Fifth place went to Cypress Lakes. Fourth place went to Cypress Ranch. Third place went to Bridgeland.
It was now between Cy Woods or Waller High School—the 2024 Region 2 champions of Current Events UIL and third overall in state.
It was now or never.
All of their hard work led up to this very moment. The announcer held up the microphone, “And now, the second place team is … Cypress Woods.”
That was it. They had lost it all.
The Cy Woods team packed up their belongings and went home, defeated and eliminated from the competition.
However, the following Wednesday, the wild cards were released. If a second place team scored the highest in certain districts, they were given a wild card that allowed them to advance to region. And the Cy Woods Current Events team was printed in bold black letters as an official qualifier.
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On March 29, the school hosted the Conference 6A District 16 UIL Academic competition. Cy Woods got first place overall for the 10th year in a row, with a score of 410. Everyone who advanced will now go to regionals, taking place at Baylor University on April 25-26.
“They’ve put in the work. They show up, they care, they work together. I felt like it was really well deserved,” Alicia Montes, Current Events and Social Studies coach, said.
Current Events focuses on a basic knowledge of current state, national and world events/issues and consists of 40 multiple-choice questions and one essay. Montes says that when she heard the news about the Current Events team receiving the wild card, she started jumping for joy.
“That team, they’ve been together for a few years, and they’ve worked hard,” Montes said. “I was just so excited for them as a team. They all deserve to go.”
However, for the other students who did receive gold for their respective events, it wasn’t the shiny medal around their necks that gave them the biggest feeling of satisfaction but the journey to becoming district champs.
“The goal is always to win,” junior Alaqmar Trunkwala said. “But the best part was just working with the team.”
Despite it being his first year participating in UIL, Trunkwala was able to place first in Computer Science. This UIL consists of a 45-minute written exam about programming concepts and skills, along with a two-hour programming contest for teams. Even though he didn’t make the team last year, that didn’t deter him from trying out the following year to pursue his greatest passion.
“My biggest motivation is definitely that comp-sci is what I want to do,” Trunkwala said. “If I want to do comp-sci, I have to excel, and being part of state, even winning state, would be a great step towards that goal.”
While this was Trunkwala’s first time participating in UIL, senior Michael Tran competed last year Tran described his stagnant performance as a plateau. But after winning first place in both Calculator Applications and Mathematics, he feels that all of his work has paid off.
“My junior year, there was little to no progression in my score, so that was unmotivating for me, and a hard time to get through,” Tran said. “But then eventually in my senior year, I picked up the practice, and I got my score all the way up to what I made at districts.”
Calculator Applications UIL involves a 30-minute test comprised of 70 mathematical problems that are solved with a handheld calculator. Mathematics UIL consists of a 40-minute, multiple-choice exam with 60 questions, designed to test knowledge and understanding in Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-calculus, AP Calculus BC and AP Statistics. Even though Tran says he is proud of himself for overcoming his own obstacles, his favorite memories of UIL were still the simple moments he shared with friends on the road.
“On our trip to Baylor [University], which is for regionals, we went to this Buc-ee’s, and the beaver was there and we all took a picture with him,” Tran said. “That was my favorite memory.”
One UIL member pivoted to a different event after a full year of commitment. Having once been dedicated to Computer Science UIL, senior Simon Xu decided to change it up for his last year of high school.
“This is my first year participating in Science UIL,” Xu said. “There’s three subjects: bio, physics and chemistry. Since I already took physics before, and bio-chem currently, it just felt like a good opportunity to test on what I’ve learned.”
Science UIL is one of the most complex events, consisting of a two-hour objective test with 60 questions – 20 from biology, 20 from chemistry and 20 from physics. Xu had two main goals on Saturday. The first was to be the top-scorer, which he achieved. The second was to beat his own teammate and friend, senior Bowen Yang.
“[Bowen] was pretty determined and confident that he was going to win first because he was miles above the rest of the team at the time,” Xu said. “My goal was to beat Bowen at the district event, and it was really nice that I did.”
Though these were the students who placed first in their respective UIL events, two other teams, Social Studies and Current Events, were able advance to region by the former scoring first place as a team and the latter receiving the wild card. The Social Studies team was wary about advancing as they were up against Waller, a team who had placed second in region the year before.
“My main goal was to make sure I contributed to the team. And my second goal was, obviously, try to get to region,” senior Pratamesh Bhat said. “I’m really proud of my team, and myself for overcoming this challenge of beating Waller at district and helping our school of Cy Woods place first at the sweepstakes for districts.”
Social Studies UIL surrounds a different topic area each year and consists of primary reading selections, as well as specific documents, that one has to be familiar with to take the test consisting of 45 objective questions and an essay. After the initial shock of beating their biggest competitor, Bhat says he felt relieved and happy over what he and his team were able to accomplish.
“We managed to come on top because we all we went to meetings, we studied together, and we made sure all of us wanted to contribute to earning points and going to state,” Bhat said.
As different UIL teams prepare for regionals, they develop various strategies and methods to achieve the best scores possible on the day of competition. But whether a member feels a lack of progress or doubt that they’ll succeed, they remember the memories they’ve made along the way and feel proud of themselves for making it this far.
“They’re gonna do great, because every single one of them tries hard. All of them care and put everything into it,” Montes said. “I just get to sit back and be the cheerleader. All the credit goes to them.”
