Although Adams is not known for their impressive sports records, we still have a few teams that have done very well this year: the academic teams. Both Quiz Bowl and four Mock Trial teams went to state recently with the Science Olympiad trailing behind them and going to state in April. Congratulations to the students that worked hard to get there. Here is a quick breakdown of how each team did.
The John Adams Quizbowl team went all the way to the championship round after fierce competition with 18 other teams, finishing fourth overall. In fact, our John Adams Quiz Bowl was the only team outside of the Indianapolis area to place in the top four. Even with several of their team members missing due to scheduling conflicts with Mock Trial, the Quiz Bowl team still managed to finish strong into fourth place.
Of the John Adams six mock trial teams, four went to state: Reasonable Doubt, Trial and Error, Call it Acquits and the Treblemakers. Reasonable Doubt, the John Adams senior team, ranked the highest, earning themselves 4th place overall. The Treblemakers followed closely behind in 9th place. Additionally, two students from John Adams won overall best witness awards: Rosa Morel and Yofi Sandock. Morel was an orthopedic expert witness testifying to prove that the defendant was not injured in the theoretical events of their case. Morel stated, “When Ruthie Tan, my attorney, and I were writing our direct examination, I came up with the idea that Dr. Irwin was really into cycling, and the character really took off from there. I added in a bunch of bicycle analogies, and puns, and I think it really gave our angle of the case a spark.” She also commented in terms of the team’s overall growth, “…I couldn’t have been more proud of my teammates and friends. This year, I feel as though we performed the best we possibly could—our strides in presentation, eloquence, poise, and content were astronomical.”
After placing second in regional competitions, Science Olympiad heads to state in early April. Will Mikels-Carrasco, a Science Olympiad student team captain, was able to tell me a little bit about how their season went and how they think they will do in regionals. Mikels-Carrasco states, “…I think that over this season specifically, we’ve had a lot of growth. We’ve had a lot of new people and done a good job of getting them on the same page.” In terms of their expected performance at state, Mikels-Carrasco comments, “We’ve had some struggles, but I think that our team is good at pulling together against bad odds and I believe in the team a lot.”
All year long, these academic teams continue to put lots of effort and time into performing as best they can. Their work certainly reflects on their excellent scores at regionals and state. Well done to Quiz Bowl and Mock Trial and good luck to the Science Olympiad team!
