Slidell senior Rachel Gomez is a student of many talents.
Slidell senior Rachel Gomez will compete at the UIL state competition in both Lincoln Douglas Debate and Theatrical Design-Costume. She’s Wise County’s only student to qualify for multiple state events this year. BRENDAN MARCHAND | WCMESSENGER
Now, she has the chance to put them all to the test on the big stage. Gomez is helping represent Slidell at the UIL Academics state meet in Austin, both in Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debate and the costume category of the theatrical design competition.
She’s already set herself apart as the only Wise County student set to compete in multiple state competitions this year.
While the LD debate and costume design don’t have much applicable crossover, it’s not stopping Gomez from aiming for the top spot in both.
This year’s theatrical design competition is centered around Axoloris: The Musical, the first time the specific production has ever been chosen.
Gomez chose the costume design category with hopes of adding some new skills to prepare her for a future career.
“I really want to go to college for fashion design, and then get into TV and film,” she said. “I’ve really liked the research that goes into the costume designs, and I learned a lot through trial and error. It’s a lot of finding what works and doesn’t work.”
Students in the costume competition submitted their work in February, which included inspiration boards, costume plot, costume color illustration, costume parade view of characters and a final full color rendering or photos of the realized design.
Even with it being her first year entering the competition, her natural creative abilities have been a steady presence. Still, she had to put in countless hours from the fall break until final submission of her work.
Her work will be judged Friday night, with an oral presentation the next morning and final results Saturday evening.
Gomez will compete against conferences 1A-3A. UIL coach Morgan Brown believes she has the skill to break through for a solid finish, even with the stiff competition.
“She picked it up super fast. She’s just supremely talented,” said UIL coach Morgan Brown. “I feel like she’s the type that could see her design come to life as she read the script. And when I saw her finished work, it was incredible.”
While a rookie in theatrical design, Gomez is quite the pro in LD debate, and hoping to parlay the two for walk-off wins as she rounds out her high school career.
This season, Gomez turned in third place finishes in LD debate at both district and region.
As a junior last year, she finished second in district — sandwiched in between her two sisters, Angelica and Roxana, that make up the Gomez triplets — and was a state alternate. Two years ago, she grabbed first in district but was once again a state alternate after her region finish.
“It’s even harder this year because we’re in 2A,” UIL coach Velvet Oberg said. “And she was always so close, just a couple of points away in the past. Everyone could talk forever about how unbelievably proud we are.”
What started as just a way to get more involved in high school extracurriculars is about to culminate in her highest stakes competition during her time at Slidell.
“Debate helped me gain confidence,” Gomez said. “It helped me break out of my shell a little bit. I used to be super shy, but now I have the ability to not only speak in front of other people, but also confidently to judges.”
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