Lindsey Fruge

Sophomore Taylor Huckaby placed first in editorial writing at both the District and Regional UIL meets.

Facing competition from all over the state of Texas, she was surrounded by fierce and hardworking students from dozens of other schools. However, that was not enough to stop her, and her hard work paid off. 

Last month, sophomore Taylor Huckaby traveled with LCM’s UIL team to Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas where she competed in editorial writing at the Regional meet. Out of the several districts competing in the event, she placed first. She also placed first in the same event at District. She will be going to State UIL in Austin with all others who placed. 

“It feels so amazing to make it to the UIL State Championship,” Huckaby said. “It is really cool to be able to say that not only did I make it to State but that I was the District and Regional champion.” 

Huckaby was encouraged to participate in UIL by her journalism teacher, Lindsey Fruge. Fruge has encouraged many students to participate in UIL and is also the coach for the journalism UIL team. The most challenging part about UIL for Huckaby is waiting in between events, as it gets boring very quickly and becomes more nerve-racking as it gets closer to the contestants’ call time. 

“I really enjoy the sense of competition and the thrill of running out of time while you write,” Huckaby said. “I also like to feel the relief after you finish and how proud you and everyone around you gets when you do well.” 

This season, Huckaby’s only competition was in editorial writing. Huckaby thinks that the competitions as a whole can be very long, but the individual events can go by very quickly. When under pressure during these events, they can feel like they go by much quicker than they actually are. This can cause a lot of stress for students competing in UIL. 

“At first my goal going into the season was to place at district so that I could earn a patch for my letterman,” Huckaby said. “After I realized that I could make it past District, however, my goal was to make it to State, and I did.” 

Huckaby is most looking forward to traveling to Austin, where State UIL is being held, and seeing the University of Texas campus. She is also looking forward to spending time with the other contestants while they wait for the competitions. 

“UIL has impacted my life by helping prove to myself that I could be successful in anything that I put my mind to and to always push myself beyond what I think I can do,” Huckaby said.  “It also helped me realize that I can be very competitive in things other than sports and I could have a future in writing if I really wanted to.”