Mrs. Lydia Toon

Mrs. Toon has spent three of her 31 years of teaching at MHS. She has taught over twenty subjects including, English I, II, and III, Accounting, Keyboarding, BIM I and II, and Principles of Management. She also taught at San Jacinto Junior High School and Cooper Jr./Sr. High School in Cooper, Texas for 17 years. Mrs. Toon has made many memories as a teacher at MHS. She credits her co- workers for being such a great group of people to work with.

“It’s hard to narrow it down to one memory,” Mrs. Toon said. “When I think of my years at MHS in the future, I believe the day to day relationships with co-workers and students will be what I remmeber. Each individual class has its own personality, and it’s so fun and challenging getting to know the students and their stories and watching how they grow from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.”

After retirement, she plans to take an Alaskan cruise, to be more involved in church activities, and to spend more time with her family in Northeast Texas. She made the decision to retire this year because she felt the timing was right.

“I wanted to do it so that my husband and I will still be young enough to do some travelling and before my mother starts having health problems because she lives eight hours away,” Mrs. Toon said.

Mr. Alex Rangel.

Mr. Rangel has been teaching for 29 years, spending half of his career at MHS. He currently teaches Spanish and SAT Prep. Before coming to Midland High he started teaching at Goddard Junior High, then went to teach at Alamo junior High, Abell Junior High, and Midland Freshman. Rangel has taught at eight out of the 13 secondary campuses  in MISD. Out of the numerous memories he has made at MHS, his favorites were watching his kids graduate in 2005 and 2006 and coaching baseball for two years.

“Most of all, I am proud of the kids that took advantage of my class and really learned something from me,” Mr. Rangel said. “I’ve always said that I have three categories of students: those that want to be there and want to learn Spanish, those that have to be there for the credit, and those that don’t want to be there.”

Mr. Rangel values his students and truly loves teaching. Although he loves his job, he believes it is just time to retire and not chance the opportunity of missing out on the opportunity at a second career.

“I have to know that I can do something else in life and I feel that I’ve done my service to the youth of Midland, Texas, my home town,” Rangel said. “Teachers do this work because they can, but they stay in it because they believe they can make a difference. Thirty years is nothing to sneeze at!”

Mrs. Lisa Kidd

Mrs. Kidd has spent 17 of 24 years teaching at MHS. She has taught 7th-11th grade english, PSAT, SAT, and a creative writing class. Along with MHS, she has also taught at Wall Junior High, Kermit Junior high, and Kermit High School.

“I will miss teaching students, planning lessons, and visiting with my friends here at MHS,” Mrs. Kidd said.

At the moment, Mrs. Kidd has no concrete plans for post retirement. She is not worried about boredom after retirement because her grand kids will be her main focus. Mrs. Kidd made the decision to retire this because she feels it is time and she knows it.

Mr. Terry Little

Mr. Little has taught generations of families in Midland over the 37 years of his career. Spending 16 of those years at MHS, he has also taught at San Jacinto Junior High and Midland Freshman. Mr. Little will miss sharing interests with his students in class. After retirement, he plans to work another job. Mr. Little believes that he is too young to live a life of leisure.

“I have stayed at MHS for 16 years because it has been a great place to be,” Mr. Little said. “It still is, but I need to have new challenges.”

Mrs. Jill Russell

Mrs. Russell, also know as Jill or Mrs. Howbert, has taught at MHS for 22 years. Teaching Photo journalism, Newspaper, Yearbook and the baseball coach’s wife, has made her a very familiar face around campus. Her absolute favorite memory at MHS are all the UIL/sporting event road trips she has been able to make with her family, friends, and students. She also enjoyed being on the field/court for two school state championships and seeing the yearbook for the first time. She plans on doing as little as possible after retirement. But she does have plans to drive BR, her husband, a little crazy.

“I’ve missed 12 years of my son Andy’s life since he lives in Indiana,” Jill said. “I can now follow him around on his photo shoos. I also need to get to know my grand daughter Madeline, as well as I know my Midland grand children.

Mr. Scott Skidmore

Mr. Skidmore has been teaching Geometry and College Math Preparation for four years at MHS. Over the past 25 years he has either been an administrator or teaching at Artesia Junior High, Delvalle Junior High, Idalou High School, Permian High School, Greenwood Middle School, Midland Freshman, and Midland High School. Mr. Skidmore has really enjoyed teaching the CPM classes at MHS.

“I will miss watching a student learn a concept and then be able to apply it to solve a problem,” Mr. Skidmore said.

Mr. Skidmore plans on getting another job in the Oil and Gas industry after retirement. Boredom is out of the question with his two grand kids to worry about. He plans to play golf, go dancing, and write lyrics to Christian songs in his pass time.

“I decided to retire this year because the opportunities to work in Oil and Gas are very good and it i time for a change,” Mr. Skidmore said.

Mr. Shane Fletcher

Known to many students as Coach Fletcher, he been teaching for a total of 32 years. Mr. Fletcher  has taught all around Texas teaching Health, Government, World History, Sociology, P.E., U.S. History, and Geography. He has big plans after retirement. He would like to go into wood working, play golf, go fishing, and participate in as much family activities as possible.  Coach Fletcher has many favorite memories.

“I enjoyed teaching at the same school I graduated from, and being with my son Mason and daughter Morgan through their high school years,” Coach Fletcher.

Mr. Fletcher’s goal was to be healthy and young enough to do other things. That is why he decided to end his teaching girl this year.

The juniors elected junior Will Downing to be vice president for the senior class next school year.  As vice president it is his job to support the president and do whatever they may need.

“As vice president it is my job to take care of what the president needs me to do,” Will said.  ”It is my job to make the right decisions for the president or whoever needs my help.”

Another important job is the chaplain of Student Council.  The chaplain’s job is to pray over meetings or any kind of assembly.  It is important for whoever is chaplain to be comfortable with speaking in front of big crowds.

“I am very close to Madison Scibner and she was chaplin last year so I liked the role she played in stuco,” junior Anne Finley said.  ”Also, I believe how powerful prayer can be and I want to represent MHS in that way.”

Junior Victoria Gerald has taken on the task of being treasurer for both the senior class of 2014, and of the Student Council.  She will be in charge of keeping track of the money that is raised.  Victoria looks forward to next year and participating in the many activities avaliable to seniors.

“I hope next year will be successful and that as officers we will be able to stay organized and run the senior class well,” Victoria said.

Junior Jackson Lancaster was chosen as Student Council president for next year.  He is excited to play a larger role and to take on more responsibility.  Many things are required of the president, and it is his job to lead all of the events.

“I am looking forward to homecoming and prom next year,” Jackson said.  ”I hope to keep everything organized and plan many Student Council events.”

The seniors have inspired the juniors to step up and lead their class in a positive way next year.  They have set examples as to what is expected of the senior class officers.  The vice president of student council, junior Bailey McElreath, tells how the seniors have inspired her.

“This years seniors have been organized, met all of their deadlines, shown leadership, and socialized well with everyone,” Bailey said.

With a week left of school it is time for the future seniors to start preparing.  The new officers for the senior class of 2014 are chosen and ready to take on the new year.

“My favorite part of America was meeting new people and getting new friends,” Kristin said.

The culture shock from coming from a totally different country to a little town in Texas was a huge shock for Kristin.

“The first thing I thought when I got to Midland was worrying about the heat,” Kristin said.

Kristin lives in a city called Bergen in Norway. The climate there is much different and it rains almost everyday. Also Bergen is Norway’s second largest city and is bigger than Midland. Another thing that was different for Kristin was that people in Midland drive cars instead of just taking the bus for the main source of transportation. As you can imagine the time change must be different, Norway is seven hours ahead of us.

“I will miss my host family and my friends I met here the most,” Kristin said “But I am excited to get back to having more freedom in Norway.”

Kristin said her experience was something she will never forget and that it was a great experience for her to have.

“It was a year to remember,” Kristin said.

“On Catoico night, I had to go and get all the bow ties for the guys but when I got there I realized I was missing one and I had to run back outside and find it,” junior Cari Gillette said. “It was outside on the ground.”

Students in Philanthropy helped out the community in many different ways this year. One of the biggest things they do all year is collect grants for non-profit organizations that are in need of money.

“My favorite memory was the grant ceremony,” senior Rebecca Gallegos said. “I liked seeing all the people getting their money and knowing they’re helping people who need it.”

A lot of students would agree that MOAS is one of the most fun extracurricular activities at Midland High. For one whole week, they go to Washington DC and have a good time debating for the US.

“This year was my third year to go on MOAS so it was bittersweet since it was my last year,” senior Hope Erwin said. “My favorite memory from this year’s conference was going on Segway tours with all the seniors. We ran into the rest of the group and zipped around them on our segways.”

No one knows how the Robotics team was keeping their eyes open at competition. Their biggest tragedy was when they rebuilt a whole robot in one week, which originally took two months to build.

“We had original designs that we had been working on for the last two months but we decided that the robot wasn’t getting us anywhere so we to start completely over and build a new robot in a week, which we did, but I will never do it again,” senior Robotics vice president Marcus Salinas said. “We stayed and worked on it until two in the morning the day before the competition. It was not fun. However, it was ready by competition.”

The softball girls’ hard work paid off this year. They were bi-district and area champs. However, they also had stressful things happen just like robotics and Student Council.

“One day, Jess forgot herself,” junior Bianca Ambrosio said. We were on the bus and she wasn’t there so I called her and said ‘Jess, where are you?’ and she was like, ‘Mom, I’m late! It’s 7:00!’ and I said, ‘No, Jess it’s 8:00!’ She ended up driving up to where we were going.”

Our school had a fantastic baseball year. We were district champions, with 15 and 1 records in districts and we were bi-district and area champions. Not only that, but many memorable things happened on the baseball field.

“My favorite memory is being able to lace up my cleats every day, go out onto the field and see my best friend Connor Beck,” senior JM Hillman said.

Though band didn’t win UIL, they also had many different memories and catastrophes throughout the year. Not making UIL was a big deal, but someone also seriously almost died.

“At the Midland High marching field, there’s a tower with really steep stairs that we call the ‘stairs of death,’ ” junior Ariel Willingham said. “Every year we start our season over there with an announcement and they announce the leaders of the band and one girl went up the ‘stairs of death,’ slipped and caught herself, but she kind of probably could have died.”

Downstairs in the old building, it seems like you can smell food from a mile away. That’s because Culinary Arts is always cooking up something absolutely delicious. One of the highlights was cooking good food, of course.

“Last week, we went outside the box, I guess you could say,” junior William Lopez said. “We made a caramel banana cake roll. It was pretty rad.”

The tennis team worked hard this year as they became became best in the Permian Basin. They’re goal was to represent their area and that’s exactly what they did.

“I would have to say my favorite memory was when we played Lee and I won a tight doubles match and it came down to the last match and we beat Lee 10-9,” junior Sam Ross said.

Midland High had many highlights this year, and to wrap it up, the students are working hard on academics and getting ready for summer. Though there were many challenges, the students’ hard work and determination resulted in great outcomes and it helped them to become better people throughout the year.

On Saturday morning, a devastated Bulldog team came out tough and not showing any signs of defeat.  Jackson Lancaster took the hill for the Bulldogs and gave up two runs in the top of the first to give Southlake an early lead.  As the game went on, the Bulldogs would not quit.  Down 6-3 at one point, the Bulldogs fought back and tied the game 6-6.  going into extra innings, the Dragons got three runs in the top of the eight inning to seemingly put the Bulldogs away.

But once the Bulldogs came back to bat, the fight still returned.  The Bulldogs got two run in the bottom of the inning to make the score 9-8.  Beck came up to bat and smoked a ball to right field, only for the ball to fall right into the right fielders glove.

The Bulldogs accomplished much in the season, those accomplishments being a district champion for a third year in a row, making playoffs for the 16th straight years, and even throwing a no-hitter in the first game of the season.

The Bulldogs finished with a remarkable record of 29-9 and a 15-1 district record.  The Bulldogs were also Regional Quarter-Finalists in playoffs

You will receive 8 tickets for your family and friends to attend graduation. These tickets will be issues at graduation practice. Families that requested extra tickets will receive them based on availability and number of graduates. These tickets will be available for pick up in the trophy room on Friday May 31 from 9 a.m.- 12 a.m.

Graduation photos and video will be taken. You will receive information on how to order them.

Graduation rehearsal will take place on May 30 at the Chap Center. It will last two hours and count as a day of attendance.

Dress Code:

Gowns must be neatly pressed and should be worn 12 in. from the floor.

Ladies: dress must be suitable for church and dress shoes. No corsages, purses, wallets, keys, or phones.

Gentlemen: white shirt, tie, slacks, or dress khakis (no blue, black or khaki jeans), dark colored socks and dress shoes or polished dress boots. No wallets, car keys, or phones.

No inappropriate jewelry of any kind should be worn by boys or girls. (Tongue rings, nose rings, brow rings, etc.)

“I am self motivated in all that I do,” Cora said. “I am very ambitious and set a lot of goals for myself, thus I realize I have to work hard to achieve those goals.”

Cora’s older brother Hunter also attended MHS and was valedictorian of his graduating class. Instead of letting Hunters accomplishments intimidate her Cora uses Hunter as an example.

“Hunter and I do have somewhat of a competitive relationship because we are similar in many ways,” Cora said. “Hunter serves more to motivate me more than anyone else because he is very accomplished and I strive to be more like him.”

Although Cora grew up watching the Miss America Pageant she first became seriously interested in competing in 2009 when her cousin won the Miss Texas Pageant. Cora traveled to Las Vegas and saw her compete in Miss America, it was then that Cora knew she wanted to enter in the teen division when she was of age. When Cora was a freshman in high school she entered in to her first pageant and won Miss South Texas Outstanding Teen 2012, she then went on to compete in Miss Teen Texas and placed 2nd runner up. Cora currently holds the title of Miss Southwest Texas Outstanding Teen 2013 and she will compete this July in the Miss Teen Texas Pageant.

Preparation for a pageant begins way before contestants take the stage. Three months prior to the pageant Cora began a very strict health and fitness regiment. Cora follows a healthy diet and works out one to three times a day. In the weeks leading up to the competition Cora goes to her dance studio daily to practice her talent. To prepare for the questionnaire portion Cora goes in front of a mock panel of judges to practice answering questions. She also speaks to children about her ethics platform to develop her speaking abilities.

“This summer I will be dedicated entirely to pageants,” Cora said. “I will be busy preparing for Miss Teen Texas during the first month and I leave for the pageant on June 27.”

Name: Zarek Crowder

Future plans: Attending Midland College to play golf. Majoring in finance.

Favorite lunch memory: “Junior year I went to sonic for lunch and got a flat tire. I missed a class because we couldn’t get the tools to repair it.”

Most influential teacher: “Ms. Amburn and Mr. Hightower. I loved going to their classes because they both have a passion for teaching which makes it more enjoyable.”

One thing you could change about Midland High: “I would change the amount of off periods one could get. Some of us are forced to take classes we don’t want because we have to be at school so long.”

Favorite principal: “Mr. Heiting because I’m an office assistant for him and he’s easy to talk to.”

Most embarrassing moment: “Probably doing punt, pass, and kick at a football game this year.”

Name: Landan Dory

Future plans: Attend Baylor University and major in either law, business, or engineering.

Favorite lunch memory: Completed the Stanton Challenge, which is driving to the Sonic in Stanton and making it back to school on time.

Most influential teacher: Coach Conger. “I learned more about life and how to be a man from him than I could have ever learned on my own.”

One thing you could change about Midland High: ”I would change the lack of the 12 foot statue of me in the parking lot. That’s long overdue.”

Favorite principal: Mr. Heiting. “I have probably spent more time with him talking about fishing and sports than I have in class this year.”

Most embarrassing moment: The Southlake Carol game

Guilty pleasure: “All male Acapella, hands down. I don’t know what it is about it, but it absolutely drives me nuts. I’ve seen the movie Pitch Perfect at least a dozen times.”

Name: Kalli Dickson

Future plans: Attending Baylor University, majoring in social work and minoring in family and consumer sciences.

Favorite lunch memory: S.I.P. lunch and the baby shower for Mr. Walker.

Most influential teacher: Mr. Walker. “He is such a great person and led S.I.P. very successfully this year.”

One thing you could change at Midland High: The dress code

Most embarrassing moment: Walking into a wall

Name: Devan Crawford

Future plans: Attending Texas A&M and majoring in Biology.

Favorite lunch memory: “All of our S.I.P. shannanigans; whether that’s a Christmas party, baby shower, trip to the duck pond or site visit to a non profit organization.”

Most influential teacher: “Mr. Walker because he’s not just a teacher to me. He’s a dodge ball coach, baseball announcer, poker dealer, business-man, two-step champ AND teacher.”

One thing you could change about Midland High: “The shorts policy so I wouldn’t have to dodge principals every time I wear them.”

Favorite principal: “Mr. Heiting because he’ll have a conversation with students without being all principal-y.”

Most embarrassing moment: “I fell down the stairs in the rush to my truck at lunch time my sophomore year.”

Guilty pleasure: Climbing trees

Name: Matt Fitzgerald

Future plans: Attending Texas A&M and majoring in Petroleum Engineering.

Favorite lunch memory:  ”Lunch with Zach Andrews, Brandon Igo, and Hannah Cowley on Mondays for all of junior and senior year. It’s definitely one of the most entertaining parts of the week.”

Most influential teacher: “:Mr. Callaway has been my most influential teacher in high school. He taught me much about physics and helped me enjoy the subject. It is obvious that he cares about each of his students and wants them to succeed.”

One thing you could change about Midland High: “I would make lunch about 15 minutes longer so everybody doesn’t have to drive fast to get where they are going and then rush back.”

Favorite principal: “Mr. Horner because he is friendly and helpful every time I talk to him.”

Most embarrassing moment: “Moments are only embarrassing if you let yourself be embarrassed by them.”

Guilty pleasure: “Playing Xbox instead of doing more important things with my time.”

Juniors Jackson Lancaster and Lance White both received the win on Saturday while senior Alex Mata was given a loss Friday night. The Bulldogs will head to Abilene this weekend for a three game series against Southlake Carroll. The winner of this round will be crowned Regional Quarter Final Champions.

“It’s a great honor,” Corbin said. “I’m just ready to graduate and leave for college. This scholarship makes everything a little more exciting.”

Corbin earned the scholarship in three simple ways: Working hard every day, making respectable grades in all of his classes, and doing both of those while still excelling in various extra-curricular activities. Corbin was a member of the Varsity football team, the UIL Math and Science teams, Powerlifting team, and the Robotics team the went to Worlds in 2012. He does all of this, yet still finds time for his guilty pleasure, Minecraft.

“It’s definitely a lot,” Corbin said. “It all pays off in the end, and helping me get this scholarship is just another plus.”

Corbin also said that it was his most influential teacher, John Jefferies, who influenced his decision to go into petroleum engineering when he gets to Texas. Jefferies taught Corbin in both Pre-AP Physics and AP Physics C, as well as being one of the advisors of the wildly successful Robotics team that Corbin was a member of.

“Jefferies really had a big influence on me,” Corbin said. “After his class, I knew that I wanted to be a petroleum engineer when I grew up.”

Corbin is an excellent example of what every high school student should strive to be, and he should be easily considered a very deserving candidate in everyone’s mind.