Latexo Math Does It Again!
Latexo Wins 12th Consecutive State Title
By Kelly Nicol
Messenger Publisher
LATEXO – Well, this story emerges like clockwork every year. For the 12th year in a row, the Latexo Math Team – led by longtime teacher and coach Audrey Cravens – has won the Texas Math and Science Coaches Association’s state competition, this year in dominating fashion.
Top scorers were Carter Tucker with 346 (360 is perfect), Mohammed Asad with 268, Natalie Nicol with 158, and Tristan Hill with 126 for a total of 898 points.
Second place was Olney High School, whose students scored 614 points.
This is a resounding victory for the incredibly successful Latexo program.
When asked about the State UIL competition, Cravens said, ”Yes, we have a little under two months and we have to work really hard still. I don’t care what they say. We still gotta work real hard because we care about our team score, not just winning.”
This program has evolved over the years – producing some of the top students in the state.
Schools such as The University of Texas, Texas A&M, Rice and SMU have gladly opened their doors to students from “The Program” and Latexo ISD is now seeing team members testing the waters in the Northeast, where Senior Captain Carter Tucker has the opportunity to go to MIT and Natalie Nicol will be attending Wellesley College.
Mohammed Asad will be attending the University of Texas in the fall.
“Over the past four years, I’ve experienced quite a few ups and downs, but for the most part it has been amazing. I’ve learned so much so much more than I thought I would ever just taking the normal route,” Mohammed said, when asked about his experience at Latexo. “Learning math through UIL has kept me above other students across the state and I’m definitely going to benefit the value of what I’ve learned moving forward into college.”
When asked about what advice he would give to the students moving up within the program, Mohammed said, “There will be times that all you want to do is quit and all these long hours are not worth it, but just relax, take a nap, get some food.. whatever you need to do and move forward – because it will pay off.”
Team captain Carter Tucker said it has been a lot of work and hours every day and over the summer, “but it has paid off substantially, and we’ve had major success, and I can see that in our scores.”
Carter – as stated in the article above – has the opportunity to go to MIT in the fall, which is a new plateau for the Latexo Math Team.
“No one has ever even applied to MIT,” Cravens said, noting she is very proud to see him get this opportunity.
When asked about the future of the team, Carter turned to his younger brother, Curt, who he hopes to pass the torch to.
“The team is in good hands,” Carter said.
You could tell that the brothers were very close and I’m sure they will miss each other.
Lastly, my daughter Natalie Nicol will also be going off to the Northeast and attend Wellesley College (an all-girls college located just outside Boston). She will also have the opportunity to attend classes at MIT through her college, where hopefully they can help each other through when they miss good ol’ East Texas.
Since Natalie is my daughter, I have had the privilege of watching these three evolve into what they are today. It has been an amazing transformation and I couldn’t be more proud of them all. Competition brings out the best in them and they have all reached past their comfort zone because of each other.
Now I think of a quote by John Shedd, “A ship in a harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” It is now time for them to go out and make their mark in this world – not only for themselves – but to forge a path for those who will see them as inspiration in the future.
