Last week, UIL students participated in regional competition at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas. The students who competed were seniors Evan Grisham in extemporaneous speaking, Zach White in prose, Jordan Jenkins in new writing and editorial, juniors Nadia Garcia in extemporaneous speaking, Lilah Adams in feature writing, Sonya Dominguez in calculator, sophomores Noah Rubel in LD and extemporaneous debate, Jose Sanchez in number sense, Sheri Donaldson in poetry, and freshman Colby Menefee in feature writing, news writing and editorial.

Overall nine students placed in their events:

Evan Grisham- 1st in extemporaneous speaking

Sheri Donaldson- 2nd in poetry

Jose Sanchez- 3rd in number sense

Lilah Adams- 4th in feature

Colby Menefee- 4th in headlines  

Jordan Jenkins- 5th in editorial

Noah Rubel- 5th in LD and 5th in extemporaneous speaking

Zach White- 6th in prose

Sonya Dominguez- 6th in calculator

Students Evan Grisham, Jose Sanchez, and Sheri Donaldson advanced and will be competing at the state competition in Austin in May.

“I was very shocked when I got first place,” Grisham said. “All of the judges ranked me first and I had never had that happen before. This has definitely been a good senior year.”

The experience was bittersweet for the seniors.

“I was kind of upset because it was my first and last time competing in my event,” White said. “I think if I would have been in it all four years I could have done a lot better. But I am really glad I got to experience this and get to travel with my friends on the trip.”