Peter Bryant ‘25 captured first place in Persuasive Speaking to lead St. Thomas to an impressive fourth-place result at the TAPPS State Academic and Speech competition in Waco.

Bryant’s state champion performance along with strong multi-event showings from Diego Ramos ‘22, Noa Clifford ‘24, and Brandt Peterson ‘23 were the catalyst igniting St. Thomas to second within the Speech and Debate events. Also contributing to the team total of 66 points were:

  • Luke Martin ‘23 third, William Massey ‘25 fourth, and Maximiliano Molina ‘25 fifth in Lincoln Douglas Debate
  • Ramos second and Oscar Jaimes ‘25 ninth in Original Oratory
  • Aedan McDaniels ‘25 third, Clifford sixth, and Ramos eighth in Poetry Interpretation
  • Peterson third and Clifford sixth in Prose Interpretation
  • Ramos third, Peterson sixth, and Clifford seventh in Solo Acting
  • Peterson and Jorge Morfin ‘23 sixth in Duet Acting

National Merit finalist Elijah Phillips ‘22 finished seventh in Number Sense and eighth in Advanced Math to pace the St. Thomas Academic achievement. The team total of 38 points included significant marks from:

  • Benjamin Brown ‘24 second, Champion Courville ‘25 third, and Joseph Romero ‘22 sixth in Social Studies
  • Aiden Clark ‘24 fourth in Literary Criticism
  • Daniel Robbins ‘25 fourth in Spelling
  • Brett Koehn ‘22 fifth in Ready Writing
  • Salutatorian Thanh-Vinh McColloster eighth in Science
  • Charles Ramirez ‘22 eighth in Spanish

The St. Thomas success guided by faculty members Jennifer Pearson and Darrell Yarbrough embodies the value of a rigorous college preparatory experience that prepares scholars to assume roles in leadership, responsibility, and service to society – always rooted in the Basilian ideal of Teach Me Goodness, Discipline, and Knowledge.

Catholic. Basilian. Teaching Goodness, Discipline, and Knowledge since 1900.