AHS Student Garners Top Awards At UIL Academic Meet
Written by admin, Nov 18, 2016, Comments Off
Courtesy Veronica Cantu,
(Laredo, Texas)-United High School, United South High School, and Alexander High School competed in the Annual UIL practice academic meet held on November 11-12, 2016 at Cigarroa High School. Ian Limarta, J.B. Alexander junior, is photographed with Mr. Mario Rosales with his top awards in chemistry and physics. Alexander High School garnered the most points (674) to capture the Academic Sweepstakes award of 1st place followed by Nixon High School, and Carrizo Springs High School. UIL practice meets ensure students are prepared for the annual District Meet, which will be held at United High School on March 24-25, 2017.
“These students devote countless hours preparing for UIL academic competition,” said Dr. David Stevens, UIL director of academics. “Like their athletic counterparts, they practice before, dur- ing and after school and attend invitational meets and competitions. For many schools, the UIL academics serves as the school’s best gifted and talented program. And for virtually every school in Texas, it serves as an extension to the regular classroom for highly motivated, intelligent young men and women.”
United ISD Superintendent Roberto J. Santos encouraged students to participate in UIL academic competition.
“UIL is a wonderful educational experience in which students compete academically with students from other schools and school districts. It also provides students an opportunity for healthy, character building activities that shape our students into responsible, well-rounded individuals,” said Superintendent Santos.
The UIL offers contests in the following events: Accounting, Calculator Applications, Computer Applications, Computer Science, Cross-Examination Debate, Current Issues & Events, Editorial Writing, Feature Writing, Headline Writing, Informative Speaking, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Lit- erary Criticism, Mathematics, News Writing, Number Sense, One-Act Play, Persuasive Speaking, Poetry Interpretation, Prose Interpretation, Ready Writing, Science, Social Studies and Spelling & Vocabulary.
“In its own way, each contest is intended to teach the thinking skills students will need in college and in their careers,” Stevens said. “We have tremendous anecdotal evidence from students who testify to the importance UIL academic contests played in their high school careers. We also know that employers want workers who can solve problems, speak effectively and write clearly. Each contest is designed to help students reach those goals.”
