Senior Women – Tara Brindley and Bess Baskin get decked out in their matching T-shirts

Grand Entrance – Audrey Lowder drives a carload of seniors through the opening day caravan, a senior tradition

School Spirit – Varsity cheerleaders showed their award-winning stunts at the opening assembly

Vikings Gather – The student body, numbering 173, gathers for the opening assembly

Place of Honor – Seniors proudly claim their special section at the opening assembly

Enthusiastic underclassmen cheered as incoming seniors caravanned through the parking lot to kick off the first day of school on August 22. Clad in matching T-shirts, flip flops, and cowboy hats, the 29 members of the Class of 2006 quickly claimed their place of honor at the opening assembly. Vanguard Vikings, 173 students strong, gathered to greet each other as the school launched into its 32nd year of existence.

New faces at literally every grade level have added an exciting new dimension to the student body. Twenty-four seventh graders came to Vanguard from a variety of public and private elementary schools. Newcomers to high school classes transferred in from local schools as well as from distant lands such as the Isle of Bermuda, the Republic of Georgia, South American country of Brazil.

As Hurricane Rita threatened to swamp the coast near Houston and residents fled north, Patty Flowers and her bevy of enthusiastic students turned their annual trek to the Texas Hill Country into a good will adventure. Students were busy learning history and science on the three-day excursion when conditions began to look serious. When they realized there were people with no place to stay, they decided to give their screened shelters near Blanco to evacuees. Flowers, who has led the trip since 1988, said students willingly cooperated in the relief effort.

“The most rewarding part of the trip this year,” she said, “was to see the students do what was right — in both behavior and attitude.”

Busses and cars departed Sept. 21 on the interdisciplinary field trip. Their itinerary had included Enchanted Rock, the Sauer-Beckmann Farmstead in Stonewall, the National Museum of the Pacific War and the Bush Gallery in Fredericksburg, Fort Hood, Longhorn Cavern, and Westcave Preserve. Although the trip was cut short, plans are already underway for a day trip to take in the sights they missed.

On the way back to Waco, the caravan stopped at a service station (Stoney’s Market 12 Shell Oil station) in Gatesville. When the manager learned of their selfless act, he decided to reward the seventh graders. “He was so impressed with their generosity that he rewarded all the students with free drinks,” Flowers said.

The group (including parent chaperones Jim Olmsted, George Stovall, Robert Koelsch, and Laura Vaughn) returned to Vanguard Thursday evening. Students reported for class Friday morning — not exactly the mini-vacation they had expected. But Flowers and fellow sponsor Suzanne Kelly turned the day into a rewarding experience in spite of adverse conditions. They spread quilts and a picnic lunch in classrooms, showed movies, and continued with many of the activities planned for the trip. In short, the fun continued for seventh graders even though they were back on campus.

Flowers said she is filled with pride at the generous spirit of students who willingly rendered their shelters. “There was not a complaint out of any of them,” she said. “I was proud of them.”

The eighth grade interdisciplinary field trip was May 2 – May 5, to the Texas Gulf Coast near Port Aransas, Corpus Christi, and San Antonio. The faculty sponsors were Suzanne Kelly and Patty Flowers. Parent chaperones included Brady Blum, Bob Kane, Richard Leslie, Andy Mathis, and David Risinger and Roxann Samples. The trip provided a learning environment outside of the classroon. It included activities involving history, science and fun.

Some of the stops included Washington on the Brazos, Goliad, the jetty at Port Aransas, the Texas State Aquarium, the U.S.S. Lexington harbored in Corpus Christi Bay, an afternoon at Malachite Beach, and a day at Sea World of Texas.

Senior Portfolio
1st - Andrew Flowers
4th - Lindsay Latimer

Seek and Sketch
1st - Jonathan Chapline

Sculpture
2nd - Jonathan Barger
5th - Thomas Patton
6th - Britain Bruner

Relief Sculpture
3rd - Bear Reyna

Printmaking
3rd - Jonathan Chapline

Pottery
1st - Robert Thomson
6th - Roxana Phillipson

Photo – Self-Processed B&W
3rd - Nicole Smith
4th - Halyn Bauer
5th - Halyn Bauer
6th - Nicole Smith

Photo – Digitally Processed
1st – Andrew Flowers
3rd - Lauren Tull
5th - Andrew Flowers

Photo – Creative/Experimental
2nd - Halyn Bauer 3rd - Nicole Smith

Photo – Commercially Processed
2nd - Lauren Tull

Painting – Opaque
1st - Lindsay Latimer

Painting – 3-D
1st - Sarah Mathis
5th - Roxana Phillipson

On Site Photo
2nd - Nicole Smith

On site Drawing
1st - Jonathan Chapline
6th – Maggie Ho

Interior/Exterior Furnishing
3rd - Lindsi Cartmell
4th - Lindsay Latimer
5th - Mary Beth Sudan
6th - Meg Quinius

Graphic Drawing
1st - Jonathan Chapline
3rd – Jonathan Chapline

Fashion Accessory
2nd - Roxana Phillipson
4th - Roxana Phillipson
5th - Meg Quinius
6th - Mary Beth Sudan

Drawing – Monochromatic
1st - Jonathan Chapline

Crafts
3rd - Kelsey Dunlap
4th - Roxana Phillipson

Computer Aided Design
1st – Jonathan Chapline

Art History
1st – Nicole Smith
3rd – Roxana Phillipson

Architectural Design
1st – Jonathan Neel
2nd – Maggie Ho

Yearbook
1st - Bifrost/Audrey DeWitt, editor

Newspaper
1st - Vanguard Review/Lauren Tull, editor

Science
4th - Andrew Flowers (Top Biology Student)

Advanced Math
1st - Andrew Flowers

TAPPS Math
3rd - Scott Newmyer

Number Sense
1st (tie) – Lindsay Latimer
4th - Alex Uber
5th - Max Welter

History
2nd - Andrew Ingram
3rd - Roxana Phillipson

Current Events
2nd - Austin Probe

Literary Criticism
2nd - Austin Freeman

Spelling
6th - Alex Jones

Persuasive Speaking
1st - Roxana Phillipson
2nd - Scott Newmyer

Original Oratory
1st - Elliott SoRelle
6th – Eric Hoyt

Prose Interpretation
6th - Claire Cole