42 San Marcos High students head to UIL championships

The San Marcos High School UIL Academic Team is preparing for the UIL District Championship on Saturday, March 23 at Canyon High School in New Braunfels.
The team consists of 42 students competing in a variety of academic events from math, science, social studies, English and more. This is the largest UIL Academic team to represent SMHS in many years.
The team also includes the SMHS Speech & Debate Team, which will be attempting to win its fifth consecutive District Championship. Last year, after clinching its fourth straight title, the team went on to win UIL Regionals as well, with then sophomore Devon von Miller going on to place third at UIL State in Lincoln Douglas Debate.
This year, the UIL Academic Team has competed at tournaments in Pflugerville, Round Rock and Westwood High Schools in preparation for this weekend.
Mathematics coach Michael Barrientes is excited about his team's prospects.
"Our math program has really been growing over the years," Barrientes said. "We think we're going to be able to do quite well at district."
The team consists of students from all grade levels, many of whom will be competing in multiple events. One student who will be very busy this Saturday is senior James Dix. He will be competing in mathematics, current events and persuasive speaking.
"I feel that we have done just about everything we can to prepare," Dix said. "I know that we're going to continue our history of doing very well at this tournament."
After the district tournament, winners will move on to UIL regionals in April, before advancing to the UIL state meet in May.
Representing San Marcos High School at UIL District Championships will be:
Calculator Applications: Brian Delgado, Jesse Gonzales, Shelby Scott and Tristan Velasquez
Computer Science: Joseph Bravo, Thomas Stanley, Noel Zapata and Feun Robinson
Current Issues & Events: James Dix, Frankie Torres, Kristie Chau and Charlie Jalufka
Literary Criticism: Kaitlin Shelstead, Ian Gonzalez, Carly Villarreal and Risa Paredes-Juarez
Mathematics: James Dix, Jonathan Espinoza, Ian Gonzalez and Alex Sowell
Number Sense: Haley Galloway, Ian Gonzalez, Tushar Patel and Alex Sowell
Ready Writing: Lena Sauer, William Mayhew and Joe Galaviz
Science: Sierra Rowe, Alex Sowell, Haley Galloway, Brian Delgado, Noel Zapata and Jovanny Salinis
Spelling and Vocabulary: Matika Bailey, Tushar Patel Dallas Foreman and Cailey Hernandez
Editorial Writing: Itzel Osornia, Rebekah Bryan and Sierra Rowe
Feature Writing: Angelina Tompkins, Rebekah Bryan and Maddie North
Headline Writing: Sierra Rowe, Christian Nichols and Itzel Osornia
News Writing: Rebekah Bryan, Shawn Rushing and Itzel Osornia
Social Studies: Maddie North, Kristie Chau, Shawn Rushing and Korey Thornton
Informative Speaking: Frankie Torres, Rene Devorah-Robles and Kristie Chau
Persuasive Speaking: James Dix, Devon von Miller and Austin Bryan
Poetry Interpretation: Samantha Govea, Kaitlin Shelstead and Allison Guerra
Prose Interpretation: Carly Villarreal, Risa Parades-Juarez and Angelina Thompkins
Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Devon von Miller, Jenny McGinty and Max Murdoch
In addition to Barrientes, coaches include Dawn Ellis, Johanna Haley, Kenneth Hawkins, Tiffany Herbert, Karen Jackson and C.J. Odam.