Brett Walker heard his name announced and received his award. Upon returning to his seat, he faced journalism adviser Leland Mallett and said, “I got my cookie.”

Despite the rescheduled competition date due to the Swine Flu scare, Walker competed and placed second at the State UIL meet in Headline Writing, winning Legacy’s first state academic award – known to Brett as a “cookie” because of it’s size.

Never having a student place in the Headline category during his career, Mallett prepared Walker with practice prompts prior to the event. His only question was the size of the award which Mallett responded as “cookie sized.”

“It’s [Brett’s victory] the cherry on top of a great year,” Mallett said. “I’ve had students place in all the other events, but this was my first in headlines.”

Although the triumph was almost put to an end when, in a moment of boredom on way home from Austin, Walker’s swung his medal around his neck repeatedly until it snapped off his ribbon and crashed into the concrete.

“I’ll have to get a new one next year,” Brett said after examining the newly formed dent on his second place medal.