The Burton Panthers traveled to the State Capitol in Austin for the State Congress Meet earlier this week. The 2025-2026 Congressional season marked the second year of participation for the Panthers. The Panthers were represented by Region 6 Runner-Up Devlin Douglas (Sr), and Region 6 Qualifier Rosa Perez (Sr).
The State Tournament is a two-day contest. Wednesday, January 7th, represents the preliminary round of competition during which all competitors participate in two debate sessions of three hours to determine the top students advancing to the final contest the following day. For Conference 2A, the state was represented by 57 students, of whom only 18 would advance to finals.
To prepare materials for the state contest, Douglas and Perez were aided by clerks Austen Bostain (Sr), Cadeyn Manley (Sr), Amber Merrick (Sr), and Emily Griffith (Sr). The six seniors, in response to a legislative docket of 20 proposals, read hundreds of articles, wrote dozens of speeches, and practiced hours of debate. Despite an impressive performance that built on last year's experience, the Panthers did not advance to the finals rounds.
The Speech and Debate team will begin preparing for the Spring UIL competition by participating in the Boling Invitational on Saturday, January 24th