After placing in the top three in the UIL Headline Writing Contest on the District and Regional levels, junior Hannah Jones took first place at the State meet May 21 on the UT campus, securing the State Academic Championship. She found out about her accomplishment eight hours after she had competed in an award ceremony that evening.

“I was so excited when I won. It was totally unexpected,” Hannah said. “But they called the places starting with sixth and when they didn’t call me for second, I knew I had won.”

Hannah is grateful that her yearbook teacher Cindy Todd presented her with the opportunity to compete despite her initial trepidation to the idea.

“When Mrs. Todd first asked me to participate at District, I was reluctant,” Hannah said. “I felt like I was too busy and probably wouldn’t end up placing.”

Hannah ended up proving herself incorrect and in her success, she earned the only State Academic Championship that Westlake won this year. She is very happy to have been put in the competition, and was excited to bring back a championship despite not expecting to do so.

“I’m really glad [Todd] ended up convincing me to give it a try,” Hannah said. “Without that push, I probably would have never even participated in it!”