Sofia Doddala, Samuel Lopez, and Aiyan Lulla arrived at the TAPPS Academic Competition with very different relationships to Spanish. Samuel grew up in a Spanish-speaking household while Sofia has been in a dual-language program since preschool. Aiyan, on the other hand, took to Spanish later when he first joined Alcuin. Regardless of their backgrounds, all three students made the two-hour drive to Waco together.

TAPPS is widely known for its athletic competitions, but it also runs a full slate of academic events, and this was Alcuin's first year entering the Spanish competition. This entirely reading- and-writing-based competition is much different from the diverse exercises and activities of an Alcuin classroom, and many of the top competitors are heritage or native speakers. After a long exam in a new environment, we got the news that not one, but all three Alcuin students performed extremely well! In Alcuin's first year competing, one student, Sofia, placed 6th in the state in Spanish (2A)!

However, it was what the competition brought out in each of them that was the best prize. For Aiyan, competing wasn't just validating; it was clarifying. Seeing how far his Spanish had come moved him to sign up for a higher-level course and push himself further after returning to Alcuin. For Sofia and Samuel, their sense of pride, reassurance, and hope for more opportunities like the TAPPS academic competition next year is what they took home. As we continue to develop our students and find new ways to celebrate learning, opportunities like this measure not only where a student is, but show them where they can go.