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The meet at Westwood High School in Austin on Saturday, February 27, 2010, gave the Llano High School students valuable practice for the District UIL Academic tournaments later this month With 45 schools in attendance, 50 to 100 students competed in every contest.

Bringing back a ribbon for her sixth place finish in news writing was Senior Sarah Sisson. Also competing in the journalism contests were Jacob Thomsen in news and headlines and Will Cohen in his first UIL editorial contest.

Entering the Spelling/Vocabulary contest was Caleb Wright. Taylor Marten participated in Calculators, while three students competed in Accounting: Tyler Bennett, Travis Dodson, and Jacob Thomsen. Two unique contestants for LHS were foreign exchange students Kamal Bilalov in Math and Bram Berkelmans in Science. Coaches attending were Christy Alexander (Science), Laina Murray (Accounting), and Debbie Engler (Journalism and Spelling/Vocabulary).

Competition continues during the months of March and April with the Best of Texas on-line meet. Tests are e-mailed every two weeks to coaches, administered to students, and scores posted on the Best of Texas website. After four months of competition, winners will be announced, with medals and ribbons issued. Events included in Best of Texas include Spelling/Vocabulary, Science, Current Events, Number Sense, Mathematics, and Computer Applications.

The District UIL Academic Meets will be Thursday, March 25, for writers and Lincoln Douglas Debaters, and then on Saturday, March 27, the rest of the academic individual events take place at Liberty Hill. The exception is the One Act Play which is at Rouse High School in Austin on April 1 under the direction of Maribeth Albor.

The top three finishers in each academic event advances to the Regional UIL Meet at Texas Tech University in Lubbock on April 22 to 24. The top three finishers in each event at the Regional Meet win the chance to compete at the State Tournament in Austin on May 6 through 8.

Students who make it to the state level in UIL Academics are eligible for thousands of dollars in college scholarships. Two Llano High School graduates are past recipients of UIL Academic Scholarships. Two current LHS seniors are eligible already to apply for scholarships based on getting to State last year. For more information on the UIL Academic program, please contact the coordinator, Debbie Engler, at dangler@llano.k12.tx.us.