Following a stellar performance at district, Decatur UIL is advancing to regionals with 29 students.

Taking place on April 21-22 at Texas Tech University, the 4A Region I Academic UIL meet will host competitors from across the state of Texas. Decatur High School will send 25 students as competitors and 4 students as alternates.

“I’m very excited for the regional meet,” senior Peyton Wade said. “I advanced in the copyediting and headline events.”

While students’ performance at the district meet earned them a ticket to regionals, it also helped Decatur bring home the district championship, something that Decatur UIL Academics has not accomplished in five years. 

“It feels fantastic!! After doing this for 8 years I can tell you nobody works harder than our coaches and competitors,” UIL Academic coordinator Christopher Chance, speaking on the win, said. “It feels great to see them rewarded for all that hard work.”

In addition to their district win, Decatur also won the team events in Accounting, Computer Applications, Journalism, Science and Speech.

Out of the 25 students advancing, they will compete in a total of 17 events: Current Events, Ready Writing, Prose, Poetry, Computer Applications, Computer Apps, Copy Editing, News Writing, Informative Speaking, Persuasive Speaking, Accounting, Science, Feature Writing, Social Studies, Editorial, Headline and Literary Criticism.

“My hope is that our students compete at a high level, and represent Decatur for the amazing school it is,” Chance said.

This is the largest number of students that have advanced to regionals in years, with only three students advancing to regionals last year. 

“Knowing that a bunch of my friends also advanced will make the regional experience even better because not only do I get to compete, but I get to do it surrounded by people I know,” junior Torin Steil said. “The district meet this year was really enjoyable and hopefully regionals will be even better.”