MUENSTER, Texas — Muenster ISD's career and technical education programs notched a banner week on the state stage. The MHS Welding team placed fourth at the State Welding Competition on Wednesday, and the MHS Cotton Team announced earlier in the week that it had earned a spot at the State Competition at Texas Tech University on May 2.
The Welding team — Carson, Kyle, Brady, and Wade — competed across two days at state, finishing Day 1 in contention before returning Tuesday morning with four hours on the clock for the final round. The fourth-place finish announced Wednesday capped the trip.
"Great job!!" Muenster ISD said in a post recognizing the team's result. The school also thanked sponsors TCL, Superior, PHI, David Peters, and Stephalicious Treats for making the trip to state possible.
The Cotton Team's bid to state came earlier in the week. Muenster placed second at the Area V Contest on April 20, securing the team's advance to the State Competition. Individual finishers included Jaycee B (second), Lauren G (fourth), Clayton C (ninth) and Claire G (thirteenth). The team will compete at Texas Tech University in Lubbock on May 2.
Why Texas Tech, and Why Cotton Judging
The state cotton judging contest lives at Texas Tech for a reason. Lubbock sits in the heart of the Texas High Plains — the largest contiguous cotton-producing region in the world. Texas leads every other state in U.S. cotton production by a wide margin, typically accounting for around 40 percent of the nation's annual crop, and the High Plains drives the lion's share of that output. Texas Tech's Department of Plant and Soil Science and the affiliated Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute have made the campus the natural home for the state's competitive judging events, and the contest doubles as an early recruiting pipeline into the university's agriculture programs.
Cotton judging itself is more technical than it sounds. Students are tested on "classing" — assessing fiber quality on attributes like color grade, staple length, micronaire (a measure of fiber fineness and maturity), leaf content and uniformity. They're also evaluated on grading lots and on marketing scenarios that mirror the decisions a buyer, broker or producer makes after the gin. The skill set translates directly into careers at gins, warehouses, merchant houses, USDA classing offices and farm-management firms across the cotton supply chain.
Cotton's North Texas Roots
For a Cooke County school, the trip west is also a connection back to the region's own agricultural history. North Texas was a major cotton-growing belt in the late 19th and early 20th centuries — the Cross Timbers region, including Cooke County, supplied gins, compresses and rail shipments that fed the cotton economy long before the High Plains became the production center it is today. Local cotton acreage has shrunk dramatically over the last century as the industry shifted west and as North Texas farmers diversified into wheat, hay and cattle. But the cultural thread — and the workforce pipeline into cotton-adjacent careers — remains, and student programs like Muenster's keep that thread alive.
For a single school week to produce a state-level finish in welding alongside a state-qualifying performance in cotton judging is an uncommon double for any small district. Both programs sit within the school's broader CTE and agriculture pathways that have long been part of the Muenster ISD identity.
Updates from the May 2 cotton state competition will be posted to the MISD news feed at muensterisd.net.