From the past and present seasons of victories in sports, Italy’s academics was out to prove its point, and on March 23 that is exactly what it did. The Gladiators headed to Mexia to compete in the UIL Competitions last Monday and came home with plenty of awards.

“This is a new beginning for Italy. Since we have been moved down to 1A, we should have more opportunities of success, " stated local high school freshman, Omar Estada. The UIL competitions themselves are old news for Italy High School but when put up against a new set of competitors, the outcome was unpredictable.

From Science to Mathematics and from Speaking to Writing; UIL competitions are tests of knowledge and skill, which Italy proved they had by the results of the contests:

Italy’s District 19A Academic UIL Results

Accounting – 1st place Team
Omar Estrada—2nd
Brandon Souder—3rd
Jeremy Worsham—4th
Shelbi Gilley—5th

Poetry Interpretation
Jaleecia Fleming—1st
Heather Hilliard—5th

Prose Interpretation
Melissa Smithey—1st
Molly Haight—5th

Persuasive Speaking
Kelli Strickland—2nd
Josh Milligan—5th

Informative Speaking
Destani Anderson—2nd
Jase Holden—4th
Ross Stiles—6th

Computer Applications – Shelbi Gilley—1st

Physics
Megan Hopkins—1st
Brandon Owens—2nd

Biology – Craig Wright—4th

Science – 4th place Team

Literary Criticism – Melissa Smithey—3rd

Editorial Writing – Lexie Miller—3rd

Mathematics – Zach Hernandez—3rd

Ready Writing – Trevor Davis—4th

News Writing – Megan Richards—4th

Number Sense
Brandon Owens—4th
2nd place Team—Alternate

Current Issues and Events
Jonathan Levy—4th
2nd place Team—Alternate

Social Studies – Tyler Boyd—6th

The accounting team was coachless before their competition on Monday. “This is a learning experience. We did not have an accounting team but we put people who were good at mathematics into that event and now we have a team going to regionals,” said Sharan Farmer, a UIL sponsor. Candace Puckett will be taking on the postition of coaching the accounting team and will ready them for their shot at regionals.

The following students will represent Italy High School at the Regional UIL competition on April 24 at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches:

Computer Applications – Shelbi Gilley
Accounting – Omar Estrada, Brandon Souder, Jeremy Worsham, Shelbi Gilley
Poetry Interpretation – Jaleecia Fleming
Prose Interpretation – Melissa Smithey
Physics – Megan Hopkins
Persuasive Speaking – Kelli Strickland
Informative Speaking – Destani Anderson
Literary Criticism- Melissa Smithey
Editorial Writing – Lexie Miller
Mathematics – Zach Hernandez