MHS UIL Academic Team
Please contact Professor Van Sant,  UIL Academic coordinator by clicking here or in C125 for more information.

What are the benefits students might receive from participating in UIL?
Academic UIL is a statewide program that stresses that success comes from hard work. UIL can give students confidence and it allows you to build a relationship with your coach in a subject you love, make new friendships with other students with similar interests. It teaches you how to collaborate and get along with all types of people. It can help quench your thirst for knowledge by diving deeply into the subject of interest to you. It also broadens your academic horizons beyond our campus. UIL gives you a way to practically apply the information you learn during class during the regular school day. But most of all UIL challenges you to be the best you can be and shows that you are a winner no matter how you place in your event.

Are there any changes UIL is undergoing this year due to the pandemic?
UIL coaches will be setting up google classrooms this year to help manage their academic team. This will allow both face to face and remote learners the ability to participate in UIL Academics. We also know that our first invitational competition in January will take place here at Manvel High School where it will only be our team present and we can spread out and socially distance rather than traveling to another campus with other teams. We are still waiting for further information from the state UIL office on how our district, region, and state competitions will look.

What are the upcoming UIL events?
Our first event will be the Congress region competition which takes place the first week in November. Mrs. Vansant is already working with her team and looking forward to the competition. UIL debaters will have their first official meet at the start of January, and our first Academic UIL meet will take place January 9th here at Manvel High School. Other spring events are waiting to be arranged until we receive additional information for the state office.

What are the types of categories that UIL offers for students to compete in?
UIL Academics has something for everyone. If you love STEM subjects we have teams in Science, Mathematics, Number Sense, Calculator Applications, and Computer Science, If you want to delve into Journalism there are four different contests to compete in: Copy Editing, Editorial Writing, Headline Writing, and Feature Writing. Do you love your Language Arts classes? We have Literary Criticism, Ready Writing and Spelling / Vocabulary. Want to keep up with the news? Join our Current Issues and Events team. We also have a Social Studies team which will be delving into the fascinating topic of American Imperialism. Interested in a future in business? We have you covered with our Accounting team and our Computer Applications team. Do you love public speaking or want to improve your skills? Check out our debate teams, or Extemporaneous Speaking. There is truly something for everyone in Academic UIL.