CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Morgantown High School Team 1 won the Academic Showdown championship Tuesday and Bluefield High School was the runner-up at the West Virginia Culture Center.
Students received questions in the areas of math, science, history, fine arts, general knowledge, pop culture and more through intense, fast-paced rounds of questions. Teams consisted of students in grades 9-12.
“Celebrating the Showdown like we celebrate sports brings more awareness to academics and encourages other students to join academic events,” said Morgantown High School Team 1 Captain Sawyer Rudy.
“Of course, with the competition being very new, we were very excited to be able to compete and hopefully do well. It’s a great opportunity for us to meet new people, have fun answer trivia and potentially win some prizes or get recognized for our academic ability,” said Bluefield High School Team Captain Nathan Yost.
Microsoft® provided prize money for the top three teams, the tournament most valuable player (MVP) and the all-tournament team (comprised of the five best-performing players). The WVDE also provided grants to each participating school to support their Showdown program.
The awards were:
Morgantown High School Team 1, Monongalia County: each team member received $2,000.
Bluefield High School, Mercer County: each team member received $1,000.
Wheeling Park High School, Ohio County: each team member received $750.
Team Alternates are awarded half of the amount according to their team’s final standing.
Tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP): $1,000. (Sawyer Rudy)
All-Tournament Team: each team member received $325.
All-tournament team members were:
Simeon Schray, Huntington High School
Steven Tian, Morgantown High School Team 2
Preston Hetrick, Morgantown High School Team 1
Nathan Yost and Quinn Brown, Bluefield High School
“The Academic Showdown has been a game changer over the past three years,” said State Superintendent of Schools Michele L. Blatt. “The excitement continues to grow along with the participation among our schools. Some of the scholars have participated every year because this program challenges them with rigorous competition. It has been a thrill to watch.”