WHS places at UIL State meet

WIMBERLEY — Wimberley High School had numerous students place at the UIL Academic State Meet on May 19, four of which placed in the top ten.

Senior Azula Hunter-Thiam placed first in the Prose competition, where the students have two categories of pieces to perform: "Culture or Dreams and Aspirations" (Category A) and "This Speaks to Me" (Category B).

For her Category A piece that she performed at state preliminaries, Hunter-Thiam performed a selection, based on her dream of becoming an actress, composed from pieces of "Yes Please" by Amy Poehler and "The Actor's Life: A Survival Guide" by Jenna Fischer.

At state finals, Hunter-Thiam performed selections from Viola Davis’s memoir titled, "Finding Me: A Memoir" which landed her the gold medal.

Also placing was junior Josh Bober in Informative Speaking, awarded fourth place, and junior Jacob Mantsch in Science, who earned the fifth place slot.

Senior John Moore finished in eighth place for Current Issues and Events.

Overall, WHS finished in a tie for 19th place with 38 points and fifth for the speech events team scoring standings. The WHS UIL Academic coordinator is Kyla Brookshier-De Leon.

Below are the state meet contestants:

Current Issues and Events - Coach Brad Biggers

4th Place Team

8th (tie) - John Moore

11th (tie) - Josh Bober

18th (tie) - Alex Caldwell

20th (tie) - Hyatt Romp

Feature Writing - Coach Laquita Sellers

3rd - Peyton Shaw

Informative Speaking - Coach Kyla Brookshier-De Leon

4th - Josh Bober

Poetry Interpretation - Coach Kyla Brookshier-De Leon

2nd - Chloe Swindle

Prose Interpretation - Coach Kyla Brookshier-De Leon

1st - Azula Hunter-Thiam

Science - Coaches Laquita Sellers and Pablo Garcia

5th Place Team

5th - Jacob Mantsch (top performer in Chemistry)

16th - Kayla Pierce

24th - Kaitlyn Marinos

29th (tie) - Tyler Youens

Social Studies - Coach Brad Biggers

5th Place Team

16th (tie) - Chloe Thompson

20th - Samuel Crow

21st - Rachel Caldwell

22nd - Trinity Rivera