On April 23, qualifying members of the Academic UIL team traveled to Texas A&M – Commerce to compete at Regionals. The team placed third overall, returning as the Second Runner-Up Academic Champion and Regional Speech Champions.

Students who individually placed within the top three of their events will advance to the State Academic Meet May 5-7 held at The University of Texas at Austin.

First place awards were received by the following: Daria Stepanova – Computer Applications – Advancing to the State Academic Meet, Flida Etchouekang – Informative Speaking – Advancing to the State Speech Meet, Logan Lowery – Poetry Interpretation – Advancing to the State Speech Meet.

Second place awards were received by the following: Tyler Mathieson – Computer Applications – Advancing to the State Academic Meet; Carson Butler – Lincoln-Douglas Debate – Advancing to the State Speech Meet; Sam Call – Computer Science – Advancing to the State Academic Meet; Sam Call, Steve Bui, Aaron Lester, Eric Bosley – Computer Science Team.

Fourth, fifth, and sixth place awards were received by the following: Brinley Smith 4th place – Persuasive Speaking – Alternate to the State Speech Meet, Miranda Sirota – 5th place – Editorial Writing, Kolby Schulz – 5th place – Feature Writing and Ready Writing – 6th place – Headline Writing.

Regional Speech & Debate Champions: Logan Lowery, Mattie McGrady, Macayla Brown, Halle Heywood, Carson Butler, Chau Hua, Josh Fine, Flida Etchouekang, Sarah Orejuela, Mattie Pickett; Hanna Zebari, Brinley Smith

The One Act Play directed by Megan Moore, Molly Kennedy, and Kyle Brenner was one of the state-advancing plays at Regionals. Seniors Logan Lowery and Audrey Coulombe each won an All-Star Cast Award, and senior Mattie McGrady received an Honorable Mention All-Star Cast award. Their play “The Lost Boy,” written by Ronald Gabriel Paolillo, will be performed at the UIL 4A State Contest on May 5 in Round Rock.