Lytle High School UIL Young Filmmakers Win State Awards!

Lytle High School UIL Young Filmmakers Win State Awards!

Lytle High School

March 5, 2025

It's Texas Public Schools Week and what better way to celebrate our Lytle Public School than with good news from the UIL Young Filmmakers State Showcase! Last Wednesday, February 26, the instructors in our Digital Design Pathway took a bus with 26 students to Hogg Auditorium on the UT Austin campus. It's a familiar trip - the eighth for Lytle High School students since the contest inception in 2014. We broke new ground this year, though, having three film projects make it to the final top six in the state - two documentaries and one animation. Please take a few minutes to watch and share our award winners!

Snakes - UIL Young Filmmakers State Fifth Place Award for 1-3A Digital Animation: https://youtu.be/OUHusyUT4yY

This animation project was created by Lytle High School student Vanessa Trevino in the Digital Design Pathway.

He Will Continue to Serve - UIL Young Filmmakers State Bronze Medal 1-3A Documentary Award: https://youtu.be/XGlVj_huptA

In 1965, Ricardo Cortez, Sr. is drafted into the Vietnam War. At just 18-years-old, he is injured and honorably discharged with two Purple Hearts. He describes his life after, “the most terrible year,” with a moving account of how he continues to serve. A group project by Kaelyn Vega, Alieha Rodriguez, Joseph Garcia, Isaiah Leven, Alexa Leal, Miriam Armas, and Rory Wilson.

Best Mayor - UIL Young Filmmakers State Silver Medal 1-3A Documentary Award: https://youtu.be/0ARkolYiYLc

For the last five years, Lytle Texas has had the best mayor ever. Mayor Ruben Gonzalez is active in almost every event in our town. This is his story, from childhood, through military life, and as our mayor. A group project by Giovanni Mosqueda, Caleb Morton, Aylin Casas, Aryana Reyes, Joseph Garcia, Alexa Leal, Romana Perez, Madison Prather and Miriam Arma

Special thanks to Andrew Oser, Skull Studios sponsor who makes sure we have students working on high quality projects suitable for UIL entry and takes care of all the details to make sure students are excused for work on films and have transportation, meals, and all the arrangements. Thank you to Robert Mumme, as he has been instrumental over the years in coaching students in their video projects, and he was our sole volunteer bus driver! Thank you to Dale Mather for taking care of covering classes and supervising students to make sure projects stay on track. A BIG shout out to Jada Vega, Lytle class of 2023, who is the district's full time CEN/AmeriCorps Communications Specialist. She coached our students in editing the documentary about Mr. Cortez, and I hope that when she finishes college she'll come right back to Lytle as a certified teacher to continue blessing our students with her passionate and creative ability to teach and guide them to success.

We are especially excited that our VIPs, our Superintendent Dr. Breithaupt and our Mayor were able to be at the UIL showcase with us, and that our Mayor Ruben Gonzalez, III, and Mr. Ricardo Cortez, Sr., were strong community partners who allowed our students to tell their amazing stories. We are blessed to have so much support from the high school campus leadership and teachers, to our Central Office departments, as it takes a village to get to the state level competitions with so many students involved.

UIL Young Filmmakers State Contest Awards Ceremony 2-26-2025 photos by Skull Studios Students: https://photos.app.goo.gl/M6kNju1z4sciG4sR8

For those who want to learn more, here's a quick recap of Lytle High School's historical top six finalist state trips to Austin with links to the videos. Initially, the contest began with two divisions, 1-4A and 5-6A. The contest has grown, and in 2023, four divisions were created, 1-3A, 4A, 5A and 6A.

Competing in Division One: 1-4A

Competing in Division 1-3A