Sophomore Jillian Cheney and junior Sidney McGough competed in the UIL Second Annual State Congress in Austin on Jan. 12-14.

“It’s a really neat program that just started last year,” Cheney said. “Basically we’re all legislators for Congress and we have different pieces of legislation that we debate on.”

The students, from a variety of schools in Texas, discuss different pieces of legislation that they could actually see in Congress. They write speeches and gather evidence on their topic, then they meet and discuss, but it is still a competition.

“They judge your speeches on your speaking skills and things like that,” Cheney said,“They also judge you on your activity in the chamber.”

Despite not making it to the second day, McGough was proud of how she and Cheney performed at the competition.

“This was my second year doing Congressional Debate. I think that Jillian and I did a fantastic job,” McGough said “Sadly neither of us advanced to Super Congress, but we both gained a ton of experience that will hopefully help us win state next year.”