With the new school year, academic UIL is once again open for business. With the graduation of the Central Heights seniors, the UIL teams have open spots available for most, if not all, of their teams.
“We lost some entire teams from last year,” UIL coordinator Tracie Sullivan said. “We lost number sense, calculator apps and accounting teams, and because we can have six students per team, there are plenty of open spots for anyone interested.
While UIL has lost a few of its major hitters with the graduation of Class 2026, that does not seem to be stopping Mrs. Sullivan, who is the teacher for English 3, all journalism classes, and the coordinator of UIL academics.
“This year, I am overseeing the UIL class fourth period. Mr. Jones handled that class for the last two years, and he did a great job,” Sullivan said, “But I am glad to have a period to focus on student preparation. I’m kind of a control freak.”
The events range from math-based events, such as Number Sense and Calculator, all the way to journalism events, such as Current Issues and Copy Editing. Most events consist of six students, with the top three places advancing to the next level.
Last year, the majority of the UIL competitors from Central Heights medaled at district, advancing to the regional level, which was hosted at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas, three hours from Nacogdoches. Because of the distance, students and coaches traveled to Brenham the night before, in order to be fresh for the early morning competitions.
“The ride on the bus was definitely long, but it wasn’t as bad when you’re surrounded by a group of friends,” senior Dayami San-Augustin said. “It almost feels like a family of sorts because we’re all together, and we’re all super excited to do our best.”
Those who place 1st-3rd at district, as well as first-place teams, advance to the regional level. And then those who place 1st-3rd at regionals advance to the state meet at the University of Texas in Austin. Last year, coach Marcie Splann’s number sense team, consisting of seniors Skylar Chung, Jeffrey Zheng and Luke Davis competed at state, ultimately winning third place as a team. Davis also competed in Spelling and Vocabulary. Sophomores Cayman Brown and Kate Sparks were alternates in journalism events, so they checked in just in case they were needed in their contests. Unfortunately, the alternates were not needed, but the girls got the state experience.
“Cayman and I got to explore the UT campus while the other students were competing,” junior Kate Sparks said. “We also got to know the senior competitors because we spent a lot of time together throughout the trip, which was a cool experience.”
While the events can hold up to six individual people on one team, with the graduation of the seniors, the teams are looking more bare than usual this year.
“It definitely feels like this year’s gonna have to be a step-up year, and make up for the super smart people that we lost,” junior Bella Downing said. “I think this year is gonna be a transition year, as well as finding new people that can carry the weight of those in previous years.”
With the usual heavy hitters of the UIL teams being gone for good, this is the opportunity for all new students to step up and show out at the UIL competition this year. Not only is this a big opportunity for students who are new to UIL, but the regulars in these academic events are excited to have new people as well.
“I’m excited to see the new people joining UIL, and I can’t wait to see what talents they have,” junior Cayman Brown said. “I believe there is a place for everyone in UIL, no matter what you’re good at.”