UT Tyler Charter School in Tyler Excels in 2024 UIL Academics

May 6, 2024 | Hannah Buchanan

Eight Students Advance to Compete at the UIL State Meet

Students at The University of Texas at Tyler University Academy-Tyler campus excelled at this year’s University Interscholastic League Academics contests, with eight students advancing to compete at the UIL state meet May 13 – 14 at UT Austin.

“We are so proud of all of our students and celebrate their success, as well as all the UIL teachers
who are truly dedicated in helping students become academically competitive,” said Dr. Jo Ann
Simmons, UA superintendent.

UIL 2024 district winners listed by event are:
Calculator Applications – Adden Nolan, second place; Mariana Ortiz-Oliveras, third place; Micah
Glanton, fifth place; Aaron Farmer, seventh place; and Nolen, Ortiz-Olveras, Glanton and Farmer,
first place team.
Current Issues and Events – Glanton, fifth place.
Copy Editing – Ethan Miller, second place; Ian Orr, fifth place; and Giovanni Pinedo, sixth place.
Feature Writing – Orr, first place; and Rebekah Daniel, sixth place.
Editorial Writing – Blair Lamb, sixth place.
Headline Writing – Daniel, sixth place.
Informative Speaking – Hayden Burns, first place; Hassan Danish, second place; and Mathew
Deptula, third place.
Lincoln Douglas Debate – Orr first place; and Burns, second place.
Literacy Criticism – Anna Awbrey, first place; Orr, third place; Nolan, sixth place; and Awbrey, Orr,
Nolan and Daniel, first place team.
Mathematics – Deptula, second place; and Deptula, Melissa Hilbig, Sofia Garcia and Danish, second
place team.
News Writing – Orr, first place.
Number Sense – Garcia, third place; Hilbig, fourth place; and Garcia, Hilbig, Danish and Deptula,
second place team.
Persuasive Speaking – Jeremiah Humphries, first place; and Aminah Danish, second place.
Ready Writing – Anna Awbrey, third place; and Daniel, fourth place.
Sciences – Daniel, top scorer in biology-alternate; top scorer in chemistry-alternate, first place in
science; Hilbig, second place in science; An Tran, fourth place in science; and Daniel, Hilbig, Tran and Lamb, first place team.
Social Studies – Elysia Halberstadt, first place; and Glanton, sixth place.
UIL 2024 regional winners by event are:
Lincoln Douglas Debate – Burns, first place; Orr, second place; and Burns and Orr, first place overall
team.
Persuasive Speaking – Humphries, third place.
Informative Speaking – Burns, first place; Deptula second place; and Hassan Danish, fifth place.
Science – Tran, third place; and Tran, Daniel, Hilbig and Lamb, second place overall team.
Social Studies – Halberstadt, seventh place.

The following students will compete at the state contest: Ian Orr, Hayden Burns, Jeremiah
Humphries, Mathew Deptula, An Tran, Rebekah Daniel, Melissa Hilbig and Blair Lamb.
The UIL academic meet tests students, both individually and in teams, on their knowledge and skills over many content areas including speech and debate, writing, math and literary knowledge.

The UT Tyler University Academy is a K-12 public university laboratory charter school with
campuses in Tyler, Longview and Palestine. UT Tyler UA offers STEM curriculum in a hands-on
learning environment. The district currently serves about 1,000 students. For more information,
visit uttua.org/.

With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT
Tyler offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate programs to 10,000 students. UT Tyler
recently merged with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (now known as UT
Tyler Health Science Center). Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center (HSC) and
UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education,
cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research
institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in
Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.