Gracen Shahan, who was named the Class 2A State Champion in Copy Editing last May at the State Academic Meet in Austin, recently added another honor to her resume.
Gracen was named to the UIL 2024 All-State Journalism Staff by earning points through competition at the local, regional, and state levels. UIL recognizes these students for overall excellence in scholastic journalism from UIL competition to yearbook, newspaper, online news and broadcast journalism competitions. To qualify, Gracen had to earn 50 points throughout the year, and she was able to achieve this lofty goal by competing in only one event, which is difficult to do.
Gracen was one of only 231 students across the state to qualify for this honor, and she was able to do so as a Junior. Gracen will compete in Copy Editing again this year and hopes to defend her state title. She had previously competed at state as a sophomore, in addition to last year.
In addition to Copy Editing, Gracen has also competed in other UIL events including: Number Sense, Mathematics, Feature Writing, Literary Criticism, and One Act Play. She has been the Class President all four years of high school, been involved in Student Council, has been in the Golden Armadillo Band for three years, a Cheer Manager for four years, and a Basketball Manager for one year. Gracen has also been a member of the National Honor Society for three years and is the current President. She is a twoyear State Medalist for VASE and has won many other awards for her artistic achievements.
Gracen is also very involved in the community through various activities and organizations including San Saba’s First Baptist Church, Mission San Saba, and the Salvation Army. Gracen is the daughter of Kevin and Monica Shahan and is coached by Misty Moellendorf.