- The Cowboy Theatre Company shows The Old Man and the Moon in the Black Box at Coppell High School Thursday through Saturday.
- CHS takes its senior panoramic picture at 10 a.m. on Wednesday
- Coppell High School hosts signing day for athletes at 8 a.m. on Wednesday
Coppell Student Media
Friis-Hansen composes UIL winning essay
By Kara Hallam
Enterprise Editor
Coppell High School junior Emily Friis-Hansen, the only University Interscholastic League Academics state representative from Coppell, placed first at the Ready Writing Competition on May 21.
“I didn’t practice at all, a lot of coaches tell their students to practice writing essay but English III pretty much prepared me for writing essays,” Friis-Hansen said.
Her coach, creative writing teacher Matthew Bowden briefed her and two other students on the basics of UIL Ready Writing. He showed them prompts and rule books to prepare them.
“I give more credit to her previous English teachers who have honed her more academic writing, [UIL Ready Writing] is more expository and a little more academic,” Bowden said.
In February, the Ready Writing team of Friis-Hansen, junior Jack Sullivan and sophomore Daniel Koh went to a practice meet at Denton Ryan High School where Friis-Hansen placed second. At the District 5-5A Contest at Flower Mound High School in March, Friis-Hansen placed third and at the Class 5A Region I contest earlier this month at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, she placed third again.
“She got second and third place throughout this but had her best showing when it really mattered,” Bowden said.
The state competition was hosted at the University of Texas in Austin and Bowden, Friis-Hansen and English teacher Samantha Neal attended the competition.
“[Friis-Hansen] came out of the room and I said ‘so how’d you do?’ and she said ‘eh, I don’t think it was my best,” Bowden said. “But then she told me what her examples were for the topic and realized she was being hard on herself, which she was because she won the whole thing.”
Friis-Hansen’s winning essay prompt was over gentrification, a matter in which the affluent move into more suburban areas which raises the cost of living. In her essay Friis-Hansen wrote about the Harlem Renaissance.
She competed against around 60 to 70 of the top student writers in Texas.
“I am pretty proud of myself, my parents are pretty proud and Mr. Bowden is pretty proud,” Friis-Hansen said. “It’s a good feeling to know I’m the best in Texas at something,”
Unfortunately, Friis-Hansen, Bowden and Neal skipped the awards ceremony in order to get back to Coppell in a timely manner. Bowden did not realize Friis-Hansen had won until CHS UIL Academics coordinator Chase Wofford emailed him a day later.
“I looked at the screen and I’m going to be honest I put my hand on my face and I cried very lightly like two or three sobs,” Bowden said.
He then emailed Friis-Hansen’s second period teacher to call her up to his classroom. In an effort to surprise her, Bowden in his email stated not to tell Friis-Hansen that she had won.
However, she had already seen the night before on the UIL website that she had won. Friis-Hansen’s winning essay will be published and she is looking forward to adding this to her college resume.
“Mr. Bowden wants me to compete again so I can contend my state title. I think I will it was pretty easy and fun to do,” Friis-Hansen said.
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University Interscholastic League
This is the main content.
Constitution
Subchapter d: 2nd-8th grades (1462), policy home.
- Policy Overview
2nd - 8th Grade Rules
- Sec. 1400: Junior High
- Sec. 1401: Academic Plan
- Sec. 1405: Eligibility
- Sec. 1408: Meets
- Sec. 1410: Art
- Sec. 1414: Calculator App.
- Sec. 1416:Chess Puzzle
- Sec. 1418: Creative Writing
- Sec. 1422: Dictionary Skills
- Sec. 1424: Editorial Writing
- Sec. 1426: Impromptu Speaking
- Sec. 1430: Listening
- Sec. 1434: Maps, Graphs, Charts
- Sec. 1438: Mathematics
- Sec. 1442: Modern Oratory
- Sec. 1446: Music Memory
- Sec. 1450: Number Sense
- Sec. 1454: One Act Play
- Sec. 1458: Oral Reading
- Sec. 1462: Ready Writing
- Sec. 1466: Science
- Sec. 1468: Social Studies
- Sec. 1470: Spelling
- Sec.1474: Storytelling
- Sec. 1478: 7-8th Grade Athletics
- Sub M. Eligibility
- Sub N. Waiver of Elig. Rules
- Sub O. Awards
- Official Interpretations
Contest Rules
- Academic Contest Rules
- Athletic Contest Rules
- Music Contest Rules
- 2nd - 8th Grade Contest Rules
- Spirit Contest Rules
Policy Contact Info
Department Phone: 512-471-5883
Department Fax: 512-471-5908
Back to Table of Contents
Section 1462: READY WRITING
(1) Summary. Texas has put a great emphasis on writing skills at all levels of school and all levels of statewide testing. Ready Writing builds upon those skills and helps students refine their writing abilities. In particular, this contest helps them learn to write clearly and correctly a paper that is interesting and original.
(2) Contest Format. Contestants are given a choice between two prompts, each of which defines the audience and provides the purpose for writing. Students should be encouraged to analyze the prompts for purpose, format, audience and point of view. The format may be, for example, a letter, an article for the newspaper or an essay for the principal. Various writing strategies may be stated or implied in the prompt. Some of these include:
(A) description to inform – describe the happening or person/object from imagination or memory; (B) narration – write a story; (C) persuasion – describe and argue just one side of an issue; describe both sides of an issue then argue only one side; write an editorial; write a letter to persuade, etc. There is no minimum or maximum number of words the contestants may write. Two hours are allowed for writing the composition. The District Executive Committee may shorten the length of the contest period to conform to the needs of the grade level.
(1) Contestants. Students in officially prescribed grade levels below 9th grade who are eligible under Sections 1400 and 1405 may enter this contest.
(2) Divisions. Districts shall offer either a separate division for each participating grade level or combined grade level divisions as specified in official contest procedures.
(3) Individual Competition. For each division, each participant school may enter as many as three contestants in the district meet.
(4) Team Competition. There is no team competition in this contest.
(1) Personnel.
(A) Contest Director. The contest director may be the coach of a participating student. A single or an odd number of judges should be selected. Judge(s) shall not be coaches of participating students.
(2) Options For Writing. Contestants may hand-write their essays or may bring and use their own computers. If contestants choose to use their own computers, they shall bring their own printers, associated hardware, software and paper. Spell check and thesaurus functions may be used. Students who opt to compose their entries on computers accept the risk of computer malfunction. In case of computer malfunction, the contestant may use the remaining allotted time to complete the composition in handwriting. Contestants may use electronic or printed dictionaries and thesauruses.
(3) Viewing Period An optional period of time not to exceed 15 minutes may be arranged for coaches and contestants to review their own evaluations and compositions, and verify identification.
(4) Ties and Points. There can be no ties in this contest. Points are awarded as specified in Section 1408 (i).
(5) Official Results. After the optional viewing period has ended and all compositions have been collected, the contest director shall announce the official winners. Official results, once announced, are final.
(6) Returning Materials. No materials from district contests may be returned to contestants prior to official release dates.
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