Sheldon ISD Fine Arts

Our C.E. King High School C.E. King High School Choir Class of 2026 Seniors get to sing together one last time: here is their sound check for tonight’s Graduation, at which they will sing the National Anthem to open the ceremony before walking across the stage and into their futures! Beautiful as always!

Tuesday required double duty, as I not only needed to present to the School Board but did not want to miss our annual Sheldon ISD Bands Night of Percussion, featuring the percussion students and ensembles from C.E. King High School, King MS, and Null MS! It was a thrilling and powerful performance, and I love seeing the growth and community possible through 7 years of aligned instruction!

This week was our annual Fine Arts Department Board Update: Thank you to Danna and Leonardo for helping me to share all of our successes from this year, including Collegiate Showcase, Singing Day, 2 All-State Musicians, and a litany of other accomplishments! It was awesome to add the visual impact of all our trophies earned as a department at the podium and our Senior Art Show in the foyer! Here’s to another banner year and many more to come, and thank you to our amazing Board and Cabinet for fostering the environment in which we can thrive!

This past Friday, Saturday, and Monday was our 3rd Annual King Music Festival, our end of year festival and clinic for bands - and now choirs, as of this year - from all across the region. We love hosting everyone in our beautiful facilities, and congratulations to all of the students and teachers who performed!

Special congratulations to our Best in Class winners (especially the one from Sheldon ISD):

Beginner Band - West Lake Middle School
MS Open Band - Lake Houston Middle School
MS Varsity Band - Creekwood Middle School
HS Open Band - Channelview High School
HS Varsity Band - Nimitz High School
MS Beginner Choir - King Middle School Treble
HS Choir - Beaumont United High School Mixed

If any bands or choirs are looking for a place to play next May, we look forward to hosting this event again next year - so reach out anytime!

Thank you also to our great clinicians for all your work with our students - you truly are what makes this experience meaningful!

When Ms. Schaefer first pitched this passion project new course to me, I was excited about the impact it could have but worried how she would ever find the time while also running our award-winning Theatre program - but here we are over a year later and having just witnessed the first ever C.E. King High School Inclusion Theatre Showcase, and I could not be more pleased and proud! This buddy program for life skills students and advanced theatre students coming together to learn performance skills and write dramatic works has been a truly great way to teach public speaking, confidence, participation, collaboration, creativity, grit, community, and a host of other valuable life skills. Bravo on a great performance, and best wishes at even more success in year 2!

So proud of all of Fine Arts Seniors! Thank you to everyone who came out to support them!

I was so busy hosting the event that I could not get any pictures, but we were so excited to honor over 80 C.E. King High School Fine Arts Seniors who are College, Career, or Military bound during our 2nd Annual Fine Arts Signing Day ceremony Friday afternoon, including 3 joining the active-duty military, 14 who are headed to college for a non-Fine Arts major but will still be participating in college Fine Arts programs, 12 who are majoring in Fine Arts at college, and 11 more who are majoring in Music Education to become Band or Choir Directors - the highest number of future arts educators we have graduated so far! We are so proud of our students for staying committed to the Arts for all 4 years despite numerous other challenges and obligations and thankful for our teachers for preparing them at such a high level! We look forward to great things from all of you and to a growing number of Arts-bound or Arts-inspired graduates going forward!

Last night was our biggest Sheldon Spotlight Awards Night yet! It was inspiring to see a beyond-capacity audience come out to recognize hundreds of students for spring semester achievements, including many in the arts!

We are so blessed to have added Ms. Katrina Gatson to our Art Team at Monahan Elementary this year, and this benefit has already paid dividends for the future, as she helped her campus and district earn a NASA Alumni League grant for innovative school supplies! Thank you, and congratulations, Ms. Gatson!

Last weekend, C.E. King High School King’s Court Theatre Co. both hosted and performed in the new Texas Thespians Short Play Contest with their fabulous UIL production of “The Tasters” earned excellent scores & critiques and MANY distinctions & awards:

Best Overall Technical Achievement

Best Overall Ensemble: Aaralyn Munoz, Maximus Jasso, Aaryianni Lemus, and Coraline Arenas

Best Overall Direction

Superior Lighting: Gabriel Ortiz, Cody Rion

Superior Stage Management: Vanessa Real and Alyssa Mcintosh

Superior in Costume: David Wood-Smith and Caylyn Schaefer

Superior in Props: Maximus Nuyen

Superior Set Design: David Wood Smith

Superior Acting Distinction: Susanna Martinez Garza and Luannie Vasconcelos

Excellent Acting Distinction: Jeremiah Villarreal, Aiden Rodriguez, and Jazlyn LaStrappe

I am super proud of the hard work put in by this group teachers and students all OAP season and all year long, and I am also super thankful for Texas Thespians in creating this new event to celebrate so many of the successes that UIL rankings alone miss!