UIL Academics Awards and Results
Students Abigail Bautista, Nathan Bilyeau, Betzy Chacon, Artesia Cheak, Asia Chen, Austin Crump, Craig
Draper, Celeste Hernandez, Camila Hidalgo, Payton Hooks, Alyssa Isonhood, Crawford Johnson, Jessi Li, Alexis McCoy, Lausen Ost, Alfredo Renteria, Jaya Smith, Alan Tellez, Jordan VanWinkle, Alexis Villarino, Kami White, Addisyn Wall, and Aiden Woodard all competed at the 2023 UIL State Academic competition and faired very well.
Lexi McCoy, Alan Tellez, Kami White, Betzy Chacon, Abigail Bautista, Asia Chen, and Payton Hooks all are state champions in their respective events.
McCoy, Hooks and Ost are state champions in two events, but Alexis Villarino leaves the UIL state meet as a 4x state champ.
Here are the 2023 Awards and Results for UIL Academic Year.
Medalists – UIL State Academic Meet 2023
UIL FILM (Coaches – Phillip Dick, Jordan Owens):
Traditional Animation Alexis Villarino – State Champion (Animation)
Narrative:
Nathan Bilyeau – 6th Place (Narrative)
ESSAYS (Coach – Gail Herman):
Barbara Jordan Historical Essay
Lexi McCoy – State Champion
Jaya Smith – 2nd Place
Latino History Essay
Alexis Villarino – State Champion
Camilla Hidalgo – 3rd Place
JOURNALISM (Coaches – Madison Millsap, Gail Herman
News Writing
Lexi McCoy – 3rd Place
Feature Writing
Payton Hooks – State Champion
Editorial Writing-
Asia Chen – 4th Place
Headline Writing
Lausen Ost – State Champion*
Abigail Bautista – 5th Place
Copy Editing
Lexi McCoy – 2nd Place
Journalism Team – State Champion
Abigail Bautista, Asia Chen, Payton Hooks, Lexi McCoy, and Lausen Ost
SPELLING & VOCABULARY (Coach – Gail Herman)
Spelling Team – 2nd Place
Abigail Bautista, Kami White, Celeste Hernandez, and Allyssa Isonhood
READY WRITING (Coach – Gail Herman)
Alexis Villarino – State Champion
SOCIAL STUDIES (Coach – Madison Millsap)
Alfredo Renteria – 6th Place
LITERARY CRITICISM (Coach – Gail Herman)
Alexis Villarino – 2nd Place
Alan Tellez – 4th Place
Kami White – 5th Place
Literary Criticism Team – State Champions
Alexis Villarino, Alan Tellez, Kami White, and Betzy Chacon
The UIL academic team is coached by Philip Dick, Gerald Grafton, Gail Herman, Madison Millsap, Jordan Owens, Lesha Woodard.
The coordinators of the SSHS UIL Academic team had this to say following their outing at the state meet:
“I am so proud of the way our competitors and coaches have represented Sulphur Springs this year. We had 24 students qualify and compete at the state level in UIL Academics throughout the year. SSHS had 5 state champion individuals and 2 state champion teams. In all our students earned 17 individual medals. Each of our competitors and coach invested quality time and effort in a very competitive setting. We salute all our 2023 state qualifiers and we say congratulations to all our state medalists. We are proud of you all.
Thanks again to all the administration and staff of SSHS and SSISD for your support of our team. You set the atmosphere that allows students to succeed.
*TOPS – Best Score in All Conferences
