Several students have advanced to UIL state from UIL regionals. Sophomore Cale Wheeler has advanced to state in LD debate and Informative Extemporaneous Speaking. Sophomore Juliet Cardona will advance to state after receiving regional champion in Copy Editing. Freshman Kenzie Stone has advanced to state in Prose Interpretation.
State UIL will be at the University of Texas from May 13-15. Students will compete against other schools that won in their respective regions.
“I have been reading in front of Mrs. McGhee and Mrs. Peterson to get tips and make some final tweaks before state,” Stone said. “I did not expect to advance this far.”
The UIL event prose entails reading a piece of literature, a book or article to a judge to fit a predetermined category. Contestants can use up to six pieces and weave them or stack them. The contestant’s piece cannot go over 7 minutes or they will be disqualified.
“I had no idea what the competition would be like, so I was going into this blind,” Stone said. “Before district I competed in a few tournaments for bigger schools, so I understood how everything worked and how to act. The people I competed against were amazing. It was really anyone’s game.”
The UIL event LD (Lincoln Douglas) debate is a form of debate focused on philosophical and moral issues. There are two debaters, one on the affirmative and one on the negation. The affirmative argues in favor of the resolution, while the negation argues against it.
“I am very grateful and excited about the opportunity to compete at state in both events,” Wheeler said. “The competition at regionals was very strong and I’m proud of my performances.”
The UIL event Informative Extemporaneous Speaking is a speech event where contestants draw 5 topics focused on politics or current events, then pick one to give an informative speech about. They are given 30 minutes to research and prepare their speech, with the speech needing to be under 7 minutes.
“I’ve been preparing for state by modifying and improving my debate cases, researching important topics, and staying up to date with current events.” Wheeler said. “I’ve been lucky enough to have the aid of many educated people who have helped me to improve my ability and resources.”
In Copy Editing, students have 15 minutes to fix as many mistakes as they can in sentences from news stories using AP style.
“I was in ag com (agricultural communications) for FFA and I was constantly in competitions and that allowed me to practice in my free time,” Cardona said. “I did not expect to progress in the Copy Writing competition. I felt I could have prepared better, but I’m really proud of my progress so far.”
