LORENA, Texas — Lorena High School principal Kevin Johnson and Lorena ISD Superintendent Joe Kucera held a press conference Sept. 21 to celebrate Lorena High winning the University Interscholastic League Lone Star Cup trophy.
According to the UIL website, this annual program recognizes six high schools, one in each of the six UIL classifications (1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A), based on their overall team achievement in the following sanctioned UIL Academic/Athletic/Music championships.
Principal Johnson shared that at least 380 out of the 500 students at the high school were a part of the 13 programs that helped make this happen.
"I think it's a proud moment for students to really understand how much they accomplished in 2021-2022 and we are so grateful we were finally able to win," Johnson explained.
When Lorena was in the running two years ago, they were only a few points short of first place. This year, there were able earn 96 points, beating Holliday High School by nine points.
What helped the school earn the points needed to win the trophy is when their football team earned a championship in the 2021-2022 season, the girl's cross country and volleyball earned medals in their competitions and the newly revived robotics program was state finalists at a Texas competition.
Lorena ISD Superintendent Joe Kucera says this could not be possible without the help of the community, faculty and staff as they have all worked diligently to make it to this point.
"It was a collective group of kids, coaches, staff, and faculty who got us to this point and we cannot thank them enough. We hope this will be the first of many times we earn this award and hope to be an example to schools in our surrounding areas," Kucera shared.
The Lone Star Cup trophy presentation will happen during halftime Saturday, Sept. 24 at the Lorena Leopard football stadium.
The plan is to put the trophy in a trophy case located inside the high school.