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Theatre Director’s Play Invited to International Festival
By Jamie Oberg, UIL Intern | Thursday, January 24, 2013 1:21 PM
Texas students will perform Coram Boy in Lincoln, Nebraska, this summer at the International Thespian Society's 50th festival.
This summer and fall Theatre Director Luis Muñoz spent several weeks and many weekends directing a group of 90-plus students from around the state in the production of Coram Boy for the All-State Thespian company. The hard work paid off with a successful performance at the state theater convention last November and an invitation to perform at the International Thespian Society’s 50th festival this summer in Lincoln, Nebraska.
“When I got the call, it was like I was going to state for the first time again,” said Muñoz, who began directing at age 17 and has served as UIL Theatre Director for the past 10 years.
It’s Time to Write the Rating Down
By Mark McGahey, TMAA Concert Band Vice President | Thursday, January 24, 2013 12:47 PM
At the conclusion of a band’s performance at a UIL contest, our job, as music adjudicators, is to give our professional opinion of the performance. What criteria should we use when deciding the rating?
1] Write the summary for tone, technique and musicianship. Remember, we are evaluating the band’s overall achievement, not just a summary of each of the three concert selections.
Lone Star Cup race heats up after fall season
By Chris Schmidt, Public Affairs Representative | Thursday, January 24, 2013 12:45 PM
The latest update to the UIL Lone Star Cup standings was posted on January 11 and after points from the fall season of events have been tabulated the race for the cup in each conference is heating up. The current standings include State and Area Marching Band, Team Tennis, Cross Country, Volleyball and Football.
The UIL Lone Star Cup is awarded annually to five high schools, one in each of the five UIL classifications (1A, 2A, 3A, 4A and 5A), based on their team performance in district and state championships. The winning schools in each classification will receive the UIL Lone Star Cup trophy and a $1,000 scholarship, also presented by the UIL.
January Gives Us Time to Think and Plan for Future
By Richard Floyd, Music Director | Thursday, January 24, 2013 12:35 PM
If there is such a thing, January is perhaps one of the quietest times of the year in the UIL State Music Office. Why? Marching season is behind us, the TMEA Convention is just around the corner and directors are busily preparing for Region Solo and Ensemble Contests while planning their spring concert programs. Most phone calls and emails have to do with solo and ensemble issues or questions about specific repertoire performance requirements. We take great pride in answering all inquiries in 24 hours or less.
So, what else do we do? Many years ago while I was still on the faculty at Baylor University, I had a colleague who was a history professor say to me, “Dick, sometimes we forget that one of the things the university pays us to do is to sit and think.” I never forgot that comment, and I took it to heart. Sometimes it is wise and productive to simply step back, ask ourselves probing questions and take stock of where we are and where we are going. In other words, think. January gives us an advantageous opportunity to do so.
Debate Season Underway in New Year
By Jana Riggins, Speech and Debate Director | Thursday, January 24, 2013 11:13 AM
The dawning of a new year begins a fresh semester. Some of you will get a whole new crop of students in your classrooms. The anticipation of spring just around the corner brings with it zeal to polish those oral interpretation pieces, attack the recently-released Lincoln-Douglas Debate resolution with fervor, beef up your extemporaneous files and design new CX plan attacks.At the League, it means the beginning of Cross-examination Debate district meets and heavy preparation for the state debate tournament. Deadlines loom just around the corner.
Your district entries are due no later than 10 calendar days prior to the scheduled meet. You must input those entries into the UIL Spring Meet Online System. There’s a link to the system conveniently located on the home page of the UIL speech/debate section of our website.
In the excitement of competing at district, if your teams place, don’t forget to pick up your winning coach packet from your district contest director. This large white and red envelope contains details about the state tournament and reminders about critical deadlines and responsibilities you as a coach have if your teams advance to the state tournament.
NCAA Raises the Bar on Eligibility Standards
By Jamie Oberg, UIL Intern | Thursday, January 24, 2013 11:07 AM
The NCAA has released details for changes in initial-eligibility standards for Division I college-bound athletes. The new rules will affect student–athletes entering a Division I school on or after August 1, 2016.
Athletic Director Dr. Mark Cousins said his department supports the new standards.
"The UIL has always promoted academic and athletic success as a part of a well-rounded educational experience. We are always glad to see programs that help support academic readiness and a smooth transition for our college bound participants," said Dr. Mark Cousins, Director of Athletics.
Common Questions Answered about Basketball Post-Season Play
By Darryl Beasley, Assistant Athletic Director | Thursday, January 24, 2013 10:50 AM
The spring is an exciting time for basketball teams, players and coaches. All the hard work culminates with the start of postseason competition. It brings new expectations of the players and coaches.
Before starting the postseason competition, we would like to address some frequent questions about district ties and warm-up games and post-season reporting.
District Ties and Warm-up games
The girls’ district certification date will be Saturday, Feb. 9, and the boys’ district certification date will be Saturday, Feb. 16.
As the basketball district competition is coming to a close, some districts may have two-way or three-way or more schools ties.
Entry Forms and Instructions for Essay Contests Ready for Students
By David Trussell, A+ Director | Thursday, January 24, 2013 10:46 AM
Entry forms and instructions are now available online for the Barbara Jordan Historical Essay and Latino History Essay competitions (http://www.uiltexas.org/academics/essay-contests).
The entry process is fully digital, with interactive PDF entry forms and dedicated email addresses for submitting entries. Students must attach their essay and completed entry form to an email message and send to the address indicated in the instructions. Some important points to keep in mind:
• Each entry must be the work of only one student. A student may submit one entry (per competition) per school year. The entry deadline for both contests is March 1, 2013.
Journalists Need to Slow Down, Re-Visit Ethics
By Jeanne Acton, Journalism Director | Thursday, January 24, 2013 10:32 AM
Pregnancy. Child Abuse. Suicide.
Pretty heavy topics for a high school newspaper. But back in the late 1980s those were the topics we covered.
At first glance, the topics may sound a bit sensational. Maybe even shocking.
And perhaps they could have been if we didn’t have our journalism teacher who drilled the importance of ethics and compassionate reporting into our heads.
“You don’t do a story to shock,” she used to tell us. “It must have purpose.”
So with every story idea, we discussed the purpose, the reason and need for doing the story. Would it help someone? Would it offer important information? Would it give voice to someone who had no voice?
Big Changes on Horizons for OAP
By Luis Muñoz, Theatre Director | Tuesday, November 20, 2012 1:35 PM
There are moments in time where we experience a quantum leap in the status quo. That type of catalyst for change in the One-Act Play Contest was provided at last month’s Legislative Council meeting. There were five amendments to the Constitution and Contest Rules and one pilot program that were unanimously approved. Each of them will impact OAP in its own way.
Conference 6A
Say goodbye to five conferences and welcome a sixth. This amendment creates a six conference alignment by renaming the current Conference A Division II (Six Man schools) to Conference A, current Conference A Division I (11 Man schools) into Conference AA, current conference AA schools into Conference AAA, etc. This change takes place beginning in August 2014. This will have at tremendous impact on our overcrowded 1A districts. In 2012, 1A had 309 schools enrolled in the contest. The change would split that total into two conferences. This would reduce the size of most 1A districts to 7 or 8 schools rather than 11 to 16.