Local students place high at UIL Academic competitions

Gonzales, Nixon-Smiley and Waelder high school students recently competed in UIL Academic competitions at the district and regional level with some earning high honors.

Gonzales

In District 28-4A UIL competition, Kilee Schwausch won first place in Copy Editing and advanced to the regional meet. The Current Issues and Events team of Tobias Casares, Manuel Nava, Layton Ervin and Leo Tinajero placed first and moved on to regionals, with Casares and Nava finishing first and second individually. Ervin qualified individually as an alternate to regionals in fifth place, while Tinajero was tied for seventh place. Julianna Zuniga finished ninth.

Alejandro Ordonez finished second in Headline Writing and advanced to the regional meet while Emily Hull finished fifth in Informative Speaking and was an alternate to the regional meet.

The Literary Criticism team of Emma Balfanz, Clara Horstman, Lily Reeves and Nate Pennington finished second and was named alternate to regionals. Balfanz qualified individually for regionals in third place, while Horstman finished tied for seventh overall. Reeves finished ninth.

Schwausch finished fourth in News Writing and was named an alternate to regionals. Ainsley Pope finished second in Poetry Interpretation and advanced to the regional meet. Hull finished third in Prose Interpretation and qualified for the regional meet.

The Science team of Jude Hataway, Schwausch, Kevin Garcia and Horstman finished second and was named alternate. Hataway finished seventh overall individually while Schwausch was tied for eighth.

Anahi Meza was sixth in Social Studies and was named an alternate to regionals. Horstman, Tinajero and Nava finished eighth, ninth and 10^th place.

As a team, Gonzales scored 178 points and finished fourth overall behind La Vernia, SA BASIS Shavano and Cuero. They finished third in Speech with 28 points and fourth in Journalism with 35 points.

At the Region IV-3A Academic Competition, Schwausch finished fifth overall in Copy Editing and was named a state alternate. Pope finished sixth overall in Poetry Interpretation and was named a state alternate. Gonzales scored a total of 10 points as a team and finished in 24^th place overall at the meet. The Apaches were tied for seventh as a team in Speech and tied for 11^th as a team in Journalism.

Nixon-Smiley

Solana Martinez finished fourth in Ready Writing at the District 26-3A meet and was named a regional alternate. As a team, the school finished sixth overall with eight points scored.

Waelder

The Science team of Fabiola Mendez Botello, Nicco Jaimes, Carol Gutierrez De La Rosa and Dixon Powell finished in second place at the District 30-A meet and was named an alternate to the regional meet. Individually, Mendez Botello won first place and qualified for the regional meet while Jaimes finished tied for eighth.

The Spelling team of Powell, Mendez Botello and Anahi Sarafin-Cano finished second at the District 30-A meet and was named an alternate to the regional meet. Individually, Powell finished sixth and was named an alternate while Mendez Botello finished eighth.

As a school, Waelder scored 86 poiints and was third overall at the district meet.