The UIL Academic Team competed at the Port Neches-Groves practice meet on Saturday, Feb. 11 and brought home  a total of 23 medals. They had many academic teams and individuals place and are one step closer to their goal of dominating the district meet.

The computer science team took home the first place title. Senior Thomas King placed first, sophomore Nick Muggleston placed second, senior Tyler Wolfford placed third, senior Matthew Cox placed fourth, junior Lucas Russell placed fifth, and sophomore Derrick Martin placed sixth. This is the third meet this year in which the team earned first place.

“I have success in computer science by being conscious mainly, looking at my mistakes and improving upon them,” Cox said.

The speech team brought home second place. In persuasive speaking, junior Aman Tejani placed second and freshman Kierra Figgins placed fourth. Figgins also placed third in LD debate. In informative speaking, sophomore Akhil Tejani placed fourth and sophomore Nyah Patel placed sixth.

“I participate in informative speaking because it increases my confidence in public speaking,” Patel said. “I enjoy getting to express my opinions on specific topics, and its rewarding to get positive feedback from the judges.”

The academic team had numerous individual placements. Sophomore Chandler Barr placed third in science. Junior Katie Arabie placed sixth in accounting. Senior JoLynn Homin placed fifth in editorial writing. Freshman Sydney Bowman placed sixth in headline writing.

“I like that I can provide an opinion in editorial writing,” Homin said. “You have to apply reasoning and you have to think logically about the best solution to a problem. It is creative and kind of freeing to write even though it’s not free writing.”

The mathematics team along with the number sense team won first place. In mathematics, King won first in mathematics and number sense, Barr placed second in mathematics and fifth in number sense, and senior Cody Girouard placed fourth in mathematics.

“I like mathematics UIL because our team usually wins and the competitiveness makes it fun,” King said.

The academic team’s next competition will be on Mar. 4 in Sabine Pass. The students and coaches are very committed to their events and they have high hopes for success and improvement at upcoming meets.

“I love coaching journalism not only because I love journalism in general, but because my students are passionate about what they do,” Journalism coach Lindsey Fruge said. “They are always working to get better and improve at each practice meet. I have the best group of students on my team this year.”