The past couple of weekends, Bowie students have traveled to compete in a number of academic UIL competitions.

“Last weekend we got to attend the Jack C Hays invitational tournament,” Speech and Debate Senior Tate Weston said. “We won sweepstakes there!”

In addition to Speech and Debate, the UIL calculator, science, and social study teams also competed in UIL tournaments.

“It was a really fun experience, we got to compete at Hays High School in the invitational meet,” Govea said.

Students can get involved by either testing into the programs, or in some cases, simply signing up.

“Most coaches allow anyone to join, but some do require taking a practice test or class,” Govea said. “I really recommend that students look into joining an academic team.”   

All the teams competed the best they could, and the UIL math and speech and debate teams had some success.  

“We had five TFA state qualifiers at the speech and debate tournament, which is awesome,” Weston said.

The new state qualifiers are Camille Zamora, Riley McCue, Alyssa Shumaker, Amy Shreeves and Tate Weston.

“We all worked really hard to prepare for the tournament and I think the results reflected our efforts,” Weston said.

The UIL math team placed as well.

“The UIL math team, which is Gage Haden, Jacob Rubine, and I, finished 2nd overall in the calculator portion and 1st for the number sense portion at the Invitational Meet,” Govea said. “We all did really good and our team chemistry played a vital role in our success.”

Overall getting involved in academic competitions is a great alternative option for those who want to compete in a non-traditional way.

“It’s a really great way to meet others and compete against other schools if you’re not into sports,” UIL calculator team member Carolina Govea said.