| Sulphur Springs ISD
The Sulphur Springs UIL team had a historic run this year with 24 students competing on the state level with five winning individual titles and two teams winning first place, overall bringing home 17 medals.
Medalists – UIL State Academic Meet 2023 UIL FILM (Coaches – Phillip Dick, Jordan Owens)
Traditional Animation
Alexis Villarino - State Champion (Animation) Narrative Nathan Bilyeau – 6th Place (Narrative) Narrative
Nathan Bilyeau, sixth place (narrative) ESSAYS
(Coach – Gail Herman) Barbara Jordan Historical Essay Lexi McCoy – State Champion Jaya Smith – 2nd Place Latino History Essay Alexis Villarino – State Champion Camilla Hidalgo – 3rd Place
JOURNALISM
(Coaches – Madison Millsap, Gail Herman) News Writing
Lexi McCoy – 3rd Place Feature Writing
Payton Hooks – State
Champion
Editorial Writing Asia Chen – 4th Place Headline Writing
Lausen Ost – State Champion* Abigail Bautista – 5th Place
Copy Editing
Lexi McCoy – 2nd Place Journalism Team – State Champion
Abigail Bautista, Asia Chen, Payton Hooks, Lexi McCoy, and Lausen Ost
SPELLING & VOCABULARY
(Coach – Gail Herman) Spelling Team – 2nd Place Abigail Bautista, Kami White, Celeste Hernandez, and Allyssa Isonhood
Ready Writing
(Coach Gail Herman) Alexis Villarino - State Champion
SOCIAL STUDIES
(Coach – Madison Millsap) Alfredo Renteria – 6th Place
LITERARY CRITICISM
(Coach – Gail Herman)
Alexis Villarino – 2nd Place
Alan Tellez – 4th Place Kami White – 5th Place
Literary Criticism Team – State Champions
Alexis Villarino, Alan Tellez, Kami White, and Betzy Chacon *TOPS – Best Score in All Conferences Longtime Sulphur Springs teacher Gerald Grafton who is the department chair and UIL Campus Coordinator said, “I am so proud of the way our competitors and coaches have represented Sulphur Springs this year. We had 24 students qualify and compete at the state level in UIL Academics throughout the year. SSHS had five state champion individuals and two state champion teams. In all our students earned 17 individual medals. Each of our competitors and coaches invested quality time and effort in a very competitive setting. We salute all our 2023 state qualifiers, and we say congratulations to all of our state medalists. We are proud of you all. Thanks again to all the administration and staff of SSHS and SSISD for your support of our team. You set the atmosphere that allows students to succeed.”