The speech team will compete at the Round Rock Invitational UIL Meet Saturday after competing at the Hereford Texas Forensics Association (TFA) Meet Jan. 21. The other academic teams competed at the Texas Tech Red Raider Invitational Meet in Lubbock Jan. 14.

At the Red Raider Invitational, the journalism students earned first place team while the calculator applications and social studies students earned third place as teams. Other students earned individual awards at both the Texas Tech meet and the Hereford meet. Senior Jodie Jameson earned first place in duet acting and third place in Lincoln-Douglass Debate at the Hereford TFA meet and said she enjoys meeting people through speech competitions.

“My relationship with most of the competitors is actually very good,” Jameson said. “Inside and out of round, we’re civil. I’m actually friends with hundreds of people because of speech and debate.”

Sophomore Seth Nickell earned fourth place in news writing at the Red Raider UIL Meet.

“Once I got in a room of 30 people to write, it was a little nerve-wracking, and my heart was beating fast,” Nickell said. “I’ve done sports my whole life, and I’ve learned to control my nerves. You’ve just got to do you, have fun and write fast.”

Nickell said news writing is different from what he is used to, but he enjoys it.

“I’ve learned a lot,” Nickell said. “I know I’ve got to work at it. But once it comes down to it, I’ll work hard.”

Jameson said competing with the speech team is a good life experience to be able to talk to people.

“Make the most of high school,” Jameson said. “Don’t be afraid to try something just because, ‘Oh, I’m not very good at speaking.’ Try everything.”

Red Raider UIL Meet

ACCOUNTING

9th – Arian Howard

10th – Kendrick Brown

CALCULATOR APPLICATIONS

9th grade

1st – Samantha Fernandez

3rd – Julian Sewell

10th grade

9th – Jonah Ramirez

11th grade

5th – Arian Howard

7th – Morgan Howard

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS

2nd – Adrianna Jones

EDITORIAL WRITING

1st – Callie Boren

4th – Jaren Tankersley

5th – John Flatt

FEATURE WRITING

2nd – Sarah Nease

4th – Codi Bradstreet

HEADLINE WRITING

1st – Callie Boren

3rd – Kylee Khan

5th – Aryauna Thompson

LITERARY CRITICISM

6th – Lauren Allen

9th – Victoria Bell

MATHEMATICS

9th grade

4th – Samantha Fernandez

10th grade

8th – Jonah Ramirez

11th grade

5th – Morgan Howard

7th – Arian Howard

12th grade

2nd – Julia Miller

6th – Corrie Allen

NEWS WRITING

1st – Erin Sheffield

4th – Seth Nickell

6th – Katelyn Spivey

READY WRITING

1st – Braden Lefevre

4th – Aryauna Thompson

6th – Jaren Tankersley

SCIENCE

9th grade

1st – Julian Sewell

10th grade

4th – Logan Flynn

6th – Cody Moore

7th – Jonah Ramirez

8th – Caden Zotter

9th – Caleb Tomlinson

12th grade

9th – Shady Kuster

SOCIAL STUDIES

7th – Aaron Neeley

TEAM PLACINGS

3rd – Calculator Applications

1st – Journalism

3rd – Social Studies

Hereford TFA Meet

DUET ACTING

1st – Jodie Jameson and Erin Sheffield

CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE

4th – Tyler Evans

5th – Christopher Mongold

LINCOLN-DOUGLASS DEBATE

3rd – Jodie Jameson

HUMOROUS INTERPRETATION

6th – Erin Sheffield