At the November 5 Plano ISD Board of Trustees Meeting and November 18 Work Session, the board had the privilege of recognizing outstanding Plano ISD individuals and groups who exemplify excellence, dedication and the spirit of being Plano ISD Proud.

2025 Kindness Card Contest

For more than five years, this special program has encouraged students to combine kindness and creativity, designing original artwork that the district transforms into thousands of greeting cards shared across our schools and community. With hundreds of impressive art entries submitted, the following students earned first place in their respective grade categories:

K-2 First Place: Ayaan Archith Mangali, Wells Elementary

3-5 First Place: Amy Lee, Centennial Elementary

Middle School First Place: Sarah Farhan, Murphy Middle School

High School First Place and Overall Winner: Angelina Vo, Jasper High School

 

Fine Arts Director Hall of Honor Induction

Plano ISD Director of Fine Arts Dr. Phillip Morgan was recognized for his recent induction into the Paris Junior College Hall of Honor.

Dr. Morgan’s distinguished career in public education spans more than two decades, during which he has served as both an educator and an administrator in K–12 and higher education. His professional journey includes recognition as Irving ISD’s Teacher of the Year in 2007, leadership of Tarrant County College’s nationally acclaimed Forensics program, and now, his exemplary service as Plano ISD’s Director of Fine Arts.

Dr. Morgan has contributed extensively to the advancement of arts education across Texas, serving on the Texas Theatre Adjudicators and Officials State Board and being named the 2018 recipient of the Texas Educational Theatre Association Founder’s Award.

Through his leadership, passion and advocacy, Dr. Morgan continues to elevate arts education and enrich the experiences of students throughout Plano ISD. His induction into the Hall of Honor was celebrated in early November in Paris, Texas, at the Alumni Awards Banquet.

Plano East and Plano West Senior High National Merit Scholarship Program Semifinalists

This school year, 73 Plano ISD students have been named Semifinalists in the prestigious 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. This distinguished honor places these students among the top academic performers in the nation, recognizing their exceptional achievements on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). Each fall, approximately 3.5 million students take the PSAT/NMSQT, and approximately 1.3 million meet the requirements to enter the program. From there, around 50,000 top scoring students are recognized, and approximately 16,000 high-scoring students (less than 1%) are named National Merit Semifinalists. Students and their families from Plano Senior High School were honored at the October meeting.

At the November 5 meeting, students and families representing Plano East Senior High School were recognized. 

• Saura Agarwal (Not pictured)
• Kris Biswal
• Vaani Chellamuthu
• Oliver Chen
• Athreya Chokhani
• Hayden Dillon
• Amber Gesell
• Nirvan Ghimire
• Ashwin Goel (Not pictured)
• Bantee Greene
• Arya Gurumukhi (Not pictured)
• Sydney Kramen
• Ritika Manikandan (Not pictured)
• Adrian Marchant
• Anushka Mohanty (Not pictured)
• Bennett Noll (Not pictured)
• Swathi Parameshwar (Not pictured)
• Shardul Patel (Not pictured)
• Crystal Phung
• Avleen Randhawa (Not pictured)
• Vedant Sundar (Not pictured)
• Dyan Tecuatl (Not pictured)
• Ryan Thieu (Not pictured)
• Siya Tripathi (Not pictured)
• Sam Zhu (Not pictured)

At the November 18 work session, the Board honored the semifinalists from Plano West Senior High School and their families.

• Lakshit Ahuja (Not pictured)
• Ayush Appan (Not pictured)
• Divya Arunkumar (Not pictured)
• Yang Bai (Not pictured)
• Rehan Buvvaji (Not pictured)
• Rongbai Dai (Not pictured)
• Ishan Das
• Ethan Fan (Not pictured)
• Kaitlyn Fan
• Cole Hongkeo
• Abby Jennings (Not pictured)
• Kaustubhi Joshi
• David Liu (Not pictured)
• Faizan Masroor (Not pictured)
• Rahul Mehta
• Mahir Mondle
• Dai Nakagawa (Not pictured)
• Kyle Park (Not pictured)
• Gabrielle Phan (Not pictured)
• Rithvik Punati (Not pictured)
• Eric Qian (Not pictured)