Four UIL students placed at the regional meet at Grayson College on April 26-27.
In computer applications Junior Ty Cantrell placed 4th and Issac Dieguez 5th. Sophomore Kori Keeter placed 4th in headline writing feature writing and copy editing. Senior Louren Conner placed 5th in editorial writing. The journalism team placed 3rd overall out of 12 other teams.
Computer applications coach Donette Odom said that their last year competing was good.
“I’m upset that this will be our last year competing in computer applications because my students just got the hand on what they’re doing,” Odom said. “I was still exciting when I saw their names on that placement paper.”
Dieguez said that there will always be another opportunity to do better.
“I was glad that I got even got to go the regional meet,” he said. “Although I didn’t place this year I always have next year to advance to State.
Keeter said that her placements helped her realize what she needs to improve for the upcoming years.
Keeter said “but it’s motivated me to work even harder for next year.
Junior Brooke Smith junior Estefani Zea and freshman Jocelyn Tedrow also competed at the regional meet.
Smith said practicing with her friends helped her fix the issues she had.
“I would practice going back and forth with Jocelyn Tedrow and Shianne Bracey.” Smith said. “Being able to hear what my mistakes were helped me a lot.”
UIL Coach Leslie Graham said she is proud of all the student’s hard work.
“I think regional UIL is the hardest part of competing,” Graham said. “There are many kids participating and the dwindle it down to a few of them.”
Keeter said she did a lot of different things to prepare for contests.
“There was a contest manual that I read through a couple times and I read a lot of example entries for my writing contests,” she said. “I also took some notes that I looked over on contest days.”
Cantrell said focusing on his equations helps him in his competition.
“I tried to lock in and do my best when I’m competing,” Cantrell said. “I went over the formulas and study them thoroughly.”
Senior Louren Conner said she focused on the work in front of her.
“I tried looking over practice prompts and working on thinking of ideas that are unusual,” she said. “During the competition I tried to focus on what’s in front of me and take little notes while I’m thinking for my writing.”
Tedrow said to avoid performing badly she tried to make sure her stress levels weren’t high.
“I tried to relax and make sure not to get too stress out,” she said. “If I stressed out too much, I fear I wouldn’t do as good.”
Dieguez said he worked on his event throughout the week.
“I tried to not work myself as hard,” Dieguez said. “I expanded my work throughout the week and by the time competition came around I’m ready.”
Junior Estefani said to keep herself from stressing she enjoyed the fun time she had.
“I tried to enjoy the day before contest,” she said. “We got to go around and do fun activities so it was a really good way to relax.”
Keeter said she enjoys doing what she’s good at.
“I was in editorial writing in sixth grade and junior high so that got me involved in newspaper and my events,” Keeter said. “Writing has been one of my stronger areas since being in elementary UIL so it’s what I stuck with.”
Tedrow said she feels encouraged to do UIL because of her friends.
“I enjoy my events and spending quality time with my friends is really fun,” she said. “I just try to remind myself that the outcome doesn’t matter as long as I compete the best I can.”
Cantrell said he is motivated to do UIL because of the fun trip.
“I honestly enjoy the free trip and all the fun we had,” he said. “I looked forward to spending time with my friends and getting to eat out.”
Smith said she likes her UIL event because of her younger years.
“I did oral reading in elementary and loved it so when I get to high school I just kept doing it.” Smith said. “I remind myself that whatever happens is okay and it’s not the end of the world if I don’t go further.”
