From social studies, to debate and math, students throughout District 10-5A were put to the test on Saturday at the district’s UIL academic meet at Independence High School with the Redhawks taking the district championship.

“Liberty once again brought home the sweepstakes trophy from the UIL Academic & Speech & Debate district meet,” campus UIL coordinator Courtney Benson said. “I’m not surprised, but am always so excited for them to do this well.”

Centennial is the only school that finished within 100 points of the Redhawks first-place total of 404 points, followed by Lebanon Trail, Heritage, Independence, Emerson, and Memorial. 

“We placed in almost every event we competed in, and had numerous regional qualifiers,” Benson said. “Working with these students and their coaches is truly one of the most rewarding aspects of my job.”

With 22 events in which students can compete, more than 20 Redhawks finished in the top three of their event.

“It went pretty well. Our school won in a bunch of different events, so we did really well,” math UIL competitor, senior Sathvik Duddukuru said. “I placed in three different categories that I competed in, so I was pretty proud of myself for that.”

Senior Joseph Jung competed in math and science at the district meet, and much of his preparation came from his everyday classes.

“For biology, I reviewed the notes I made during sophomore year while in AP Biology,” senior Joseph Jung said. “Those definitely helped. I’m currently taking AP Chemistry, AP Physics C, and AP Statistics, and those helped me so much for science and math UIL.”

For students who competed in science UIL, much of their success was student-led.

“Up until this point they have been almost entirely student-led,” science teacher Christine Rittenhouse said. “You know, I provided them with practice tests right and stuff like that, but they’ve been doing it pretty much on their own. Now, we’re really gonna have to buckle down and set up some more like focus practice times.”

Students who placed in the top three qualified for the UIL regional meet April 21-22 at UT Arlington with the top three regional finishers advancing to the state meet in Austin in May.

“So for the past three years we’ve made it to regionals in the various math UILs, but we haven’t made it to state for a variety of reasons,” Duddukuru said. “So this year I’m trying to go to state for the first time. The math tests are all about speed, so getting faster while maintaining accuracy is really important.”