The Academic UIL season is kicking off. It’s the season for after school practices and weekend tournaments across the board.

Starting the season off, some members of the academic UIL team traveled to Princeton High School on Jan. 12-13 for academic events in addition to speech and debate contests.

In Computer Applications, senior Tyler Mathieson placed first, sophomore Jaxon Clark placed second and senior Ira Roy placed fourth.

In Speech and Debate, sophomore Pradnya Chakka placed first in Persuasive Extemp; junior Sarah Orejuela placed first in Informative Extemp; freshmen Kristina Bolson and sophomore Lauren Nager placed fourth in Policy Debate; seniors Emerson Trevino and Kolby Schulz placed first and third in Prose; juniors Riley Woods, Halle Heywood, Alyssa Sabo and Ava Fox placed first, second, third and sixth in Poetry; Trevino also placed first in Program Oral Interpretation; Schulz and Trevino placed first and third in Dramatic Interpretation; and Heywood and Woods placed second and fourth in Dramatic Interpretation as well.

MHS hosted the Melissa Academic Swing on Jan. 20 and will host another high school meet at the middle school campus on Feb. 3. The team will also travel to Prosper High School on Feb 10 to compete.

The 5A District 13 contest will take place the first week of April. The top three students in each academic event and first place team in some events will qualify for regional competition.