Cypress Woods, Cypress Springs students win UIL Academic State titles

CFISD brought home three UIL Academic state titles at the UIL Academic Meet at The University of Texas at Austin on May 18-19.

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For Cypress Springs High School, it was a historic moment. The Panthers’ Spelling team of Louise Campo, Christian Jack, Toan Nguyen and Ethan Rocha brought home the school’s first-ever academic state title with a 12-point victory over El Paso Coronado in the team competition.

Last year, the Panthers finished fourth in the district meet, a shortcoming that fueled their fire to go all the way this year.

“All four were disappointed with the results [last year] to the point they messaged me on June 27, 2025, on Schoology, to let me know the new word list had dropped,” said Jose Chapela, Cypress Springs’ UIL academic coordinator. “They had begun practicing some of the intimidating words then to get a head start. August through October, Monday through Friday, each one found time to practice, staying up late for a number of days. November was our first in-person competition that validated they were on the right track, and every competition after that their goal was first through fourth.”

Cypress Woods High School brought back two first place trophies from Austin. A year after finishing second at the state meet, the team of Alaqmar Trunkwala, Jade Chen, Ryder Sanchez and Koa Asagami won the Computer Science state title, the fourth team academic title in Cypress Woods’ history.

Trunkwala also earned the individual Computer Science state title, finishing ahead of Round Rock Westwood’s Jason Arokia by two points. It was the ninth individual state champion for Cypress Woods in its 20-year history.

Cypress Woods’ Mathematics team of Coral Khieu, Eric Liu, Prashad Wadhwa and Aishik Das also placed on the podium with a second-place finish in the mathematics team competition.

“Cy Woods has embraced UIL Academics and developed a culture of excellence in competitive academics,” said Stacey Armstrong, Cypress Woods’ UIL Academic coordinator.  “All of the students that advanced to the UIL State Academic Meet and finished at the top demonstrated what 212 is all about all year. Getting to the state level and placing is very hard and requires hours of dedication. I am very proud of all Cy Woods UIL coaches and teams for accepting the challenge to be the best in the state.”

It was a great year for CFISD’s academic teams with several individuals earning points for their schools in the overall team sweepstakes by finishing in the top six in their individual competitions.

The full list of top six finishers is below.

Source: CFISD

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