CX debate competitors Nicollette Arabie and Omar Almeida competed at UIL District CX last week, placing first and advancing to state in Austin in March.

“We have been preparing for months for this competition and we’re so pumped,” Almeida said. “Now we are taking a break from CX to prepare for NSDA National Qualifiers.”

Not only did both debaters get first place, but Arabia was awarded the Golden Gavel for being the top speaker for the day.

“I was ecstatic about getting the best speaker,” Arabie said. “Mrs. Menefee said if I got the best speaker I could wear a tiara in the picture, and I did.”

One other CX team ended up not competing due to a conflict with the FCCLA regional convention, while Almeida opted to stay and compete rather than traveling to Galveston for the convention.

“I was set to go to an FCCLA competition but had worked too hard to give it all up,” Almeida said. “I’m so glad I chose to stay and compete instead.”

While Menefee had initially hoped to have multiple teams competing, she knew that the conflicts meant that decisions had to be mad.

“I hated to see the hard work that some of the students had done go down the drain, but that is part of being at a small school,” she said. “Our students are lucky to be able to be in multiple activities, it just means that sometimes they have to make tough choices. But our students being in so many different activities makes them stronger.”