UIL, or the University Interscholastic League, has been around since 1910, offering academic competitions for high school students and promoting lifetime skills among various categories. This year, UIL has made another appearance, and with it are many opportunities that students can utilize to their benefit as they progress beyond high school.

“Participating in UIL Academics is an excellent addition to a college application, resume, or scholarship application,” Ms. Loveland, sponsor of UIL Science, said. “You can [also] meet new people with the same interests as yourself and develop a deeper understanding of the material.”

Occupying the categories are competitions throughout the year that students practice in an effort to place and advance to higher levels of the contest. While most students might exude some fear toward these stressful events, Lillian Carman treats these competitions in a positive light.

“The competitions are very fun and it keeps me motivated to keep learning and exploring new subjects,” Carman said.

What each student wants from their performance in these competitions – their personal goals – may vary slightly, but they all follow the same idea: to succeed and represent.

“My personal goal is to get better scores than I did in previous years,” Charlie Contreras said, “and also to hopefully represent Weatherford in the UIL competitions in a good way and to succeed,” Contreras said.

The topics in each subject don’t just review students’ core classes. Instead, it’s something new to add to preexisting knowledge, or it’s something entirely different that wouldn’t be covered in a normal class governed by a strict curriculum.

“You get to learn things that are [not taught in class],” Rachel Ward said, “Like we learned about the Theory of Relativity a few weeks ago, which is something you don’t cover in high school physics.”

UIL might be a heavy workload, with studying and competing, but this doesn’t mean one can’t enjoy it and have fun.

“It’s just really fun. It’s not just a competition, it’s a fun thing. If any of your friends are doing it with you, you can study together.” Contreras said.

Overall, UIL is an extracurricular activity, and it isn’t without effort. Time and dedication are much needed, as well as a willingness to learn outside of what one already knows.

“It’s an undertaking, so you would have to consider the time you have to put into it and the commitment, but I think it’s worth it,” Ward said.