Hundreds of people are crowded in a huge lecture hall; nerves run high between the competitors and their supporters. A stage up front holds the coveted medals of bronze, silver and gold, with plaques that go to the top three winning teams.
On May 17, 36 students from Clements traveled to Austin, Texas to compete in the University Interscholastic League (UIL) state competition, which lasted May 18 and 19. They prepared all year through various practice tests and remained victorious throughout the district and regional meets to advance to state. UIL academics has served as a way for students to compete in their areas of interest and knowledge for over a century. Each school competes with others in their division, 1A through 6A. There are over 30 UIL events to compete in, each over a specific subject such as Number Sense or Current Issues & Events.
“Honestly, some of the books and poems are fun and they’re interesting to analyze,” junior Mustafa Ahmed, the 6A state champion in literary criticism, said. “‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ was my favorite one and I enjoyed how it presented the problems of racism and overcoming them.”
For students like Ahmed and senior Chloe Weng—who was part of the Number Sense team that won third in the state for 6A—that have a passion in a particular subject area, taking the UIL test doesn’t even really feel like a task to be completed.
“I was really here for the fun of it,” Weng said. “It was just that I was looking forward to it. I didn’t really think about the test I was taking.”
UIL academics has also allowed many students to meet like-minded individuals and create strong bonds with others.
“You do a lot of traveling for debate, especially because some competitions are kind of far away,” junior Sophia Yeh, who competed in the Lincoln Douglas Debate, said. “I’ve gone to Dallas for TFA state and I love meeting new people, seeing different perspectives and just overall making connections that I wouldn’t have made if I didn’t do this event.”
Even outside of the academic portion of UIL, students are able to spend time with one another and strengthen their friendships.
“My favorite part of UIL has been hanging around all the people,” junior Matthew Chen, who competed in science, said. “After I was done with my event, I didn’t have to study anymore so we were playing cards and everything outside the competition room.”
Throughout the year, the UIL students have been studying and taking practice tests to prepare for each meet. Some teams studied independently while others held team meetings to discuss the content and prepare for the meets. Alison Dunn, who coached both Social Studies—which won second place as a team—and Current Issues & Events that had one state champion, had a mix of the two study methods.
“UIL current events would hold weekly meetings where they would go over news and events that were happening globally that week and nationally,” Dunn said. “My UIL social studies team really was an independent study group where they had a book that they had to read throughout the year and become experts on that book and experts on a topic but a lot of their work was independent study.”
While the environment remained nerve-wracking, the students and coaches continued to build up each other’s confidence. The coaches remained encouraging the entire time, making sure that their students had confidence and were proud of themselves for being there.
“I told my kids going in, I want you to just do the best you can,” Bates said. “Getting to state is an achievement.”
Most award ceremonies took place the same day of the competition, announcing the champions of each division. Clements won second place overall at the state meet with nine students placing in the top six for their division, two of which won first place, and five teams placing in the top 3 throughout the competition.
“Honestly, I still haven’t processed it,” Ahmed said. “I’m in that state where I don’t believe it yet. Probably tomorrow I’m going to wake up and be like, ‘Oh yeah, I actually got first place.’ Like, I can’t believe it. I totally didn’t expect this at all, so it’s a really great thing for me. So, right now I’m really happy, and it will probably hit me tomorrow.”
Clements took home so many amazing victories at the UIL state meet. Teams and coaches are proud of their accomplishments and can’t wait to see what comes next.
“I’m super happy,” Bates said. “I’m wonderful. I’m just great, fireworks are still going off in my head.”
