Academic UIL district-level competitions were Saturday, March 29, and TWHS had one team and two individual students advance to regionals in Waco on April 25 and 26.
Academic UIL offers different subjects that students in CISD can compete in. TWHS sent students and teams to compete in English, Journalism, Math, Accounting, Debate and Science. In most competitions, students take a test or write to given prompt and formula, which are graded by varying judges of different backgrounds.
Students first competed in an invitational at Grand Oaks in January; practicing their skills and testing out their knowledge. The first district competition was an all day event hosted at Caney Creek.
The (English) Literary Criticism team under Ms. Hutchins took home the gold thanks to the efforts of Mia Ashley (3rd), Maddie Kern (1st), Kiersten Hua (2nd), and Kaissa Hecham. Maddie Kern also placed fourth in Ready Writing. The Spelling team came in second place consisting of: Kiersten Hua, Emma Kern (5th individual), Kinsey Howell, Jakob Druskoff (6th individual). In the Journalism competition, with Mrs. Chotain, Ian Burch placed second place in Copy Editing, with Austin Lee coming in sixth place in the event. Alex Hant also placed second in Editorial Writing. The Current Events team with Mr. Balluck placed second (first alternate to state). Speech and Debate compete all year with Mrs. Punch, but the overall winners were in Persuasive Speaking: Lucia Bronfman (1st Place) and Amrit Dhamija, Informative Speaking: Vincent Apuda and Ebrahim Ahsan, and the Lincoln Douglas Debate: Reanna Mohler, Austin Lee, and Martin Izquierdo.
Advancing to regionals is different for team verses individual competitions. For teams, each school sends one group of students; first place advances, while second and third place are alternates. In individual competitions, the top three students advance and fourth and fifth place are alternates. If a student or team can’t go to the next level of competition, their alternate can take their place.
Regionals will be held at Baylor University in Waco, April 25, and based on those results, state is in Austin in mid-May. For more information about joining a team for the 2025-2026 school-year please contact Mrs. Ballard, Mrs. Chotain, or Mrs. Hutchins. There is no academic requirement to join, but competition spots are limited.
