Scottsburg
High School was one of three schools in the state to place in three or
more subjects areas at the 30th Annual Indiana Academic Super Bowl Area
Competition, and for the fifth year in a row, the SHS Academic Team
earned a state championship.
“I’m very proud of this year’s team.
This is the best overall finish that the Scottsburg High School Academic
Team has ever had. It didn’t just start this year — many of these
students have been putting in a tremendous effort for multiple years and
the results speak for themselves,” said Robert Deirth, science and
interdisciplinary academic team coach, teacher, and science department
chair.
At this year’s state finals, the Academic Team won the
state championship in the interdisciplinary subject area — a category
that combines questions from all disciplines. The Academic Team was also
the state runner-up in social studies, and the Academic Team placed
third in science and had the highest science score of any school in
southern Indiana. Both the social studies and science teams have had
previous successes at the state finals with two consecutive state
championships for the social studies team and one state championship for
the science team.
“The thing I will miss most is the feeling you
get after winning the championship. It lets you know that all the hard
work you have put in over the year has paid off. And afterward, you can
breathe a sigh of relief, as those last few hours before competing are
very nerve wracking,” said Evan Howser, senior, a member of the social
studies and interdisciplinary teams, and captain of the English team.
“The
interdisciplinary win has sentimental value. Wrapping up my high school
career with such a hard-fought, and for lack of a better word — epic —
win was satisfying. The fact that we scored [five out of five] on the
social studies questions showed that our hard work in that category paid
off,” said Kaleb Mount, senior, captain of the Social Studies, and
a member of the interdisciplinary and English teams.
Along with
the school history-making win at the state finals on May 7 at Purdue
University, SHS was recognized by the Indiana Association of School
Principals as one of the Top 10 teams. The elite distinction was based
on the cumulative scores of all six rounds at the Area Competition. The
scores earned at Area Competition determine what subject areas teams
move forward to the state finals.
“The best thing about being on
the team is the opportunity to compete against other teams from across
the state and show off everything we have studied and learned over the
year. The most challenging thing is making sure that all the members of
the team are on the same page. Sometimes, two members having a different
interpretation of a single word can lead them to disagree on an
answer,” Howser said.
To prepare for the competitions, the student
members of the Academic Team spend hours preparing during the spring.
The members work together at after school meetings and at home,
reviewing questions and reading resources.
“It takes a lot of hard
work to be successful on an academic team. You have to be willing to
put in hours of studying for several months if you want to compete for a
championship,” Howser said. “I think that academic team has taught me
how to properly study and understand complex material.”
“I’ve
always been smart. Every person on an academic team is smart. But I
never really had any sort of work ethic until I joined the academic
team. These competitions aren’t about which team has the smartest
people; they’re determined by which team works the hardest. I’ve taken
lots of classes where I could just coast and get an A. Academic team
isn’t like that,” said Jacob Cook, senior, captain of the science team,
and a member of the interdisciplinary team.
At Scott County School District 2, the Academic Team’s story is our story. Your story matters. You matter.