Highland Park High School captured the top Team spot at the District 13 UIL Academic meet March 27, advancing to the Regional meet April 16-17 at Prosper Rock Hill High School. Contributing to the HPHS Team placement are nine first-place wins for team contests in Calculator Applications, Current Issues & Events, Journalism, Literary Criticism, Math, Number Sense, Science, Social Studies, and Spelling and Vocabulary. Event results for HPHS students include 14 first-place, 12 second-place and 12 third-place individual finishes.
The University Interscholastic League offers 30 academic contests at the high school level testing students’ knowledge and skills in mathematics, science, computer applications, writing, current issues, fine arts and more.
The contests build on the academic skills developed in the classroom and offer students the opportunity to stretch their talents above and beyond what is required. According to the UIL Academics website, the competition is designed to motivate students as they acquire higher levels of knowledge. It also is meant to challenge students to confront issues of importance in a way that requires critical and creative thinking, knowledge and comprehension.
Top-performing students, first-place team wins and team coaches include:
Calculator Applications
- Justin Li – first place individually
- Parth Nandekar – second place individually
- Evan Wang – third place individually
Current Issues and Events
- Spencer Dalton – first place individually
Computer Applications
- Geoffrey Son – first place individually
- Nina Kazi – third place individually
Copy Editing
- Lucy Gomez – first place individually
- Nicolas Drexler – second place individually
- Elle Polychronis – third place individually
Editorial Writing
- Jenetaifeatu Nwosu – second place individually
- Elsa Pedrosa Noguera – third place individually
Feature Writing
- Jenetaifeatu Nwosu – second place individually
- Lucy Gomez – third place individually
Headline Writing
- Nicholas Drexler – third place individually
Informative Speaking
- Evan Wang – first place individually
- Margaret Henderson – second place individually
Lincoln Douglas Debate
- Evan Wang – first place individually
Literary Criticism
- Elizabeth Ahn – first place individually
- Michael Pagano – third place individually
Math
- Justin Li – first place individually
- Michelle Xing – second place individually
- Joyce Jiang – third place individually
News Writing
- Elsa Pedrosa Noguera – second place individually
Poetry Interpretation
- Lyla Meece – first place individually
- Kieley Stallings – second place individually
Prose Interpretation
- Meredith Winford – first place individually
Ready Writing
- Christopher Sims – first place individually
- Emilie Hong – second place individually
- Elizabeth Ahn – third place individually
Science
- Justin Li – first place individually
- Luke Ting – second place individually
- Geoffrey Son – third place individually
Social Studies
- Matthew Mattei – first place individually
- Michael Pagano – second place individually
- Eleanor Steger – third place individually
Spelling and Vocabulary
- Lulu Carrillo – first place individually
- Spencer Dalton – second place individually
- Emilie Hong – third place individually
The following teams won first place at the district meet:
- Calculator Applications coached by Andy Speir
- Current Issues & Events coached by Temple Truax
- Journalism coached by Meagan Meredith
- Literary Criticism coached by Anne Balden
- Math coached by Andy Speir
- Number Sense coached by Andy Speir
- Science coached by Wenzen Chuang
- Social Studies coached by Temple Truax
- Spelling and Vocabulary coached by Dana Caron
Toby Whisenhunt serves as the coach for individual contests in Informal Speaking and Lincoln Douglas Debate. Lisa Seaman coaches’ individual contests in Poetry Interpretation and Prose Interpretation. Individual Ready Writing is coached by Anne Balden.
Click here for more results from the district competition.