This AHS junior’s passion for journalism is taking her to regionals!
Written by: Zulaykha Ganatra
Recently, at the UIL journalism competition, a junior here at AHS, Gaurika Gupta, made
quite a mark. She placed first in News Writing and third in Feature Writing, earning her a spot at
regionals for both categories.
Students from across FBISD competed in this competition, however Gaurika’s
performance stood out the most. Despite an unexpected setback, her preparation and passion
helped her excel.
“I was honestly really hopeful for the results,” she said. “Because I felt confident that I
had done the best I could do.”
Though she was confident for the News Writing category, an event she placed in last
year as well, she wasn’t as sure about Feature Writing. On top of all that stress, she found out
at the last minute that she was expected to bring her own laptop, something she had never
been made aware of.
“I had to hand write my first event,” Gaurika recalled. “I was really not expecting much
from it because I didn’t have the ability to go back and edit like others on the computer did. But
it all worked out!”
Gaurika competed in three categories overall, News Writing, Feature Writing, and Copy
Editing. She credits her success to her consistently practicing beforehand and support from her
journalism teacher.
“I just went through some presentations and samples that Coach Moore gave us to
practice,” she explained. “It helped that I had been writing stories all the past year for the
newspaper.”
Since Gaurika placed first and third in the respective categories, she will be advancing to
regionals. With regionals around the corner, she is very thrilled to be advancing to the next
level.
“Regions are coming up soon, so I hope to do well in them,” she said. “Even if I don’t, I’d
love to give this another try next year as a senior!”
Congratulations to our very own member of the newspaper for making it to regionals.
We’re excited to see how far she goes, and we wish her the best of luck!
