which can earn credit at most colleges and universities.
- In 2022, DSHS students scored well above state and national averages on both the ACT and SAT college entrance exams. Dripping Springs' average ACT score of 23.9 topped the state and national averages by 18.3 and 20.7 percent, respectively. On the SAT, DSHS students' average score of 1162 bettered those of their peers in the state and nation by 16.1 and 10.7 percent, respectively.
ATHLETICS:
The girls’ soccer team captured their first state championship in 2021, finishing the season with a 27-1-1 record. Six players were named to the state all-tournament team and goalkeeper Caroline Dill was named MVP.
- In 2022, the boys' soccer team finished as state runner-up with a school-record 26 wins.
- The girls’ cross country team has advanced to the UIL State Meet for nine consecutive years, tying their best team finish of third place in 2021.
- The girls' swimming and diving team recorded a ninth-place finish at the 2022 UIL State Meet. The quartet of Athena Turner, Macie McCurry, Anna Hoskovec and Riley Dalton placed third in the 400-yard freestyle relay and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
- In 2022, both the boys' and girls' wrestling teams captured the District 13-5A Championships. The boys recorded a third-straight title while the girls won the school's first district championship in just their fourth appearance at the district competition. The boys went on to claim the regional title for a third-straight year. A school-record three wrestlers earned top-five finishes at the UIL State Meet (Grant Clarno, 4th; Hagen Shipley, 5th; Alec Rill, 5th) while the team finished ninth.
- The Tiger softball team won the District 26-5A title in 2022 and advanced to the regional quarterfinals.
- Tennis players Whitney Robbins and Lexian Andrushko finished as mixed doubles state semifinalists in 2022.
- The cheer squad recorded their best finish in school history at the 2022 UIL State Championships with a 13th-place finish.
- The Tiger volleyball team has advanced to the regional finals for four-straight years with two state tournament appearances during that span.
- A total of 31 senior student-athletes signed National Letters of Intent to continue their playing careers at the collegiate level in 2021-22.
DECA/HOSA:
- A school-record 13 DECA students advanced to the state finals in their respective events in 2022 with four students qualifying for the International Career Development Conference (ICDC). International qualifiers were Eli Craddock (Sports and Entertainment Marketing Series), Margot Heltzel (Business Finance), Perri Parnell (Travel and Tourism Team Decision Making) and Landry Puryear (Travel and Tourism Team Decision Making).
- DSHS had a school-record 12 health science students advance to the Texas HOSA State Leadership Conference in 2022. Four students went on to compete at the HOSA International Leadership Conference with Arysta Visser placing first in Pharmacy Science.
ROBOTICS/ENGINEERING/SCIENCE:
- More than 80 students obtained industry and work-ready certifications through Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs in 2022. A total of 87 certifications were earned across a variety of career pathways, including health science, biotechnology, business, agriculture, engineering, and floral design.
MUSIC:
In 2022, Dripping Springs ISD was honored for the third straight year with the “Best Communities for Music Education” designation from the NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education.
- The Tiger Band has made five consecutive trips to the UIL State Marching Contest with a state runner-up finish in 2017.
- Seven students were named to the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) All-State Band in 2022: Jace Byrd (trombone), Wyland Diehl (tenor saxophone), Quentin Dollard (euphonium), Madelynn Glass (trumpet), James Lee (euphonium), Alana Sayger (horn), and Matthew Sheeler (bassoon).
- Brody Lane and Colin Tuohy were named to the All-State Choir in 2022, the most for DSHS since 2011.
- In 2022, a total of 18 choir students, 11 band students and three orchestra students advanced to the UIL State Solo and Ensemble Contest.
- The DSHS Varsity Chamber Choir, Varsity Treble Choir and the JV Treble Choir as well as the DSHS Concert Band, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble earned Overall Superior Ratings at the 2022 UIL Concert and Sight-Reading Evaluation.
PERFORMING AND VISUAL ARTS:
- DSHS won top honors with their production of “Describe The Night” at the District 26-5A UIL One-Act Play contest in 2022. AJ Bergeron won Best Actor while Hannah Olsen was named to the Honor Cast and Ben Muscanere was selected to the All-Star Cast. Audrey Lorenz was named Best Technician.
- Isabella Fletcher and Ariana Flores were named state qualifiers in the 2022 Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE).
SPEECH AND DEBATE/JOURNALISM:
- Three students were state champions in the Texas Association for Pupil Transportation (TAPT) School Bus Safety Speech Contest for their grade level: senior Lizzie Galassini, junior Jake Broyles and freshman Jackie Truesdell. Galassini, who captured her second straight and third overall state title, was named the overall state winner in 2022.
- Lizzie Galassini finished third in Persuasive Extemporaneous Speaking at the 2022 UIL State Meet. She also placed sixth at the UIL Congress Tournament.
- Fourteen speech and debate students qualified for the 2022 Texas Forensic Association’s (TFA) State Tournament.
- The DSHS speech and debate team won the District 26-5A Meet in 2022.
- The DSHS student newspaper "The Paw Print" earned several individual honors from the Interscholastic League Press Conference including first place in Cover Design for the February 2022 issue.
- In the 2021-22 Lone Star Cup standings, Dripping Springs High School finished in ninth place in Conference 5A with 69 points. The top-10 finish was the fifth straight for the Tigers (excluding the 2019-20 year, which was not awarded).
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- In February 2021, Sycamore Springs Middle School was designated as a “Texas School to Watch” in a national recognition program of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform and the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals.
- Dripping Springs Middle School student Grant Gillum won the Texas History Day Junior Division competition for his individual website for the second consecutive year in 2022. Gillum was a third-place finisher at the national competition in 2021. SSMS student Blaine Lovett was a 2022 state finalist for his individual performance to place among the top 10 projects in the state.
- SSMS student Abir Kulkarni was honored with the Award of Excellence at the 2022 Texas PTA Reflections state contest in the Music Composition category.
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- Sycamore Springs Elementary has been certified as a Leader in Me "Lighthouse School," becoming one of only a few schools nationwide to achieve this status within three years of opening. This certification recognizes that the school has produced outstanding results in school and student outcomes.
- Dripping Springs Elementary has been certified as a Leader in Me "Lighthouse School" since the spring of 2018. In addition, DSE was selected as a 2018 Lighthouse School of Academic Distinction.
- Dripping Springs Elementary and Rooster Springs Elementary were winners of the prestigious statewide CREST (Counselors Reinforcing Excellence for Students in Texas) Award by the Texas School Counselor Association (TSCA) for the 2021-22 school year.
- In 2022, the creative work of nine DSISD elementary students earned Outstanding Interpretation to qualify for the state contest in the PTA Reflections arts program.