Literary Criticism is an event consisting of three sections of multiple choice questions and a tie-breaker essay based on literary compositions and devices. Seniors  Emily Moore and Christie Basson, junior Mariana Rios, and sophomore Victoria Permann make up the team that advanced to state by meeting the necessary requirements at regionals.

    “The whole team had to receive first place team at Regionals – the combination of the top three students’ scores on the team added together have to beat the other schools’ team score,”  UIL Literary Criticism Coach Stacy Roeming said. “This is how the whole team was allowed to compete at state.”

   UIL Journalism also advanced, but the competition works differently than Literary Criticism. Students are given a prompt and a certain amount of time to write an article over it, and are evaluated individually to determine who advances.

   “UIL Journalism can’t qualify for regional or state competitions as a team,” UIL Journalism Coach Amy Mahan said. “Each competitor must individually place in the top three at district and in the top two at the regional to advance to state.”

    Roeming has been coaching Literary Criticism for five years.

    “All five years, all team members have made it to state,” Roeming said. “This year, all four placed second as a team.”

    Mahan has been coaching Journalism for nearly the same amount of time.

    “I have coached UIL Journalism in some capacity for six years, two years at the school where I previously taught, and this year makes four years coaching it here,” Mahan said.

   Literary Criticism received first place team at regionals and second place team at state. Individually, Emily Moore placed first and Mariana Rios placed second.

    “Mariana and Emily had objective scores tied to each other, so it came down to a tie breaker essay scoring.” Roeming said.

    Journalism received medals as well.

    “I have always had writers advance to regionals, but 2015 was the first year I coached a writer to state,” Mahan said. “This year, Macie Kilgore place second in News Writing her first year competing and Rebecca Tuggle placed fifth in Editorial Writing.”

    Overall, the UIL organization’s hard work has paid off.

   “SHS was the 2017 District 8-4A champion, fifth place school at the Regional meet and fifth place school at state,” Jennifer Cozart, UIL Coach and Coordinator, said.