Academic UIL is a chance to compete against other schools in the district, region and eventually state in a wide variety of contest. There is a competition for everyone; from ready writing to current events and computer science to accounting. Each comes with its own set of rules and is open to anyone who is eligible and interested. Academic UIL continues to challenge and motivate students, and this year’s season is already underway with invitational practice meets.

The district meet is on March 29 at Dripping Springs High School. Students who place first through third in their event will move on to regionals. Some events where students compete on a team have the opportunity to advance as a team. This is true for regionals as well.

Last year nine Vandegrift students advanced to the Academic UIL state meet, with the current event and literary criticism teams placing first at regionals and Vandegrift fourth overall. The current event team placed first and the literary criticism team third at state with individual students placing in each category.

To prepare for these competitions the students practice over and over again. In journalism the students receive practice prompts and in current events the students gather and read the news for each week. All students and teams enroll in practice meets hosted by other schools and review previous judges’ comments. To become involved in one of these events, contact the teacher who is in charge of it so you can familiarize yourself with the event and begin practicing.