Friendswood High School has brought home another State Championship from the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Academic Contest.
        It all started back in March with the District Meet, when almost every FHS team advanced to the Regional Meet in Huntsville where FHS won the Regional Championship and then to Austin to defend their State Championship.

       Computer Science team of Andrew Wiley, Noah Kessler, Winston Wu and Kyle Wiley took first place and Andrew Wiley was in a first place tie with three others as an individual, picking up 31.25 points. Friendswood HS is the only 4A school to win three UIL State Computer Science Championships.
       The One-Act play placed third with Chase Harris and Michelle Wallace being named to the All Star Cast, adding 23 points.
       In Computer Application, Winston Wu placed first with a perfect score of 375, Andrew Wiley was second and Noah Kessler was fourth.  There is not a team event for Computer Application.  Computer Application added 35 points.
       Spelling came in next, picking up the team championship with Noah Kessler, Winston Wu, Rita Phan and Kaitlyn Gruener.  Kessler tied for third and Winston Wu placed fifth, picking up 23 points. The FHS Spelling Team was a wild card team.  This is the first time a wild card team has won the state championship.
       Science was the last to come in.  Brandon Taylor placed sixth as an individual and tied for first in Biology.  The team of Brandon Taylor, Brandon Chao, Taylor Farrington and Bryan Nguyen took second as a team.  This added 10.5 points.
       The Academic team picked up 122.75 points for the Mustangs with Halletsville placing second with 108 and Highland Park was third with 95.
       “Congratulations to all of the young people that made their way to Austin.  They were all outstanding representatives of FHS and made us very proud.  Thanks to all the UIL sponsors for your dedication and hard work.   Championships are hard to come by, but they make it look easy,” Assistant Superintendent Myrlene Kennedy said. Kennedy is in charge of Student Affairs, including UIL events.
         FHS UIL sponsors include Annette Walter, Computer Science; Kathy Powdrell, One-Act Play; Kay Tucker, Computer Application; Pepper Smith, Spelling; Andrea Lee, Science; Renee Simons, Ready Writing; Susanne Stafford, Literary Criticism; Mary Gillespie, Number Sense and Mathematics; Melissa Victorick, Speech.  Sponsors for the State contenders, Jane Pearce, Paul Tucker, Mary Rinehart, Britany Dial and Vicki Hartzell, who took contestants to District and Region.