iUniversity Prep eighth grader Marti Willis won third place in Individual Performance at the Texas History Day state competition held April 20 at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Texas History Day Contest is organized annually by the Texas State Historical Association. To qualify for state, students first advance through school and regional competitions with their entries in one of five categories: documentary, exhibit, performance, paper or website. Projects are evaluated according to historical quality and clarity of presentation. They must also relate to the annual theme, which in 2024 was “Turning Points in History.”
The title of Willis’ project was “Loretta Lynn: Changing History While the World Sang Along,” which connected back to the contest theme by emphasizing that the famous singer was a turning point for women in country music. Willis played the guitar, sang to several of Lynn’s songs, paused to share historical facts about the singer, and stayed in character for all of her performance, except for the introduction.
This is Willis’ second appearance at state competition. According to her teacher Chad Hannon, iUP students routinely qualify for state competition.
Learn more about iUP, which was named by Niche as #1 in Texas and #2 in America on Niche’s 2024 Best Public Online High Schools ranking. iUP has been at the top of the Texas list since it first qualified for the ranking in 2019.