Azle High School is known for having sports and organizations compete at UIL State Competitions. One of the most recent clubs to have competed at one was Azle’s Texas Association of Future Educators club or TAFE. Two of Azle’s TAFE members competed March 3-5 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas.

One of the participants was senior Anna Lata. She competed in the Portfolio Contest at this year’s state competition, where she created a record of her teaching qualifications, experiences and professional growth. Lata was later recognized at the award ceremony for making a 95 or above on her contest rubric.

“I had prepared my competition initially last year for an assignment in class,” Lata said. “I have been making small tune-ups to get it up to competition level, since then and I was working on it up until the night before my competition”

The second Azle representative was TAFE’s president, junior Alexis Scoggins. Scoggins competed in the Lesson Planning and Delivery contest against fourteen other Texas students. She didn’t place, but Scoggins said she was proud of how she did and thankful for the critiques from the judges.

“My favorite part about competing was the feedback that my judges gave me,” Scoggins said. “They really helped me understand that I need to slow down and relax a little bit more in my teaching and not have such a rigorous schedule and objective and be able to be flexible and go with the flow.”

On a different note, TAFE can be an enjoyable organization to join if one is wanting to get more involved at school, make new friends, or for college application purposes.

“To anyone considering joining TAFE: do it,” Lata said. “It is so rewarding, especially if you want to become a teacher. You get to make so many new friends, have new experiences, and just have a lot of fun. I waited until my senior year to join and I regret not doing it sooner.”