The West Chester Henderson High School academic team celebrates its second place finish at the state championships — earning a berth in the national championships later this month in Dallas.
Some of the brightest and best minds from Pennsylvania’s high schools gathered in the Pennsylvania State Capitol building to showcase their academic prowess at the 2016 Pennsylvania State Academic Competition on Friday, April 29. Both Downingtown East High School and West Chester Henderson High School proved to be strong competitors, advancing to the semi-final rounds. West Chester Henderson High School advanced to compete in the championship round against Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School (LVA) and Blue Mountain High School.
Ultimately, Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School emerged victorious with West Chester Henderson coming in second place. Final score: LVA – 105, West Chester Henderson – 80 and Blue Mountain – 55. All three teams in the championship round are eligible to compete in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LCC (NAQT) May 27-29 in Dallas, Texas.
“I’m happy to say that we were able to have some bright, motivated LVA students join us to form a team this year,” said LVA coach Peter Schmidt. Schmidt’s son Alex is a member of the team and also participates in solo academic competitions. “The purpose of school is for students to learn about the world around them. Participating in Quiz Bowl is simply one by-product of learning.”
“All of the students who participated in the state academic competition are already champions. They earned their position in the state competition by winning local and regional matches in their home counties,” said Jennifer Shealy, Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU) special events coordinator. “I would like to congratulate all of the participants, as they represent the brightest, most dedicated academic competitors in the commonwealth.”
“I feel really good,” said West Chester Henderson team captain Alex Sankaran. “We had the first and last match of the day. The end goal was to come to the state competition. We came and we’re happy with our second place finish. We’re proud of ourselves.”
The state competition began at 9:00 a.m. on April 29 with 23 county academic champions from across the commonwealth. They competed against one another in a series of matches in which teams earned points in order to qualify to advance to the semifinals. Nine teams earned a spot in one of three semi-final matches. The winner of each of those matches advanced to the championship game.
The journey for Chester County teams started in October 2015 with local competitions between 24 Chester County high schools. In March, West Chester Henderson won the Chester County tournament and earned the right to represent the county at the state competition. Downingtown East secured automatic entry into the state competition as the 2015 PA State Academic Competition champion.
During the competition, students answered a variety of challenging questions from categories including: literature, science, American and world history, potpourri and contemporary events. Each match consisted of two rounds with ten toss-up questions for any of the teams to “buzz in” and answer, and six fanfare questions per team, which are to be answered in rapid succession within 60 seconds.
Each of the 29 intermediate units in Pennsylvania was permitted to send one high school academic team to participate in the competition.
Of the 23 participating teams, the nine teams with the highest cumulative scores from two preliminary matches advanced to the semifinals. These semi-final teams included: LVA (205), Manheim Township (190), Spring Grove (180), Blue Mountain (175), West Chester Henderson (175), Downingtown East (155), Honesdale (150), Indiana Area (145) and Allentown Central Catholic (145)
For the fifth year in a row, the Honorable John A. Lawrence of Chester County hosted the Pennsylvania Academic Competition, which is coordinated by the Chester County Intermediate Unit and sponsored by the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA).
The Chester County academic teams will be recognized at the Chester County Champions awards banquet hosted by Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union on May 17. At the banquet, Franklin Mint will honor the teams, as well as the Chester County All-Star Team; the Coach of the Year and the Competitor of the Year.
“Being on Academic Team makes you well-rounded,” said Neel Alex from the Downingtown East team. “It’s about trying to find out what you’re interested in. It will help me in the future because I am already exploring my academic interests. The more I do it, the more I enjoy it.”
