Holy Trinity has many athletic teams, but what about academic ones? This year, the HT Academic team had a very successful season and gained many new members.
The way academic teams compete is very simple. Students in groups of five to six compete against other schools, by answering questions about various subjects. “It’s like group Jeopardy. It’s so exciting,” Sommer McDoanld, the faculty sponsor said.
Since many students on the team wish to compete, the team is structured into three smaller teams. Team One consists of students who are the strongest competitors; seniors, and other upperclassmen with a good amount of competition experience under their belts. This year’s Team One consisted of Jamie Van Hooven, Rohan Jain, Brayden Doolittle, Cali Wilamowski, Matthew Nunez, and Devanshi Sharma. Team Two is made up of underclassmen who are strong in their respective fields, but don’t participate in competitions as much. Lastly, Team Three is made up of students who are just starting, and are practicing to improve their performance.
The season had six competitions, each hosted Monday at the Brevard County School Board building. In competition, students will be given questions on all academic subjects—things like Hammuarabi’s Code or the composer of a piece of music. From there, students can discuss the answer and hit a buzzer to answer the question. Whoever hits the buzzer first, and answers the question correctly will receive team points and individual points. Individual points are extremely important because, at the end of the season, the six top-scoring students of the county will move on to the next level of state competitions.
“Every here and there, you will see another Sheldon Cooper-like student who just knows everything. HT has had a few of their own, with former students like John Mitnik or Fischer Jehs,” McDonald said.
“My favorite part of academic team was seeing everyone’s first buzz in. It was a proud team captain moment. I think we had a very welcoming environment, and I loved being around, ” Jamie Van Hooven, this year’s team captain said.
The time commitment for academic team is pretty dependent upon how much time a student is willing to put in. Mandatory meetings for team members happen on Mondays during lunch, and sometimes after school, depending on when the next competition is.
“If you’re interested in trying out, I say go for it. We are always looking for students who are passionate about a certain subject. We really want to have more students on the team who specialize in literature next year,” McDonald added.
