Academic UIL Success: Science Team Advances to State, Senior Wins State Title

Before graduating high school in May, senior Carson Lutz succeeded in earning the title of 6A State Champion in Literary Criticism earlier this spring.

Carson took first place in the State Academic UIL event, which requires participants to have extensive knowledge of literary terms and literary history in addition to completing a list of assigned readings and writing an essay. During the 90-minute contest, students are tested on their familiarity with the assigned texts’ authors and major themes and other concepts associated with literary analysis. MHS UIL Literary Criticism is coached by Marsha Alvarado.

Reaching the state level in Academic UIL contests is often the ultimate objective for student competitors, and Carson wasn’t the only Midway student to accomplish this goal in 2022. A total of five MHS students competed at the State Academic UIL Meet in Austin this year.

The four other students are members of the high school UIL Science team. Michael Becker, Evan Jones, Ashlyn Melichar and Thomas Warkentine earned a spot to compete at the State Academic UIL Meet after winning first place as a team in the science competition at both district and regionals. The MHS UIL Science team is coached by Krystle Moos.

The UIL Science Contest challenges students to complete a wide range of reading in biology, chemistry and physics. Competitors must also be aware of new discoveries and information in the area of science, as well as have knowledge of the history and philosophy of science and how it affects daily life.

To make it to the highest level of UIL competition, each of Midway’s Academic UIL state competitors logged countless hours of studying and preparation outside of their regular class assignments. Their hard work certainly paid off and we’re very proud of them for representing Midway so well!