At the UIL Academic State meet on May 20-21, senior Evan Grosch placed fifth in Lincoln-Douglass Debate, and senior Tyler Lovelace placed sixth in Science.

“I felt my performance went well, however debate in general is a subjective activity where one judge dictates your fate,” Grosch said.

Like Grosch, Lovelace is satisfied with his performance, taking all factors into consideration.

“I think I did pretty well considering I was handicapped by being never taught electromagnetism because our school doesn’t offer it,” Lovelace said. “If I had known it I probably would have gotten second or third.”

While placing at State is the ultimate goal for Academic UIL competitors, simply qualifying for the state meet has its benefits for seniors.

“This is my first year doing UIL, but it’s gotten me a lot of scholarship money because I qualified for State,” Lovelace said.

Grosch agrees.

“UIL academics, specifically debate, is basically paying for my college so just monetarily speaking it’s done wonders,” Grosch said.

Not only has Grosch benefitted from the scholarship money he has received, but he has also gained personal insight through the experience.

“On a personal growth level it has made me discover and be cognitive of issues outside of my own world and expand my view of society and human nature as a whole,” Grosch said.

Along with Grosch and Lovelace, other students attended the meet at the University of Texas. Junior Paige Parks competed in Headline Writing, senior Max Doan competed in Individual Science, and a team including Lovelace, Doan, senior Max Vargas and sophomore Anish Bose competed in Science.