January 16, 2026 – More than 700 Amarillo ISD elementary and middle school students competed this week in the District’s A+ Academic UIL events. From Maps, Graphs & Charts, to Ready Writing, Impromptu Speaking, Storytelling, Dictionary Skills and more, students put their critical thinking skills to the test.

In the middle school Impromptu Speaking event, students enter the competition room, draw a prompt and have three minutes to plan a 2-5 minute speech on that topic.

“I think I did OK. I got a prompt I wasn’t too sure about but that’s life for you. You’ll have to talk about things you’re not too sure about and you just kind of have to push through it,” Bowie Middle School student and Impromptu Speaking competitor Isabella Purcell said.

At the elementary competition, students taking part in the Dictionary Skills event proudly showed their dictionaries with colorful tabs to help them quickly work through word problems during the competition. Watch this video as they explain how the Dictionary Skills event works.