Pressure is high as the academic teams prepare for the annual Area Competition that decides if they move on to State or not.
The Area competition is today at GHS, and the State competition is currently undecided and will be at Purdue University.
“We have been preparing for our area meet by constantly researching and trying to find answers to questions we do not know,” junior Eliana Anderson said.
The academic team reviews missed questions from previous meets to prepare.
“A big way we prepare is going over past missed questions and researching them to understand why we missed it and why the answer is what it is,” Mr. Rich Perry, science team coach said.
The teams meet up multiple times between meets and work together in and out of the practices.
“The workload is mainly just reading outside of practice and researching nearly every question,” sophomore Roneekeisha Beaugris said.
There are different academic teams that specialize in different subjects.
“I am the head of all of the academic teams which means my job is to schedule all of the tournaments. On top of that, I am the coach of the math academic team so I also coach the students on the math team and I go with them to compete with that,” Mr. Christian Cruze, academic coordinator and math coach said.
So far, the teams are doing pretty well and placing in most of the competitions so the expectations for the area meets are high.
“We have done pretty well so far so I think we definitely have a chance. We just need to do our jobs and perform the best we have. In order to make it to State, we have to place Top 7. We did good and have been doing good, but so have the other teams so we really need to be on top of our game with very little mistakes,” Mr. Perry said.
Teams have been spending most of their time during PowerHour and after school free time preparing for the area competition.
“I think we have a pretty good chance because we got 22 out of 25 correct at our last competition. The other teams are good, but so are we. We just need to take our time and not rush through it,” junior Juney Jones said.
There are many positives about being on an academic team.
“I think being on an academic team is a really great alternative for kids who have not really found a place where they belong yet. Some kids are just naturally gifted athletes and have always been good at a sport and being competitive with their natural born athletic skill. That is why I really think the academic teams are great alternatives for kids who do not have that ability,” Mr. Perry said.
Academic teams are a great place to make new friends and fun memories.
“My favorite part about being on the academic team is going to competitions and showing off what I have learned in practices and while researching. It also feels really good when we get questions right that I have researched and understand,” Beaugris said.
