Students, representing 14 different school districts in Region 5, are traveling to Austin to compete in more than 20 contests May 16 to 18.
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With only a few days left in the 2022-23 school year, most students are ready to check out of their classes -- no more tests or assignments, just end-of-year celebrations.

But for more than three dozen Southeast Texas students, arguably the hardest days of the year are just ahead of them.

Just under 40 students across 14 Region 5 school districts are set to compete in the University Interscholastic League State Academic Meet from Tuesday to Thursday this week.

Students from local schools in Conferences 1A through 5A have worked toward this moment all semester, with some beginning preparation in fall.

To compete at the state competition, students had to advance from the district and region levels, beating out hundreds to thousands of students to earn a chance to be one of the top students in the state.

The competitions began at the University of Texas campus in Austin Tuesday and will continue through Thursday, with awards being presented Thursday evening.

Here is the full list of local students competing this week to earn a medal:

Conference 1A

Chester

Kaleigh Acrey, Science

Conference 2A

Sabine Pass

Hang Bui, Spelling

Alexander Jackson, Social Studies

Hazel Mistry, Literary Criticism

Ty Schaller, Accounting, Calculator Applications, Computer Science, Mathematics, Number Sense

Soleil Tran, Accounting, Calculator Applications

West Hardin County

Kade Brackin, Feature Writing

Willa Brackin, Informative Speaking, Prose Interpretation

Christopher Dodson, Informative Speaking

Sophie Enloe, Feature Writing

Derrick Jackson, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Persuasive Speaking

Benjamin Robertson, Persuasive Speaking

Peyton Soto, Poetry Interpretation

Logan Wells, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Persuasive Speaking

Conference 3A

Beaumont Early College High School

Leanne Nguyen, News Writing

Priya Rathore, Science

East Chambers

Reese Baker, Mathematics

Haydon Cooke, Persuasive Speaking

Dax Henley, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Persuasive Thinking

Orangefield

Major Copeland, Current Issues and Events

Kaitlyn Jenkins, Computer Applications

Conference 4A

Bridge City

Chloe Doyle, Persuasive Speaking

Ava Gassen, Poetry Interpretation

Hamshire-Fannett

Matthew Francis, Computer Applications

Hardin-Jefferson

Charley Nugent, Copy Editing

Trinity Moody, Editorial Writing, Literary Criticism

Liberty

Nailah Donatto, Poetry Interpretation

Little Cypress-Mauriceville

Raymond Arrington, Computer Science

Rayna Christy, Feature Writing, Headline Writing

Ryan Foreman, Computer Science

Gabrielle Moore, Feature Writing

Simra Shahab, Prose Interpretation

Vidor

Savanna Peveto-Kreatschman, Literary Criticism

West Orange-Stark

D'Mynie Watson, Headline Writing

Conference 5A

Nederland

Ayaan B. Budhwani, Accounting

Aymaan M. Dhanani, Spelling

Horacio J. Garcia, Copy Editing

Safa Merani, Calculator Applications

Benjamin B. Pham, Spelling