Earlier this month, over 20 Academic UIL participants traveled to Huntsville to compete in the Regional UIL meet. A handful of those students placed high enough to advance to the State meet in Austin next weekend.

Junior Ashlyn Ellis placed second in Prose, while Lucas Ridout placed third in Poetry. In General Math, senior Chandler Barr placed third, he also placed third in Number Sense and first in Physics. Sophomore Sydney Bowman placed second in News Writing, while senior Spencer Johns placed first in Current Events. Johns scored a 34 individually, with a score of 10 on his essay, which gave him a total score of 44 out of 50 points.

“(Current Events) has caused me to pay more attention to world affairs and develop my own beliefs,” Johns said.

The Computer Science team placed first overall with a total of 1,220 points, which qualified them to compete in Austin. Juniors Nick Mugleston and Derrick Martin tied for second, while junior Dajhaun Myles placed fifth.

“After I joined Computer Science, it has been a great thing for me to work on and devote myself to,” Mugleston said. “This particular contest didn’t change much. It was another step toward State.”

The students will leave for Austin this Thursday, May 3 to compete at the State meet.