This year, I was the sponsor for UIL Maps, Charts, and Graphs (since you know I always like to add more things to my plate). Our competition was today and I am proud of my team. I had three 7th graders and three 8th graders compete. My 7th graders came in 2nd, 3rd and 4th, while my 8th graders came in 2nd and 4th (the top 6 place in each grade level). They did great, but I am sure it was mostly because of their fabulous coaching. 
My school did well overall and won the title of Academic UIL Champions for the meet, out of about 10 schools.
On a side note, I am kind of serious about it being about the coaching. I had to help score the Calculator Applications competition. A lot of kids messed up because they did not know the rules. I was not involved with scoring my event, but apparently in this competition, simply knowing the rules makes a big difference. I don’t think it made that big of a difference at my event. I had some pretty awesome kids.
-J
