Academic Team: A Little Known Club

Bear Truth sheds a beaming light on the school’s Academic Team

By: Katherine Hines

The Bear Truth Reporter

Bayside High School’s Academic Team is one extra curricular that most students don’t know much about; but this great team deserves the spotlight.

Competitions take place many times a year. And the events plays out like this: two teams of 5 players sit at a buzzer set. Like Jeopardy, anyone who rings or buzzes in prevents anyone else from doing so. ‘Trigger happy’ students try their hardest to block out the other team. The rounds are timed and each question has a 10 second limit. Each game is directed by a moderator, or the person who is reading the questions. There is no penalty for wrong answers.

Students are quizzed on literature, history, science, math, social studies, fine arts, geography, religion, mythology, philosophy, engineering, general knowledge and “trash”- or “ popular culture”. The choice of subjects and number of questions on each is randomly distributed.

There are different types of toss up questions: “Buzzer Beaters,” which are quick recall questions that are relatively simple as well as “Pyramid- Style,” these questions generally offer more clues and allows the students to go in more depth with their answers.

Unlike Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy, players are allowed to interrupt the question at anytime. Quiz Bowl questions are designed to give the player with the stronger background in that area the best chance to answer first.

Bayside’s Academic Team has had a tremendous amount of success last year - coming in 3^rd place out of all the participating schools in the county tying with Merritt Island for the position. This year, they are vying for that number one spot in order to be known as the brainiest.

“We practice at least once a week as a team,” claims Danielle Davis (12), “Usually after school on Wednesdays to perfect our game.”

“In order to succeed on this team, you must have a passion for learning various subjects and be willing to compete to show what you’ve learned,” claims Samantha Dame, a Bayside High School Senior.

Academic Team is a wonderful extra curricular activity that allows students to feel comfortable with showing off their knowledge to other students in a fun, easy going environment. The way to join academic team is relatively easy, you don’t have to have a set GPA, just talk to Mr. Young if you are interested. He is looking for students who excel in various subjects like literature and math.

Mr. Young, the Academic Team’s sponsor claims, “The best thing about Academic Team is that the kids enjoy it and they get a kick out of learning new things.”