Unlike most sports season on campus, there was nothing more than one practice meet for campus academic teams before Saturday’s UIL District 13-5A meet at Wakeland.

“I’m expecting that they will do just as well as they did last year because last year we took our computer science team and some science competitors to state so I’m expecting quite a few of them to advance to regional competitions in Prosper,” campus UIL coordinator Courtney Benson said. “Now that we have the advisory period, a lot of the coaches are utilizing that and so I think some of the students have a little bit more time to be able to practice and go over old tests and their study materials so my expectation is that they might be a little bit better because they have more time.”

Last year, the school finished second in District 13-5A UIL meet. Competitors for this year are making sure they are well prepared in the effort to repeat the achievements from last year and possibly place higher.

“I am participating in the UIL science event so I try to take a few practice tests every week and based on those I gauge which concepts I need to brush up on,” senior Siddhi Patadia said. “Also we have an assigned reading, a novel called “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil Degrasse Tyson.”

While there are returning competitors, there are also new competitors who will face challenges in trying to get familiar with how UIL district meets work and the expectations.

“This is my first time competing,” Patadia said. “It’s more difficult for me because others have had several years to prepare while I just started learning the material a few months ago. The tested topics don’t change much from year to year so experienced competitors definitely have the upper hand. I hope that our team comes out with a first place finish. I also hope to place in the top 4 at Liberty so I can make the official UIL science team that advances to regional competition.”

For junior Ameri Jusupovic, Saturday’s meet will be a learning experience and a way of progressing.

“I think it’s definitely going to be beneficial to me because just the competition and working together with other people, it’s helped me learned a lot faster and a lot more things than I would have normally and it’s just been a great impact on my academic life,” junior Ameri Jusupovic said. “I hope to get a better understanding of how these kind of competitions work and how hopefully I can improve in how I study and learn in the future.”