February 4, 2020

All 15 Dripping Springs High School students who participated in this year's Youth in Government activities qualified for state competition. At the state conference, DSHS earned the designation of Premier School for having qualified 15 students at the state level and for the professionalism they demonstrated.

Two trial court teams were entered in the competition and both competed in the higher court classification, "District Court." One team consisted of attorneys Gabriel Ybarra and Natalie Chavez, with witnesses McKayla Mellen, Gabrielle Avena, Ella Johnson and Genevieve Aradi. The other team consisted of attorneys Christopher Gearing and Nora Rinehart with witnesses Gabe Peeples, Shaye Ledzinski, and Hayden Betzing. Caitlin Rinehart was a District Court Judge.

Tristan Aradi and Audrey Balsdon competed as legislators Aradi got his bill passed with a landslide vote. Riley Wheaton participated as the photo journalism Editor and Chief on the State Board.

Youth in Government is a YMCA program in the United States that allows high school students to serve in model governments at the local, state, national, and international levels. The DSHS faculty sponsors are Jerri Ybarra and Jeff Bixby.