When Michael Donaldson entered his senior year of high school, he held one goal higher up on his list of priorities than others.
Much to his mother’s frustration, that goal was not to improve his grades or attitude. It was to bring a level of dominance in UIL Academics back to Connally High School.
Fast forward over a decade later, and Donaldson, who has returned to the district to serve as its Director of Communications and UIL Academics, finds a very similar task at the top of his “to do” list. After nine and a half months on the job, it seems like momentum is building in the right direction.
Nine high school students are polishing their skills as they prepare to compete in the Region III-4A UIL Academic meet on April 27, 2024 at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches. The students qualified for the regional competition after an impressive performance at the District 23-4A held at Connally on April 5.
“It is incredibly satisfying to watch our students prepare for the next level of competition,” Donaldson said. “You can see that they are hungry for success. Advancing out of the district level really showed them that they have what it takes to compete.”
Connally placed second overall in sweepstakes points at the district tournament. They ranked above teams from China Spring, Gatesville, Killeen ECHS, La Vega, and Robinson and finished behind the perennial powerhouse Salado.
“Competing in a district with seven schools can be difficult to navigate, particularly when some of them have a long history of success,” Donaldson said. “At the same time, however, it’s really nice because it forces our students to step their game up. We challenged our kids to show up and prove that they were just as competitive as any of these other schools, and they did just that.”
The high school’s performance at this year’s district tournament displays substantial improvement from last year. CHS ranked third overall with 198 sweepstakes points at the 2023 district meet, but finished in second place with 320 points this year.
“I am really proud of how our students performed this year,” high school UIL Coordinator Harley Hammett said. “Since coming back to Connally to teach, I have had a lot of goals. One of which was to make CHS UIL Academics great again. I know we are on the right track.”
Throughout this school year, students participated in a number of practice competitions, including two that were hosted at Connally.
“We’ve hosted the District competition the last two years I’ve been the coordinator,” Hammett said. “The first year I was kind of thrown into it, and I was nervous. The second year, I was more confident. After hosting three tournaments this year, this has now turned into a passion. I love hosting tournaments.”
Hosting invitational tournaments for area schools to attend not only taught Connally students how to run a major event, but also helped raise funds for the program to use for other projects. In particular, these funds will be used for scholarships for graduating seniors later this year.
“I was excited when I found out that I had the opportunity to earn a scholarship for competing in UIL Academics,” senior UIL competitor Knicholas Taylor said. “Competing in speaking events didn’t come easy for me. It took lots of practice and the support of my coach for me to stick with it. I am glad I did because it allowed me to overcome my fears of public speaking. I hope that future students can experience what I have, and this new tradition of scholarships continues.”
Much of the team’s success was anchored in the work of younger students. In particular, a journalism team made up primarily of underclassmen walked away with a district team championship thanks to their successes across five individual competitions.
“As a journalism team, we spent a lot of time practicing and attending invitational tournaments to get better,” freshman UIL competitor Anahi Garcia. “This (UIL Journalism) was something new for most of us on the team. It was a nice surprise when I was announced as the District Champion in Editorial Writing, and I was proud that our hard work had paid off.”
The journalism team was anchored by a stand out performance by freshman Sarah Hunsucker. She scored a total of 40 sweepstakes points across all of her events, the second highest of any of the students that participated in the meet from any school.
“Keeping the rules straight for all five journalism events is not an easy task,” Hunsucker said. “I was surprised that I placed in all five events, but I am happy that I advanced in Copy Editing and Editorial Writing. Now I can focus on improving those events for Regionals. My goal is to continue doing journalism and improving throughout high school.”
As the students and coaches prepare for their upcoming regional competition, they are maintaining their focus.
“I advanced to regionals in Computer Apps and News Writing, and I am the alternate in Feature Writing,” junior UIL competitor Glyn McDaniel said. “These were all new events for me this year. Seeing so many new young students come in and do well competitively has motivated me to want to do better.”
Regardless of the outcome of next Saturday’s contest, competitors and coaches alike have already set their eyes on the 2024-2025 season.
“I am excited to be able to attend the Texas Speech and Debate camp this summer to get even better in my event,” junior UIL competitor Alejandro Lujan said. “Next year, I have more opportunities to fine tune my skills and have a great senior year. I look forward to continuing to work with my wonderful teachers and coaches to push myself and exceed the Cadet Standard.”