The Academic UIL team had four students advance to the State competition after their Regional meet last weekend. Coming up on April 28th – May 1st, the students will be competing at Cypress Woods High School.

Junior Nate Breaux placed third in social studies. This year was his first year competing in Academic UIL since junior high.

“I didn’t even think I was going to be competing a few weeks ago at district, so state would be a pretty cool opportunity for me,” Breaux said. “[UIL] hasn’t been a really big thing at our school recently but we’re trying to get back to having a bigger team. I want to be a part of that and help make the team big again.”

Freshman Catherine Walker placed first in LD Debate, one of the only freshman to ever advance to State in Academic UIL.

“[Making it to state] feels really good because we tried our absolute best preparing all of these cases and it’s been two months of difficult preparation, but it was all worth it,” Walker said. “UIL has given me very good opportunities to further my speech skills and further my basic skills that will help me overall.”

Senior Jenna Jaffray took second place in the New Writing competition, the first student in four years to advance to state in a journalism competition.

“I’m so glad I have the opportunity to compete at the state level,” Jaffray said. “Not only does it open the door for more scholarships, it also motivates me to craft my writing skills even more since I’m competing against some of the best in the state.”

Senior Eric Zalcman placed first in both Ready Writing and Informative speaking, and is ready to take on state in both categories.

All four qualifiers are excited for the State UIL meet and the opportunity to compete at the highest level in the state.