Academic Team competes on popular show “It’s Academic”

On December 11, 2021, the Academic Team appeared on NBC4 to compete on the show “It’s Academic!” against two other High School teams from the DC/Maryland/Virginia area.

“It’s Academic” is a trivia-style competition show featuring questions about a plethora of topics such as history, literature, and math. The teams compete during the months of December and January leading up to district, region, and state competitions in January and February. 

Coach of the Academic Team, teacher Mel Hefty, has been a key part of the teams success. “When I started coaching the team, they had been on the waiting list for “It’s Academic!” for a few years,” Hefty said. “We finally got off the waitlist a couple years into me coaching the team and have been competing on the show yearly ever since.”

Practice for the long anticipated event started in October, around the beginning of the school year, and has continued to take place twice every week in order to prepare for It’s Academic as well as their regular VHSL competitions.

In preparation for these events, the team uses past questions when meeting together and are strongly encouraged to practice on their own time by studying commonly asked topics.

Senior Quinn Griffin has been on the Academic Team since his freshman year. “I joined the team because I had some friends who were joining, and it seemed like a fun club to join,” he said. “I quickly knew I wanted to stay and learn to be a better player.”

     Although they faced an unfortunate loss by just 80 points, Griffin still had a great time competing and didn’t find himself too stressed about winning. “The club has taught me how to play with a team, study, and I got to have a great time with my friends.”