The Academic Team’s season officially ended with the broadcasting of their competition against Bullis and Stone Ridge on the long time running TV quiz show “It’s Academic” April 6.

The Academic Team was represented by sophomore Cristina Bohnet, junior Ransom Berry, and as captain, senior Paul Stein.  The team participated in both the tournament style TV show and the Scholastic Bowl, an activity recognized by the Virginia High School League.  

The Scholastic Bowl season started in January and ended with the team placing high in the district.

“I think we did very well this year,” teacher sponsor librarian Linda Frantz said. “We beat Langley at a scrimmage, which is pretty good because they were the runner ups in the regionals.  The kids worked hard.”

Stein also said that a more competitive aura was felt from the team.   “We have made some very good strides this year,” Stein said.  “I do not believe we have ever been semi-competitive prior to this year, so that has been very good.”

The founding of the Academy Team happened shortly after the school’s opening in 1979.  Scholastic Bowl was added to the VHSL in the 1997-98 school year and 87 percent of member schools participate according to the organization’s official website.

The team’s broadcasted match was originally filmed Feb. 2, and televised April 6 on NBC in the show’s 52^nd season. Bullis won the match.

Being part of the Academic Team also provides students with certain advantages.

“It [the Academic Team] can be useful for many things,” Bohnet said. “It helps me know what happened in history.  Knowing literature is a good background for English and other subjects like that.”

Another important aspect of the Academic Team is that it provides students who possibly may not be on a sports team, the opportunity to represent their school in a competitive environment.

“Although we do have a number of students who do participate in sports, in track and soccer, on our team, a lot of people don’t participate in sports,” said Frantz.  “They don’t choose to.  So this is another way they can participate.”