The UIL Academic Team has begun preparing for its district meet on April 5-6, with only one practice competition left. Head coach Theresa Robison hopes to bring full teams to all events and have the same amount or more people go to the Region Meet as last year.

“Ms. [Jessika] Wells and I are already meeting and looking at our teams,” Robison said. “We will finalize our current members as to who will compete where. Once we know where our holes are, I will start reaching out to specific teachers to get recommendations for students who are strong in those areas.”

The team has had lots of success this year, winning 28 individual awards during meets at Waller High School, Livingston High School and at a virtual Texas Tech meet.

“I am looking forward to watching the kids and team grow,” Robison said. “When you have a kid or group of kids really put their mind to putting in the time and effort, the progress they make is amazing.”

The programming and journalism teams have especially stood out this year.

“Programming team stands out because they are the only team to show up 100% of the time,” Robison said. “And the journalism team stands out this year because while their representation rotates, they have done a fabulous job of having competitors at every meet.”

Last year, senior Max Leal advanced as an individual for written computer science, and Robison and Leal believe this year the team — made up of Leal, senior David Geslison and senior Zach Niesporek — will go to region.

“I would say we work very well together and we complement each other where we lack in certain skills, so it really works pretty well,” Leal said. “We are preparing by getting together once a week for our study over the materials and the written portion and how to solve the program problems together.”

The journalism team is made up of several state and national winners, with the team able to transfer their skills from these competitions and adjust to the rules of the UIL competitions.

“It’s a little stressful, especially when it’s further away and you have to get up early and it’s very complicated to prepare,” junior Shelby Townsend said. “It often changes, and the things I compete in are very opinion based, so you just have to really have a good mindset going in and remember the structure of [each competition].”

The biggest challenge for the team is scheduling issues with many of the students being involved with sports, fine arts and out of school events.

“Getting the kids from athletics, band, dance…when all of the events have to be in the same window it makes it difficult since kids cannot be in two places at once,” Robison said.

With several strong competitors throughout most events, many returning members are preparing with the goal of maintaining their titles from last year.

“I write [notes over major news events] down in like a running Google doc,” said senior Dana Herrera, who competes in Current Events. “As it gets closer, like with any breaks I have with school or I just need a break from schoolwork, I usually go and read the news.”

Herrera got first in current events last year at the district meet, and is one of the many students that are hoping to do well at district.

“It takes a lot to self-motivate,” Robison said. “Academic team requires kids to push themselves. They have to choose to practice, choose to work to get better. The kids have been excited all year.”