Last weekend UIL coordinator Melanie Menefee took competitors to a practice tournament in Ennis. After an early-morning leave time, the group returned to Buffalo with multiple medals to show for their hard work. 

 CX team Nicollette Arabie and Kaylen Sanchez took first place, with Arabie also placing first in Persuasive Eextemp and Sanchez placing second in Informative Extemp. Senior Alyncia Jackson placed third in LD Debate. 

 ¨I was glad my students got to get some practice in events they haven’t been practicing in,¨ Menefee said. ¨It was also good for them to perform in front of judges and get their nerves out.¨ 

 Senior Ryan Brown placed third in headline, second in copy editing and first in editorial. She said she was mostly looking forward to copy editing and headline writing since she went to state with them last year. This year, like every other year, she is doing all of the journalism events. 

 ¨I didn’t expect to get first place in editorial, especially since I don’t think I made it out of district last year. Copy editing is by far my favorite event because I’ve always been a grammar nerd,¨ Brown said. ¨Sometimes, when we look over writing prompts from news or features, I can’t help but point out spelling and grammar errors and I think it might be starting to annoy everyone else a little but I’m having fun, so whatever. Hopefully, I’ll place in news and feature, too.¨ 

 Freshman Genevive Arabie competed in extemp; it was her first time in the contest and while she did not come away with a medal, she did improve between the two rounds. With the practice that she is getting in, she hopes to do better next time. 

 ¨I was looking forward to excelling in extemp and while I did not break to finals I did excel, Arabie said. ¨I look forward to next time.¨