While some students still don’t know what they want to do after high school during their senior year, Kourtney Herrera has known her passion since before she was in elementary school.

Kourtney Herrera, along with 14 of the 15 students in the Akins Ready, Set, Teach! program, have qualified for state competitions in the Texas Association of Future Educators.

“I worked on a project called the Chapter Yearbook with the program’s Vice President, Sydney Loyd,” Herrera said. “We worked the whole beginning of the year collecting pictures and descriptions of things we had accomplished during the current and the previous fiscal year.”

Every student in the Ready, Set Teach! program is required to compete in TAFE.

“I’m super proud of everyone I know how hard they worked and how much pressure was on them,” Ready, Set, Teach! Teacher Cecilia Gutierrez said.

Although the students felt the time crunch, most of the Akins competitors scored high in the regional competition, and are now moving on to state.

“Presenting to judges can be a bit nerve-wracking,” Herrera said. “But the judges are very understanding and nice so its actually fun competing.”

Akins is part of region 13. The students compete against other schools Austin and surrounding areas like Pflugerville.