The Academic Tournament is officially underway! Since late September, the Walkersville High School Academic Team has been meeting and practicing to compete against the other high schools in Frederick County. The tournament has been an annual Frederick County tradition for 43 years, and Walkersville has won seven times since its beginning in 1982—the second most number of wins behind Linganore High School. As the current champs, Walkersville has pressure to compete well this year.
Team coaches, Mr. Drum, Mr. Williams, Mrs. Boller, Mrs. Kuske, and Cold War coach Mr. Owens, write questions each week meant to build team member knowledge. These are used during practices where students learn to be aggressive on the buzzer, wait for the right moment to pounce, and to depend on their teammates to talk out the right answer. They also train the team in competition etiquette and encourage the students to have fun with it. The students are very appreciative of their coaches, with junior player Camilla Gish saying, “The seniors and coaches have really carried us the last two years. They’ve worked so hard, and I hope we can come up to scratch next year.”
Every year, the coaches choose captains to lead the team based on various statistics. For the 2024-2025 season, the recurring captains are Sam Leggieri, Jimmy Froude, Henry Van Orden, and Sid Parandapalli. Along with these captains are the seven leading the specialty rounds, who produced the highest scores for those specific categories. Sam, captain of the lightning round, has been on the academic team since her freshman year, and said that the club has taken up the most time of her high school career compared to other aspects of her school life:
“I’ve had a lot of fun with academic team. I have had the privilege of being a captain this year and being able to lead and teach the newer members as well. It has its highs and lows, but they were all worth it last year when we became the champions. Each year I’ve looked forward to the academic team season starting more and more and I couldn’t be more happy that I joined this club. The math round captain Henry Van Orden has been participating in the club since 10th grade and has been focusing on the specific round since they removed the sports category a year prior. He commented on his feelings on the experience: “It’s been super fun to learn and compete with friends every week, and it has been a great way to keep me busy during the winter when I’m not doing any sports.”
So far during the tournament, Walkersville has won 2 out of 3 of their matches, with seven more matches left in the competition. Although the tournament and team sounds very daunting, team members say it’s a lot of fun because group members support each other during practice, and the dinners after matches are good team building. Diego Tellez said, “Though it can seem very intimidating at times, academic team can be seen as a wonderful opportunity not only for camaraderie, but to expand one’s own understanding of certain subjects and general knowledge.”
Although seniors steal the show in terms of accuracy, the true energy of the group comes from the freshmen players, who are very spirited about partaking in the tournament. Juliet Rowley, who participated in the Culinary specialty round, said, “I really enjoy academic team because of how it allows me to show my knowledge while also learning about the most bizarre things and how I am able to meet new friends who value intelligence as much as I do”.
Academic Team is a long time sport that’s been around in Frederick County since 1982, making this year the 43rd consecutive year of play. Head Coach Mr. Drum, has been coaching the team for eleven years. Since his involvement, the team has won the county championship three times and the regular season championship once. He says the current team has a lot of potential: “We have a really good team this year. I think we’re capable of winning any night if we stay focused.” If you want to see an Academic Team match for yourself, they are Fridays at 6:00 pm in the Frederick High School auditorium, and the Championships are Feb. 21st.
