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West Rusk trustees honor All‑State musician, DAR Good Citizen and livestock champion
Summary
The West Rusk County Consolidated ISD Board recognized students for statewide and regional honors: a first‑chair All‑State band placement, a DAR Good Citizen designation, and multiple Grand Champion livestock wins at Fort Worth and San Angelo.
The West Rusk County Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees recognized several students for high honors during its Feb. 23 meeting. Interim Superintendent Gwen Gilliam introduced the recipients and said the district was proud to highlight their accomplishments.
Band director Grady Haffner described the rarity of the achievement by trumpeter Tristyn Purdy, who earned first chair at the Texas All‑State band. "So to get first chair out of Texas I mean this is our first first chair," Haffner said, noting thousands of students audition across regions. Tristyn explained the audition process and confirmed he made first chair. Jake Jackson, high school principal, said Madi Wilson received the most faculty nominations and was selected as the DAR Good Citizen after an essay and interview process. Madi described that she "did an interview, wrote an essay, completed a bunch of questions" as part of the nomination process.
Ag teacher William Larrew and student Emily Bynum described successes in livestock competitions. Emily said that "at a livestock show you compete with an average of like 500 to several thousand," and Larrew noted the difficulty of winning at the open level and said Emily has won multiple grand‑champion honors, including recent titles at San Angelo. The board thanked the students, their families and staff for the achievements.
