Students are preparing for the upcoming district UIL academic meet with the help of their coaches and practice meets. Invitational A was held at home on Jan. 13 with the school placing fourth out of 16 schools.
Prose and poetry coach Becky Nogle prepares her students by making them practice reading their pieces.
“Both teams are looking over their selections from last year to review which ones will work with our new categories,” Nogle said. “The ones that don’t work will be replaced with new ones.”
Sophomore Shianne Bracey said she goes over her different techniques to be ready for competition.
“For my reading events I usually go over my poem until I’m ready to read it out loud,” Bracey said. “Once I’m ready, I start reading my story with a timer to make sure I don’t go overboard.”
Junior Adelyn Harvey said independent work helps her practice.
“I really just individually work with myself and listen to myself,” Harvey said. “My UIL event is pretty easy so it’s great to work by myself.”
Journalism coach Carol Cox said students do work during the class time.
“Most of my students are lucky enough to practice daily in the classroom,” Cox said. “Students write for the newspaper as well as go over and write old UIL prompts for practice.”
Sophomore Kori Keeter said working in her extracurricular helps her with UIL events.
“Ms. Cox has taught me a lot just from being in newspaper,” Keeter said. “I have looked at several practice prompts and example stories.”
Informative and persuasive speaking and spelling coach Leslie Graham said students do different activities to prepare.
“Some of the speaking event students do their work during class while others do it on their own time,” Graham said. “My spelling students have an online program they do and I usually have due dates for when I want things done.”
Sophomore Chloe Hibbs said she goes to her coach for advice.
“I usually practice saying my speech and try to see how it can best be organized,” Hibbs said. “When I get stuck on something or need help, I usually go to Mrs. Graham and we go over what we can fix together.”
Computer science and accounting coach Jamie Krenek said students must have an interest in UIL to join contests. “For students to be more involved in events, they have to be excited about what they’re doing,” Krenek said. “Having a good foundation in math is what I mainly look for when forming a team.”
Senior Kole Stovall said he feels more self-assured once he overcomes the initial challenges and said he plans on using his techniques later in life.
“I usually feel pretty confident when I’m doing my event after I shake off the rust,” Stovall said. “I plan on using my skills that I’ve learned for my future career.”
Science coach LeeAnne Warren said she looks for students’ work ethic to see who best fits on the team.
“Since I teach seniors, I usually ask them to be part of the science event because they’ve been through all three different branches of science,” Warren said. “I mainly look for students’ work habits and attitude during class to see who enjoys science.”
Senior Kayden Ritchie said science is one of her most liked subjects and enjoys the topics that are talked about.
“I enjoy the subject science and everything new we get to learn,” she said. “So I thought it would be fun to do science UIL too.”
