HPISD Trustees Celebrate HPHS Science Team, Track Wins

Wins by the Highland Park High School UIL Science team at the state meet and Adelaide Wortman at the UIL Class 5A Track & Field State Championships were celebrated at the Highland Park ISD board of trustees meeting Aug. 18.

The HPHS UIL science team of Adrian Gu, Jake Neilson, Henry Zhu, and Bradley Liang won the 2026 UIL State Championship with Gu placing third overall in Science, Neilson placing fourth overall and first in Physics, and Zhu placing fifth overall and second in Physics.

Zhu and Liang were the Valedictorian and Salutatorian of the class of 2026, respectively, and Neilson was also among the top 10 graduates in the class of 2026.

The team’s coach, Jennifer Giannou-Moore, said during the recognitions at the Aug. 18 meeting that Gu is one of the captains for this year’s team.

Adelaide Wortman, now a sophomore, was recognized by the trustees for winning the UIL 5A State Championship in the 800-meter run with a personal record time of 2:11.25 and becoming the first Lady Scot to win the event at the state meet in May.

In other news:

The Highland Park Education Foundation presented a $1.8 million check to the district from the Mad For Plaid campaign.

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Rachel Snyder

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Rachel Snyder, managing editor at People Newspapers, first joined the staff in 2019. She's covered everything from Dallas and University Park municipal government to business. Rachel began her journalism career at the daily newspaper The Express Star in Chickasha, Okla. She went on to work for the daily Duncan Banner in Duncan, Okla. the weekly Sand Springs Leader, and WFAA-TV in Dallas. She’s a fan of puns and community journalism, not necessarily in that order.