STUDENTS EXCEL AT ACADEMIC COMPETITIONS
Mansfield ISD students competed in some of the most rigorous academic competitions and came home with medals and awards in their categories .
ACADEMIC DECATHLON
The Academic Decathlon is a tenevent scholastic competition in which students compete in seven multiplechoice exams , an essay , an interview and a speech . The state competition was held virtually Feb . 26-28 .
Lake Ridge High School ’ s Mark Smith won three state medals . The senior earned first place in honors economics , second place in honors music and third place in honors social science . Summit High School ’ s John Weaver , a junior , placed first in honors essay .
The Academic Decathlon coaches for Lake Ridge High School are Brandon Austin and Don Counts . Summit
High School ’ s team is led by Angela Guthrie and Michael Santanello .
More than 220 teams competed at the state academic decathlon meet .
Region and state contests are held for schools categorized as large , medium and small . Based on a point system , the highestscoring team represents the state at the national United States Academic Decathlon ( USAD ) competition .
All members of the winning team receive scholarships .
UIL ACADEMICS
The University Interscholastic League ( UIL ) academic competitions offer 30 contests at the high school level . Thousands of students participate in UIL academic contests each year .
Smith was part of the Lake Ridge High School social studies team and earned a gold medal in social studies . His teammate , Tony Le , earned a silver medal for current issues and events .
Legacy High School ’ s online newspaper is operated by journalism students with help from advisers .
JOURNALISM
The UIL sponsors five journalism contests under the academics umbrella : news writing , feature writing , editorial writing , headline writing and copy editing .
Mansfield High School ’ s Bailey Rizzo earned bronze in headline writing .
Student publications are also judged in the UIL contest . Legacy High School earned a Silver Star for its yearbook and online newspaper . Recipients of the Star Awards represent the top 10 % of student newspapers and yearbooks in Texas .
On the national level , Legacy High ’ s newspaper earned the coveted Gold Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association . That puts “ The Rider Online ” among the top 10 in the United States .
The Lake Ridge High School social studies team competed on May 1 .
The two , along with fellow social studies teammates Laura Yon and Demetrius Carpenter , earned a bronze medal overall .
The school ’ s yearbook , “ The Arena ,” earned the prestigious Pacemaker Award , making it one of the top 20 yearbooks in the country .
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