"It's Academic!" team rises to the challenge

A collection of Blair's finest minds. A group of fact-filled students with rock-hard determination to win. This is Blair's "It's Academic!" team, and they're here to take the real prize home this season: the knowledge that they are the smartest kids around.

Senior member Noah Grosfeld-Katz says that the team hasn't proven that particular fact yet this year, but has still had tremendous success by anyone's definition. The team was third in the October 23rd Knowledge Master Open (KMO) competition, which included 1007 schools worldwide. "Obviously, we would've liked to win. But third in the world's not bad," Grosfeld says.

In the KMO tournament, the team answered 198 out of 200 questions right, and earned a score of 1800. The second place team, Richard Montgomery High School, answered 197 questions right and earned 1816 points, while the winner, Thomas Jefferson High School in Virginia, answered 193 questions right and scored 1832 points.

The team has been successful in its other competitions this year, winning 5th place out of 32 teams in the Rockville High School pre-season invitational tournament. It also beat Gonzaga and Langley high schools in the 'It's Academic!' television show, set to air January 5th at 10 AM on NBC 4. On the televised Quizmaster's Challenge, which will be aired the last week of January on channel 34, Blair defeated Watkins Mill High School.

Grosfeld-Katz attributes the team's success to the players' mélange of skills. "We've got a perfect mix of team members- we've got the math guy, the history guy, and the pop culture guy," says Grosfeld-Katz.

But being a member of the 'It's Academic!' team requires more than natural genius. The team practices twice a week to hone their competitive skills and factual knowledge. According to team sponsor Peter Engelmann, practice helps the team decrease its response time, one of its weak areas. "The main thing is knowing the facts and being able to call them up on the spur of the moment. As soon as the question is asked, you need to know the answer," says Englemann.

Engelmann says that he is very proud of the team's accomplishments so far this year and that it "definitely has a chance to win some of the upcoming tournaments."

But according to Grosfeld-Katz and Engelmann, the most important part of being a member of the It's Academic! team isn't winning, but having a good time. "Of course, it's nice to win, but the whole idea is just to have fun," says Grosfeld-Katz.

Grosfeld-Katz emphasizes the fact that being a member of the team really is enjoyable. He says that the team is full of many different people with a variety of interests. "We're not all just a bunch of dorks," Grosfeld-Katz insists.

"It's Academic!" meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:00 in room 233.