From Monday, April 11 through Wednesday April 13, McKinney Christian Academy Upper School students traveled to Waco, Texas to compete in the TAPPS Fine Arts competition. On Monday, theater students competed in the Division II speech category for 5A schools. The speech category consisted of One Act plays including solo and duet acting, prose and poetry. Freshmen Joy Allen and Courtney Arnold, and senior Sebastian Claudio participated in prose. Allen placed third, Claudio placed fourth and Arnold placed fifth, earning MCA 15 points in prose. Freshman Jack Sukhia placed eighth in poetry with his presentation of “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.” In duet acting, senior Will Penney and junior Leigh Evan Kitzmiller placed fifth with their reenactment of the musical, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” In solo acting, junior Gabby Gordon placed fifth with her performance of “The World’s Best Teacher.” Lastly for the speech category is the Lincoln-Douglas debate. The 2022 debate topic was, “In matters of foreign policy, the United States ought to value universal human rights over economic interests.” Junior Karson Kuykendall and sophomore Gerrit Rogers debated this topic and tied for fifth place in debate. The TAPPS speech team totaled 35 points, tying for second place with Coram Deo Academy Flower Mound.

Early Tuesday, the academic and art competitors traveled down to Waco. The art students transported their artwork to set on display in the championship. Senior Nathan Cornwall placed first in short film with his animated creation of an  “Interview with Kylo Ren.” Juniors Brooke Jensen and Lily Jornod came in second place for their narrative called, “Reminiscing Tomorrow.” Lastly for short film, senior Sutton Mayberry placed seventh with his narrative titled, “Ballin.” In the art competition, sophomore Ava Thompson placed seventh in fashion and textile with her coiled basket. Sophomore Regan Pogue received honorable mention for her cardboard sculpture of a dragon head named “Frederick.” Juniors Grayson Wilkinson and Angelina Li placed seventh and eighth with their industrial models. Li created a greenhouse model using plexiglass and wood. Junior Meagan Stephenson embroidered a pink dress on a canvas to earn eighth place in 2D mixed media. The MCA TAPPS art team totaled 26 points. 

The academic competition also began Tuesday afternoon and finished on Wednesday. Students competed in math, science, social studies, English, spanish, current events and history. Senior Karlene Shelton placed eighth in literary criticism and represented MCA with a 72-point science score. The yearbook team entered the competition with the MCA yearbook from the 2020-2021 school year. They received seventh place for the yearbook. 

The students successfully completed their events and traveled home on Wednesday night. The 2022 McKinney Christian Academy TAPPS competitors represented MCA and God by preparing and applying all of their skills and knowledge. Theater teacher Julie Tucker says, “After a two year break from being able to compete in person, it was such a blessing to have this opportunity. None of the team had been to competition before making their accomplishments even better.”