University Interscholastic League (UIL) season has begun and students participating are getting ready for districts by going to practice meets.

“I participate in UIL because you can have fun hanging out with friends and show off how smart you are at meets,” sophomore Hayley Dylla said.

The first meet was Jan. 7 at Judson. The social studies and spelling/vocabulary terms took a first place team trophy and several other events placed as well.

“UIL helps you learn and when you practice you get better and better and could have a chance at placing,” senior Taylor Johnson said.

Some students have different practice methods like writing prompts for Journalism UIL or going through the dictionary and finding difficult words to spell and know the definitions of.

“I pay attention in class and look over practice tests to see what questions they are going to ask for at the meets,” junior Zachary Tiller said.

Students can also pass the time while they are waiting for their event to begin they could study for the event coming up or others they are involved in. The next UIL meet is Feb. 4 at Clemens High School.

Students begin a new semester January 17 and some are preparing for it by making goals and progress in their curriculum to have a successful new semester.

“I plan on improving my grades and just be on the ‘A’ honor roll and study more,” junior Ariel Vassell said.

Some students who had a bad first semester will focus more on their studies and classwork than other extracurricular activities. They will start listening more to the teachers, do the assignments as they are given and study for tests.

“I want to improve my school work by studying my curriculum and not talk as much,” freshman Tristan Busby said.

Even students who did well their first semester, can also improve as well by doing extra credit work, studying more for test’s or quizzes and reading more of their textbooks.

“I probably will work on my subjects and try to do more studying than hang out with my friends, if I do that I’ll be okay,” freshman Michelle Cazares said.

If students accomplish their goals with their school work they can improve in school and become successful in the future.

Varsity cheerleaders were contacted by the Army Bowl representatives and selected based on community votes as well as local charities and organizations who felt they represented Cibolo and San Antonio well through the way they carried themselves and through their leadership qualities.

“I think it’s significant for them because this year we were very much involved in all of the volleyball and football games both teams have gone to play-offs it really didn’t give us time to prepare to do any type of competition for cheer which is okay because our job first and foremost is to promote school spirit and support athlete teams however this does give the girls and opportunity to show their skills and their talent in a setting that really focuses more on them,” cheer coach Kristy Lovett said.

The Steele cheerleaders represented the west side while Harlandale High School’s cheerleaders cheered for the east side. The game took place at the San Antonio Alamo dome Jan. 7.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to bring cheer a much needed positive notoriety for lack of a better word,” Lovett said.   “Often time cheerleading always falls into the stereotype of a certain type of girl and we just haven’t had that. We have really great girls, a lot of academic achievers on our team, girls that are really dedicated to what they do and this is their opportunity to really show their leadership and their talent.”

In addition to attending the game, the girls got to go to the pregame pageantry and barbecue hat involved the football team coach staff and other Army dignitaries.