Pasadena High School’s Manuel Garcia and Adriana Tovar will compete in the UIL Academics State meet May 2-3 at the University of Texas at Austin after taking second place in the regional competition.

Tovar is advancing in the Accounting competition, while Garcia will compete in the Spelling and Vocabulary event. Garcia is a senior and is the first student to be a four-year member of the team. Tovar is a junior.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Mannie,” said the Spelling and Vocabulary coach and Pasadena High teacher Angela Kresse. “It’s been a joy to see him grow. Sheer determination has pushed him this far.”

The Spelling and Vocabulary contest is a written test. Students are given a list of 1,500 words in which they compete by proofreading words and filling in blanks with appropriate vocabulary as well as spelling words correctly.

“I’m proud to represent Pasadena High school at the state level,” said Garcia.

Pasadena High teacher and Accounting coach Jennifer Davis said she is proud of Tovar and her accomplishments on the team.

“It is truly a great feeling to have one of my students advance to the state competition,” she said. “Knowing I helped encourage and inspire a student to at least take a risk and try is wonderful.”

The Accounting part of the competition requires students to answer a series of questions about the completion and correction of various accounting reports.

Tovar and Garcia also will qualify for several Texas Interscholastic League Foundation scholarships depending on their success at the state competition.

At the UIL Academics Regional competition recently, the school’s Accounting and Spelling and Vocabulary teams took second place.

Davis said it’s important for students to compete academically because it builds self-esteem as well as impresses post-secondary institutions.

“Competing academically lets the students know they can hold their own with any other student in the district, region and state,” she said. “They know the quality of education they are receiving is comparable to their peers. Demonstrating participation in Academic UIL also looks good on college admission applications.”