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News and Updates

 

NEW: Changes and updates for 2025

 

Arrival at Kingwood High School

 

Lunch options
 

Teacher-to-teacher tips

 

Tips for Pair Discussion

 

Houstonfest Scholarships

 

Scholarships at State

 

NEW: Houstonfest history

 

Contest promo video #1 (students from one school tell why they love contest)

 

Contest promo video #2 (one student tells why she loves contest)

 

Contest promo video #3 (hilarious 2024 State-winning submission from our own Klein Oak High School!)

 

State promo video contest

 

Photo gallery

 

Daily log of changes to State-qualifier list

 

Important Dates

 

on a rolling basis but no later than Wed., Apr. 30, 2025 for payment during the 2024-2025 school year: submit Gail Cope Teacher Grant applications.

 

Mon. Jan. 13, 2025, 4:00 p.m.:  Application for transportation grants from the Houston Saengerbund opens (IF THEY ARE OFFERED AT ALL; if so, teachers will be sent a link to a Google Form).

 

Tue., Jan. 21, 2025, 11:59 p.m.Houstonfest registration spreadsheet due for regular price of $12/student (payment does not have to be mailed until 1/27).

 

Mon., Jan. 27, 2025, 11:59 p.m.Houstonfest registration spreadsheet due for late price of $15/student. Deadline to postmark Houstonfest payment.

 

Sat., Feb. 1, 2025, 9:00 a.m.: Submission of entries in the 7 virtual Houstonfest events due (get link to Google Form from your teacher).

 

Tue., Feb. 4, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: Remote judging of the 7 virtual Houstonfest events ends.

 

Wed., Feb. 5, 2025, 10:00 p.m.Houstonfest changes (adds, drops, substitutions) due. After this point, no more changes will be allowed.

 

Sat., Feb. 8, 2025 Houstonfest, Kingwood High School, Houston.

 

Fri., Feb. 14, 2025, 11:59 p.m.State online registration due for "early bird" price of $12/student (payment does not have to be mailed until 2/19).

 

Wed., Feb. 19, 2025, 11:59 p.m.State online registration due for regular price of $15/student. Deadline to postmark your State payment.

 

Sat., Feb. 22, 2025, 9:00 a.m.: Submission of entries in the 7 virtual State events due (get the link to a Google Form from your teacher). Also, Mary El-Beheri Memorial Scholarship and Sandra Dieckman GTHS Memorial Scholarship applications due (to submit the application, get the link to a Google Form from your teacher).

 

Mon., Feb. 24, 2025, 8:00 p.m.: Entries in State promotional video contest due to State director.

 

Tue., Feb. 25, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: Remote judging of the 7 virtual State events ends.

 

Sat., Mar. 1, 2025 Texas State German Contest, Texas State University, San Marcos.

 

Sat., Mar. 8, 2025, 11:59 p.m.Houstonfest Scholarship applications due.

 

Sun., Mar. 16, 2025Gail Cope State Scholarship applications due.

 

 

Houstonfest Scholarships 2025

 

Rules:

  • Scholarships of $500, $450, $400, $350, and $300 (or some other distribution totaling at least $2000) will be awarded, subject to funds availability each year. Thanks to generous Houston Saengerbund grants of $2000 in 2022, $2000 in 2023, and $1800 in 2024, the scholarships were fully funded in those years (supplemented some years with proceeds from Houstonfest).

  • The deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, March 8, 2025.

  • Any student currently in 11th or 12th grade who placed in the top five in three or more events (virtual and/or in person) at Houstonfest 2025 is eligible. Students who win a scholarship as juniors are eligible to be nominated again their senior year, but if they win their senior year, their total winnings over the two years will be capped at $500. The philosophy here is to spread the wealth around. For instance, if a student wins $350 as a junior and then qualifies for a $400 scholarship the following year, they will receive $150 the second year, for a two-year total of $500, and the remaining $250 the second year will go to create a scholarship for someone else further down in the rankings.

  • Each school may nominate only one student.

  • The application may be submitted by the German teacher (preferable) or the student, but the student must confirm with the teacher that the teacher wants him/her to be the school's one nominee before sending in the application. If multiple applications are received from a school, we reserve the right to give NO scholarship at all to that school.

  • The entry must be submitted on this downloadable form as an e-mail attachment to houstonfest@texasstategermancontest.org. Tip:  click the link, then save the form to your computer before editing and e-mailing it.

  • Scoring will be based solely upon how many sweepstakes points the student contributed to their school's sweepstakes total this year, with the following provisions:

    • Only points earned for 1st through 5th place will be considered. Points earned for 6th through 10th place will NOT be considered.

    • Only the original placing will be considered. If a student who placed 6th through 10th in a particular event later became eligible for State because someone in 1st through 5th place dropped out of that event, that event will not be considered.

    • Individual events and group events are treated equally, i.e., enter the full number of sweepstakes points earned for each event, regardless of whether the student worked on the event alone or in a group.

    • The accuracy of your entries will be checked against your original registration spreadsheet and the results spreadsheet. Inaccurate or dishonest entries may result in the disqualification of the application.

  • Sweepstakes points can be found on the original results spreadsheet.  

  • Ties will be broken by the 100 words or less written by the nominating teacher.

  • Scholarship payment will be in the form of a check made out to the student and mailed to the teacher by April 15, 2025.

 

Past Recipients

 

2024

$500: Arturo Pedraza Flores, Tompkins High School

$300*: Bryce Cruise, Heights High School

$400: Ruhi Kelkar, Clements High School

$350: Veronika Reznichenko, Brazoswood High School

$300: Dylan White, Tomball Memorial High School

$300: Natalia Posadas, Heights High School (Mark Johnson Scholarship)**

$300: Camila Ramirez, Heights High School (Heights High School Scholarship)***

* Bryce's scholarship would normally have been $450, but he received a $200 scholarship last year, and the lifetime maximum is $500.

** This one-time scholarship was given in honor of Mark Johnson's years of service to Houstonfest as the host of the event, 2016-2024.

*** This one-time scholarship was given in gratitude to Heights High School for its years of hosting Houstonfest (2016-2024).

 

2023

$500: Beatriz Laepple, Jordan High School

$425: Anushka Desai, Tompkins High School

$350: Alexa Martinez, Clements High School

$250: Allen Zhu, Kingwood High School

$200: Bryce Cruise, Heights High School

$150: Nina Wallach, Bellaire High School

$125: Timothy Serres, Tomball Memorial High School

$100: Tejaswi Sriram, Travis High School

$100: John Newton, Brazoswood High School

 

2022

$500: Caitriona Devlin, Tompkins High School

$400: Isabel Wabnitz, Heights High School

$300: Rosa Ramirez, Travis High School

$250: Sarah Gonzales, Jordan High School

$200: Angelina Pascali, Bellaire High School

$175: Alexa Martinez, Clements High School

$100: Timothy Serres, Tomball Memorial High School

  $75: Mia Gorus, Klein Oak High School

 

2021

$425: Devdeep Rajpal, Clements High School

$400: Elena Carlsson, Heights High School

 

2020

$150: Paige Horrell, Morton Ranch High School

$125: Alexandra Gioukaris, Tompkins High School

  $75: Holly Luebsen, Tomball Memorial High School

 

2019

$500: Ivette Castro, Morton Ranch High School

$400: Tim Bates, Kingwood High School

$300: Jaime Hotaling, The Woodlands High School

$200: Rishi Jangale, Clements High School

$100: Jesse Ji, Bellaire High School

  $50: Emma Kinzel, Tomball High School

 

2018

$500: Sai Odinga, Clements High School

$450: Piper Horrell, Morton Ranch High School

$400: Karolis Vaiciulis, Cinco Ranch High School

$350: Shelby Wiecker, The Woodlands High School

$300: Dagny Carlsson, Heights High School

$100: Charlotte Rissky, Tompkins High School

  $50: Nasya Hewlett, Clear Lake High School

 

2017

$500:  Erik Halsband, The Woodlands High School

$450:  Adrianna Navia, Clements High School

$400:  Collin Setzer, Kingwood High School

$350:  Matthew McGrenera, College Park High School

$300:  Rachel Pham, Cinco Ranch High School

$100:  Spring Agnew, Deer Park High School

  $75:  Cole Thompson, Tompkins High School

  $50:  Alexandra Bellon, Tomball High School

 

2016

$500:  Lexi Kokines, The Woodlands High School

$450:  Hans Lammeman, Tompkins High School

$400:  Cindy Yongoueth, Clements High School

$350:  Anqi Lou, Kingwood High School

$100*:  Madison Ledoux, Deer Park High School

$125:  Susana Simmonds, Cinco Ranch High School

  $75:  Juan Huerta, Morton Ranch High School

* The fifth-place award would normally have been $300, but because Madison won a $400 scholarship in 2015 and because the lifetime limit per student is $500, she received $100 in 2016. This allowed us to use the remaining $200 to award smaller scholarships for sixth and seventh places.

 

2015

$500: Burhanuddin Calcuttawala, Clements High School

$450: Scott Stevens, College Park High School

$400: Madison Ledoux, Deer Park High School

$350: Allison Williamson, Kingwood High School

$200: Jason Timmins, Brazoswood High School

$200: Alec Schillinger, Tompkins High School

 

2014

$500: Desserai Ramos, Deer Park High School

$450: Jeremy Beaty, Clements High School

$400: Robyn Morison, The Woodlands College Park High School

$350: Madeline Jasper, Brazoswood High School

 

2013

$500: Juli Scamardo, Clements High School

$450: Darien Higgins, Kingwood High School

$400: Jenny Baglio, Friendswood High School

$350: José Antonio Jiménez Rocha, Seven Lakes High School

$300: Zach Brown, Deer Park High School

$200: Aundrea Westfall, The Woodlands College Park High School

$150: Emily Grant, Cinco Ranch High School

$100: Madeline Jasper, Brazoswood High School

$100: Stephanie Hoffman, Clear Lake High School

 

2012

$500: Halla Bearden, Bellaire High School

$450: Britt Montross, Deer Park High School

$400: Ethan Mader, Clements High School

$350: Hannah Aergerter, Kingwood High School

$300: Stephen Schilter, Friendswood High School

Honorable mention, $50 each:

José Antonio Jiménez Rocha, Seven Lakes High School

Anna Clawson, The Woodlands College Park High School

Lynsie Patschke, Taylor High School

 

2011

$500: Callie Parrott, Deer Park High School

$450: Miranda James, Clements High School

$400: Connor Heaton, Cy-Fair High School

$350: Kaitlyn Berreth, Seven Lakes High School

$300: Nikita Viswasam, Cinco Ranch High School

 

2010

$500: Ana Builes, Clements High School

$100*: Luke Chen, Seven Lakes High School

$400: Jessie Jones, Deer Park High School

$350: Philip Meyer, Cinco Ranch High School

$325: Samantha Birchard, Taylor High School

$325: Tracilynn Roberts, Langham Creek High School

* The second-place award would normally have been $450, but because Luke won a $400 scholarship in 2009 and because the lifetime limit is $500, he received $100 in 2010. This allowed us to award 6 scholarships instead of 5.

 

2009

$500: Stephanie Sladek, Kingwood High School

$450: Alice Lin, Clements High School

$425: Garrett Steiger, Friendswood High School

$400: Luke Chen, Seven Lakes High School

$375: Daniel McBride, Deer Park High School

 

2008

$500: Brian Clark, Clements High School

$450: Amalie Barras, Cy-Fair High School

$400: Courtney Svatek, Taylor High School

$350: Abby Spitzer, Cy Woods High School

$250: Lucas Center, Westside High School

When is the next Houstonfest?

 

Saturday,

February 8, 2025

 

Where is Houstonfest?

 

Kingwood High School

2701 Kingwood Dr.

Kingwood, TX 77339

(new location in 2025!)

 

Link to Texas State German Contest

 

Texas State German Contest on Facebook

 

Texas State German Contest 40th Anniversary Facebook Group