By Fernando Garcia
The Malakoff High School UIL Academics regional qualifiers will compete at the regional competition at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas on May 3. Nineteen, out of 31 students who participated at the district competition on Saturday, are advancing to regionals.
The 19 students who are advancing to regionals placed either first, second or third, individually, or placed first as a team.
“Our students have worked very hard to achieve success,” Karen Cook, Journalism coach, said. “I hope that this will encourage other students to participate.”
Many of the participating students received first place, including Fernando Garcia for News Writing and Feature Writing, Raylee Stearman for Prose Interpretation, Kelsey Reynolds for Computer Applications, Maddie Walker for Spelling and Vocabulary, and Andrew Beheler for Computer Science. Felipe Reyes received second place for Accounting, Meaghan Morton for News Writing, and Clay Gaddis for Feature Writing. The Journalism team, the Spelling and Vocabulary team, the Accounting team, and the Science team all received first place, with the latter three advancing to regionals to participate as a team.
“The Academic UIL students demonstrated that hard work does pay off,” Chris Robinson, UIL Academic Coordinator, said. “I am extremely proud of all of these students and I am excited to see what they do in regional competition!”
The students have been preparing for their district competition since early in the school year. Those who advanced to regionals are continuing to prepare for their meet on May 3.
“We have to continue to practice and study to do well at regionals,” Kelsey Reynolds, UIL Computer Applications participant, said. “With our determination and hard work we are going to hopefully make it to state.”
((Fernando Garcia is a student at Malakoff High School.))