Pencils Up! The room is filled with silence and anxiety waiting to see if their team got the question right. Half of the room high-fives and the other sits in silence, pondering where they could have studied that question. This is the atmosphere of an academic bowl competition.
Mooresville’s academic teams have started their seasons meeting on the regular to study this years topic: The American Revolution. Whether its the history team analyzing George Washington, or the art team picking apart the musical “Hamilton”.
The history academic team, captained by senior Olivia Butler, studies the book American Revolution as their primary resource for the topic, as it covers multiple roles, people, and events during the period before, during, and after the revolution. The English team is studying the book 1776 along with different poems from the era. The science team, captained by senior Connor O’Hanlon, studies optics, gunpowder, and many diseases during the war including small pox and dysentary.
The math team, also captained by senior Connor O’Hanlon, has been studying topics such as prime number theory, calculus series, trigonometric values, among other things. The art team is, as stated before, is deep diving on the musical Hamilton and also looking into artists who did commentary during the revolutionary war.
As one can see, while the topic is similar, what the teams study is not. O’Hanlon, a captain for two teams, says that his role on either team is relatively the same.
“Its kind of the same position for both. I don’t really think its about being good at the math or science and getting the most questions right. I think being a captain of one of these teams is about being the teams biggest motivator and supporting the team so that, as a whole, we can succeed,” O’Hanlon said.
The math academic team advisor Sarah Brown agrees with O’Hanlon that the team isn’t necessarily about knowing the most math, science, english, art, or history. Instead, it’s about wanting to pursue the knowledge in the first place.
“It’s not about what you know, its about a willingness to learn new concepts. It’s an even level playing field for everyone. The concepts we learn are not taught in everyday classes,” Brown said.
Each of these teams have built a connection together and have spent hours studying for competitions that start in the early spring time. The history academic team has developed a special “catchphrase” they use to signal when they have gotten a question correct. During practices, the team will let out a “Huzzah!” This term has been used to show joy and celebration. This has helped the team bond as whenever they get a practice problem correct, they count to three and let out a Huzzah!
Junior Emmaleigh Girman, a junior on the history and art teams, just enjoys being on the teams and experiencing it, while also enjoys the learning aspect of the teams.
“It’s really fun. I really like listening and learning more about history, especially the art. You get to learn a lot more than just the general overview. While sometimes learning and remembering the material can be hard, you’re with a team, it is really fun. You get to learn more about the different subjects. You are learning a lot more than what you could in a regular class,” Girman said.
A stigma has been put around the idea of academic teams as a place for nerds to hang out and discuss smart people topics, but they are inherently the opposite. The group of students on these academic teams come from different backgrounds and different learning areas. They all strive for a higher level of understanding than where they started out. All of the academic teams urge underclassmen to consider joining a team.
This year, Mooresville will host a competition at the high school on Tuesday, March 10. More information about the academic teams can be found here.
