Student Sabrina Sanz earned 2nd place at the UIL Ready Writing Regional Meet, qualifying to state.
Two students competed at regionals: seniors Sabrina Sanz and Nadia Schelesteder who each placed 1st and 2nd respectively at districts. The Regional Meet was held at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
“I know that both of my writers are quite accomplished and capable of writing state-winning essays, but it all depends on if they appeal to the judges,” English teacher Kimberly Ward said. “Overall, I feel confident in our chances to advance to state.”
This marks Langham’s 4th year qualifying students to Regionals in Ready Writing.
“We have had a really good run in Ready Writing for the past 4 years and have advanced to Regionals every year since we started, so I’m quite pleased,” Ward said.
Ready writing is a timed essay writing competition, where students are given 2 hours to write an expository essay based on one of the two prompts they are given at the start of the competition.
“When you write an essay in class, you have days to analyze the sources and prepare an essay,” Schelsteder said. “However, when you’re given two hours to write an essay and no thesis, it forces you to really understand what it is you’re writing about.”
With that time pressure, self-reflection is an integral part of improvement.
“To prepare for districts, I reviewed my previous contest pieces and the rubrics,” Schelsteder said. “This let me go over my critiques and reassess how to write my essay this year.”
While an individual competition, much of practice comes out as a collaborative effort.
“We sometimes practice just brainstorming and considering the amount of time spent on just figuring out what to write,” Ward said. “Other times, I will give them a prompt and let them write and share.”
Practice doesn’t just come from writing more essays—competitors are also expected to remain avid readers to improve their skills and general knowledge.
“My greatest suggestion for being a better writer is to be an avid reader,” Ward said. “Having a grand scope of knowledge gives writers more to pull from and relate topics to when presented with a prompt. I ask students to take stock of the genres of knowledge that they possess while also analyzing areas in which they could improve. For example, some students might be avid readers of philosophy but lack knowledge of American History; whereas, another student might know everything there is to know about Theodore Roosevelt but have no knowledge of the study of neuroscience.”
For many students, UIL Academics provides an opportunity for students to share their love for their specialized academic interests.
“It is so fun to watch students get excited about and proud of their skills in an academic arena,” Ward said. “When the math team comes out from a competition and starts excitedly reworking problems on the table covers, I giggle at their giddiness of a shared love of math. Likewise, when my team emerges from their competition and starts talking about which prompt they chose, and how they wrote about it and how they felt about what they wrote is always a joy.”
Starting just 4 years ago, many of the Ready Writing competitors will be graduating this Spring.
“Since my inaugural class is graduating, it’s going to be a challenge to find students to fill those shoes,” Ward said. “I just hope to continue to offer students the opportunity to express their passion for writing and be able to show off their skills.”
