Big congratulations go to, Aidan Espinoza, of Robstown High School, as our Student Athlete of the Week! Aidan, a senior, has a 4.8 gpa and is ranked number 17 out of 142 students. He is a member of National Honor Society, National Technical Honor Society and Interact Club. Aidan is also taking dual credit college courses via Del Mar and will graduate with 24 hours of credit.

Aidan has already been accepted to U.T.S.A., where he will major in sports marketing. His dream job is to work for either a college or professional team in that capacity.

He has set the bar high for his fellow students at Robstown when it comes to volunteering. Aidan has done the following: read to elementary students, beautifying local parks, adopt a beach, Coastal Bend food drive, Special Olympics, the Family Literacy program, coloring book collection drive for Driscoll Children’s Hospital and Toys for Tots.

Aidan is following the path that his older sister, Kayla, has set. Kayla was our female student athlete of the year for 2017.

Please congratulate, Jae’la Hicks, from West Oso High School, as our student Athlete of the Week! Jae’la, a sophomore, has a 3.8 gpa, is a member of Sophomore Class Council and is taking early college classes (dual credit). She’s a multi-sport athlete for the Lady Bears in basketball and track and field.

 Although it’s early in her high school career, Jae’la plans on pursuing a degree in Kinesiology and hopes to become a college coach one day. Her dream job is to play professional basketball, either in the WNBA or overseas.

Her academic goals are to improve her gpa, continue to take early college classes and join National Honor Society. Jae’la has also spent time volunteering by working the concessions at the Middle School basketball games. She also loves to spend her time playing video games and going out to eat with her teammates.

Please help us congratulate, Marley Sims, from Ray High School, as our Student Athlete of the Week! Marley, a senior, has a 4.4 gpa and is ranked 31 out of 431 in her class. She plays basketball and runs track for the Lady Texans. She’s also a member of National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society, Art Honors Society, Mental Health Matters Club, Student Council and Triumph Over Kids Cancer.

Marley is undecided where she’ll attend college yet, but she has applied to several and is awaiting word on acceptance. She plans on pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and hopes to work with robotics for NASA one day.

Marley enjoys drawing and painting in her spare time, she’s even spent time studying philosophy. Marley volunteered her time with the HEB Feast of Sharing, and local food drives.

Please help us congratulate, Benny Hernandez, of Carroll High School, as our Student Athlete of the Week! Benny, a senior, is a multi-sport athlete and has a 3.7 GPA. He’s a 3 year starter in football and a 3 year letterman in basketball. This spring, Benny will compete in the discus and shot put in Track and Field.

Benny has several offers to play college football next fall, but his heart is set on attending UTSA. His football career isn’t over just yet as he will try and become a walk on player for the Roadrunners. Benny plans to major in Electrical Engineering and wants have his own Engineering Firm one day.

He’s volunteered his time with both the football and basketball teams as Student Mentors with local elementary schools, Toys for Tots, feeding the homeless and giving toys and food to needy families in the Coastal Bend this past Christmas.

Benny also has a dream to create a foundation in order to help the homeless people in the Coastal Bend get a hand up and better shot at a normal life.
 

Congratulations goes to Joe Ayala, of Tuloso Midway High School, as our Student Athlete of the Week. Joe, a junior at TM, has a 4.0 gpa and is ranked number 58 in his class. He has recently applied and is awaiting acceptance into National Honor Society. He also is taking On Ramps (dual credit) through the University of Texas at TM.  

Joe is also a member of Technology Student Association (TSA), it’s an engineering group that builds various items and competes against other schools across the State. Last year, Joe and his team built a miniature drag racing car and entered it into competition.

Joe is undecided where he’ll attend college, but he wants to major in Aerospace Engineering in hopes of working at NASA one day.

He has spent his time volunteering as a coach for the “Little Dribblers” basketball team, and helped prepare trays and meals at the annual Joe Salem Thanksgiving dinner recently. He and the Warriors basketball team held a Christmas toy drive and delivered the toys to the children at Driscoll Children’s Hospital.

Congratulations to Madalynne Robinson, of Flour Bluff High School, as our Student Athlete of the Week! Maddie, as she likes to be called, is a junior with a 3.7 gpa. She’s in her third year on the varsity basketball squad for Coach McMinn and the Hornets.

Maddie is interested in playing college basketball and is currently undecided as where she will attend. She plans to major in Kinesiology and would love to become a college basketball coach. No matter what she chooses as a profession, it will be involved with athletics.

Maddie has volunteered her time with Toys For Tots, St. Peters Church, community clean ups and dinners at the High School. She’s also a multi-talented musician. Maddie has the gift of being able to play any instrument she picks up, but her favorite instrument is the guitar.

Congratulations to Logan Borchardt, of Bishop High School, as our Student Athlete of the Week! Logan, a junior, has a 3.8 gpa and is ranked number 19 in her class of 156. She’s a multi-sport athlete for the Badgers in both volleyball and basketball and is considering going out for track in the spring. She is also in the stages of joining National Honor Society.

Logan plans to major in business and is undecided as of where she’ll attend college at this point. Her heart is set on playing basketball collegiately and she will weigh all options before making a choice of where she will attend. Her dream job is to own her own business, but she’s undecided as to what that will be now.

In her free time, she loves to write in her journal and spend time with her family. She has also volunteered her time with many activities that include Christmas clothing drives, adopt a child Christmas that provides gifts to the less fortunate and clothing drives to help the homeless.

Logan also has a unique middle name for a girl. It’s Dale, which her father, grandfather and great grand father all share. 

Congratulations to, Pierson Cazalas, of London High School as our Student Athlete of the Week! Pierson, a senior, has a 3.9 gpa and is in National Honor Society, Student Council, Triumph Over Kids Cancer and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He’s also a multi-sport athlete for the Pirates in football, basketball and tennis. He has received numerous accolades in all three sports.

Pierson, is undecided as to where he’ll attend college, but he plans to pursue a degree in Biomedical Science. His goal is to ether become an Orthopedic Surgeon or a Physical Therapist. It’s also undecided as to which sport he will play collegiately, as he currently has 2 offers for football and an offer for basketball to choose from.  

Pierson, along with his twin brother Preston have volunteered their time in feeding the homeless, working concessions and setting up for games at London and helped with Hurricane Harvey cleanups back in 2017. Pierson is also the grandson of former Nueces County Commissioner, Chuck Cazalas. 

Please help us and congratulate, Jaiden Castaneda, of Veterans Memorial High School, as our Student Athlete of the Week! Jaiden, a senior, has a 3.5 gpa and is a multi-sport athlete for the Eagles. He’s been a standout football player, a sprinter in track and qualified for Regionals in pole vaulting last spring.

After he graduates next summer, Jaiden will attend Texas A&M Corpus Christi and work on his undergrad studies. His major is currently undeclared, but he is considering a degree in Kinesiology. His dream job is to become a physical therapist for professional sports team.

In his spare time, he has volunteered as a mentor to local elementary students and worked concessions at Little Miss Kickball. Jaiden has a fun fact that most people don’t know about him. He learned how to play piano when he attended Metro School of Fine Arts and even competed in the talent show.

We want to congratulate, Aiden Navarre, of Ray High School as our Student Athlete of the Week. Aiden, a junior, has a 3.8 gpa and is a member of National Honor Society. He’s also in the process of joining the Ray chapter of Triumph Over Kids Cancer. Aiden plays football and runs the 4x1 and 4x2 in track for the Texans.

He’s undecided where he’ll attend college right now, but he wants to not only play football at the collegiate level, his dream is to one day play in the NFL. After his football career is over, Aiden plans to become a college football coach.

Aiden has volunteered his time serving meals with Share Your Christmas, which he plans on doing again this year. In his spare time, he works as a CSA with HEB on Kostoryz.

Congrats to Clarisa Martinez, of Taft High School, as our Student Athlete of the Week! Clarisa, a senior, has a 4.0 gpa, ranked number 4 in her class and is treasurer for National Honor Society. She stays busy all year-round playing volleyball, tennis, basketball, softball and track and field. Clarisa is also a Top 10 scholar and was named Athletic Princess for 2022.

She plans on attending nursing school and is undecided where she’ll attend college currently. Clarisa’s favorite class at Taft High School is her Phlebotomy AKG (Del Mar) class. She’s the sixth out of seven siblings in her family, and the third in her family to be coached by Tasha Wilson.

Clarisa has volunteered her time working the concession stands at the Taft Little League football games. 

Congratulations goes out to JaNaisha Kelley, of Carroll High School, as our Student Athlete of the Week. JaNaisha, a senior, has a 4.0 gpa and is a multi-sport athlete at Carroll in Volleyball, Basketball and Track and Field. JaNaisha is also a member of the African American Cultural Club.

She’s undecided of where she’ll attend college, but is looking at either Texas Southern University or the University of Houston. JaNaisha wants to major in Kinesiology and become a coach one day.

She’s a leader on and off the court and has been a tremendous mentor to the younger teammates. JaNaisha has volunteered her time as a volunteer teacher at Kostoryz Elementary through her teaching class at Carroll

Congratulations goes out to Michael Rodriguez, of Veterans Memorial High School as our Student Athlete of the Week. Michael, a junior at Veterans, has a 4.0 gpa and is in both Jr Council, Student Council and the Screaming Eagle Contest Band as First Chair Tuba. After graduating in 2024, he plans to attend college in pursuit of a degree in Aerospace Engineering. He’d like to either attend the University of Texas, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, or Texas A&M University Kingsville.  

Michael accomplished a feat that other runners haven’t achieved since 2018 at Veterans. He finished 11th at the last week’s Regional Meet to qualify for the State Meet!   

When he’s not running, Michael spends his time working as a volunteer at the concession stands for baseball and Middle School Track meets. He also plans to help with a Christmas party at a local Retirement home during the upcoming holiday break.   

Ross Dubose, from Gregory-Portland Fighting Wildcat Football is our Student Athlete of the Week! Ross, a senior, has a 3.8 gpa and has already been accepted to Texas Tech and Sam Houston State University. Ross is a multi-sport athlete for the Wildcats in both Football and Track and Field.

Ross has volunteered at the local elementary schools with opening doors and reading to the students and with the Coastal Bend Food Bank with food distribution to the needy.

He was named first team All-District Wide Receiver last year and is well on his way to the same recognition this year. So far, Ross has ammased 557 yards on 34 receptions with 7 touchdowns, including one for 64 yards. He also set the key block for teammate to set a school record 99 yard touchdown reception.

Keep being a great leader and teammate, Ross!

Isabella Garcia, of Tuloso Midway High School, is our Student Athlete of the Week! Isabella, “Bella” is a freshman Cherokee that’s doing some amazing things. She has a 94 gpa and is joining Student Council later this year. Bella is a multi-sport athlete that competes in Volleyball, Basketball and Track and Field events. So far this year, Bella has recorded over 300 kills and is approaching 500 digs as a rotation player for Coach Chapa and the Cherokees.

In her spare time, she enjoys reading romance novels by her favorite author, Mia Sheridan. She will also become a volunteer coach of the “Little Spikers” volleyball program later this year. Bella was once a “Little Spiker” herself and looks forward to giving back what was freely given to her.

Bella has plans to become a physical therapist of some type after she graduates in 2026.

Hey everyone, please help us congratulate, Logan Farrell, of Richard King High School as our Student Athlete of the Week! Logan, a sophomore, is ranked #1 in her class with a 4.16 gpa and is the Historian in Student Council. She’s a multi-sport athlete in both Volleyball and Track and Field for the Lady Mustangs.

  On the volleyball court, Logan was a great teammate this past Tuesday. She had 23 assists and 3 service aces as the Mustangs swept Carroll, 3-0. The Lady Mustangs team goal is to make the playoffs this year, they currently sit in fifth place, one game back in the standings.  

Logan loves to read in her spare time and her favorite author is Colleen Hoover. Logan, learned to play piano at the age of 5. By the time she was in the 4^th grade, Logan was able to perform at the prestigious Carnegie Hall.

Logan has volunteered her time with Student Council painting posters, and at the Cattery. She also helped coach Baker middle school volleyball over the summer with her middle school volleyball coach.

This week's Student Athlete of the Week is George Acosta, of Aransas Pass High School! George, is a multi-sport athlete for the Panthers and has a 3.8 gpa.

George recently set a school rushing record with 303 yards on 30 carries and 6 touchdowns. He was named the Ford Built Tough Player of the Week for that performance.

His goals this year are to join National Honor Society and make the top twenty in his senior class.

George wants to attend Mary Hardin Baylor University to study kinesiology, in hopes of becoming a High School football coach one day.

In his spare time, he volunteers at Shrimporee and coaches kids in the Aransas Pass Youth Basketball League.

Help us congratulate, Ryan Flores-Zapata, from Robstown Athletics as our Student Athlete of the Week!

Ryan, a junior, has a 4.0+ gpa, is a member of National Honor Society and National Technical Honor Society.

He's volunteered his time with Special Olympics and worked several positions at the Middle School football games. This year, he's even been a part of the pen-pal group with the Robstown Elementary kids.

Ryan, is a three sport athlete for Football, Basketball and Track and Field.

He wants to major in Business and hasnt decided where he'll attend college yet.

Please help us congratulate, MaKenzie Uribe, of Moody Lady Trojan Volleyball, as our Student Athlete of the Week!

MaKenzie, a senior, is ranked #3 in her class, has a 4.39 gpa, a member of National Honor Society, Treasurer of TSA Club and Destination Imagination.

Last year, MaKenzie was one of 5 fellow Trojans to receive the Hispanic Recognition Award by the College Board. It's given to individuals not only for their grade point average, but also for excelling in AP and Dual Credit classes.

She's undecided where she'll attend college next fall, but she plans to pursue a degree in both Criminal Justice and Psychology. Her dream job is to become a Behavioral Analysis Pfofiler.

MaKenzie is not only a Captain for the Lady Trojan Volleyball team, she recently became the first player in school history to record 1000 digs.

Ace Navarijo, from London High School is our Student Athlete of the Week!

Ace, has a 3.8 gpa, is a member of Student Council, President of FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) and FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America).

He's volunteered his time with Hurricane Harvey cleanups, the donation station at his church, Share your Christmas and Bikes for Kids.

He's open to playing football in college, but is undecided as to where he will attend at the moment. He does plan to major in Physical Therapy.

Not only is Ace the starting quarterback for the Pirates football team, he also qualified for State in Powerlifting this past spring!

Keep being a great leader, Ace!

The Student Athlete of the Week is presented by: Competition Sound, Hermann and Hermann and Mattress Firm of South Texas. 

We want to congratulate, Mikaela Palmer, of Flour Bluff Athletics as our Student Athlete of the Week! Mikaela, a senior, has a 4.0 gpa and is a member of National Spanish Honor Society.

She's also a member of Interact Club, a group of volunteers from Flour Bluff High School that do community service in and around the city. Mikaela really enjoys volunteering and her favorite things to do are the beach cleanups.

Mikaela's undecided in which college she'll attend next year, but she plans to study nursing in hopes of becoming a nurse practitioner one day.

On the volleyball court, Mikaela shines! This year alone, she's twice been named MVP of both the Boerne and Spikefest Tournaments. The Lady Hornets are arguably the best team in the Coastal Bend this year.

Mikaela is the granddaughter of former State Senator, Carlos Truan.