A Celebration of Excellence
Latexo ISD Officially Unveils Sign of Champions
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
LATEXO – A small group of people gathered around a billboard on the side of US 287 N during the morning of Aug. 3 for a celebration of excellence. The sign advised motorists they were about to pass through a town that had laid claim to 15 state championships in the last 19 years.
In all likelihood, had COVID-19 not wiped out the last half of the 2019-2020 school year, there would have been more. The state championships were won not in athletics, but rather they were won in academics. The UIL championships came from the areas of mathematics, speech and current events and they all belong to Latexo ISD.
While the billboard has been up for a little while now, Monday morning marked the official unveiling of the sign and the two ladies who helped guide the Tigers to victories at the state level were on hand for the ceremony.
Beginning in 2012, Latexo High School math teacher Audrey Cravens has helped guide Latexo students to eight consecutive state championships in mathematics. Think about that for a moment. That, my friends, is called a dynasty.
Prior to the Mathematics Empire, former LHS counselor and teacher – now LHS Principal – Kim Watson guided LHS students to back-to-back state championships in current events in 2010 and 2011. She added another current events state title to her resume in 2014. Then, in 2015 and 2016, Watson led her students to back-to-back titles again, only this time it was in speech. For good measure, Watson also guided LHS students to a 2016 state championship in current events. She also added a 2019 championship in speech to the LHS trophy case.
“I love the sign,” Cravens smiled and said. “I’ve been asking for this since 2012. I have asked every superintendent and principal we have had since 2012. Two years ago, I said if we had been a basketball team that had won eight consecutive state championships, you know full good and well we would have had a sign the first year!”
Watson added, “I am very humbled. It took a lot of elbow grease to get here. When we were going through all the different years of getting this good, I never dreamed we would accomplish this much. We are going to continue to add to these numbers. We are not satisfied stopping at 2019.”
Cravens cautioned, because of COVID-19, she wasn’t sure UIL championships would be held during the 2020-2021 school year.
“Hopefully, they will. You have to get prepared, just in case,” she added. “Once people know you at the state competition, they expect to see you and they expect to compete against you. It makes it a challenge.”
“You have to keep the meal factory going,” Watson laughed.
“She (Watson) is the Queen Bee of UIL. When I first got here, she told me I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere and copy her. She kept on me about ‘When is math going to win?’ It took a few years, but once we got all of our honors programs in math set up, we were really able to be serious competitors,” Cravens said.
Chosen as the high school principal at the end of the 2018-2019 school year, Watson was asked if she planned to continue with UIL.
“Yes,” she emphasized. “I’m still planning on it and I was last year. We have a class period where we work on it.”
If you had to place a wager, the smart money would be on several additions to the billboard in the very near future.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
