CONWAY — Question: Who won first place in the 2012 National Academic Championship on Memorial Day in New Orleans?
Buzz!
Answer: Conway Christian School’s Junior High School Quiz Bowl.
Laura Shelton, the team’s coach, said her students bested the Altamont School, based in Birmingham, Ala., to win the trophy.
The Conway Christian team, organized four years ago, won the State Tournament last year and made it to the national semifinals.
This year, the team was the runner-up on the state level, and in the national quarterfinals beat a South Carolina team by such a wide margin - 510 points to 195 - that a school record was set.
Ninth-grader Wesley Oliver is the team’s captain. This is his third year on the team, which he joined when he was in the seventh grade.
He said he enjoyed his trip to New Orleans and has learned the value of teamwork.
“I didn’t think the competition was all that tough, really,” Wesley said, “but we may have just been better this year. This is my third year, so I have more confidence.”
Shelton said that not all of the team’s 15 members could go to New Orleans because of family commitments, but the “key members,” including Wesley and eighth-grader Landon McDougal,were able to go and compete.
“One day in sixth grade, I was asked to join, and I thought it sounded fun,” Landon said. “I think we’ve always been a good team, but we’re better now. Hopefully, we’ll get to go to nationals again next year.”
Wesley’s father, also named Wesley, said the whole team is “well-rounded. They all did real well in all the areas. I thought they did great.”
“Everybody contributed,” the younger Wesley said of the team’s performance.
“That is how we did so well.”
Shelton said part of the reason for her team’s success is that they all work together.
“In New Orleans, we saw some teams turn on each other,” she said. “Our kids build each other up. They never get down;
they win or lose with a good attitude. We are playing for a higher cause - the Lord first, then the school, then ourselves. We try to be good Christian representatives.”
She said players like Landon and Wesley have enough experience under their belts to not get nervous on the national stage.
Potential Quiz Bowl team members have to try out to join the team, Shelton said. “Since we started going to New Orleans, it has really taken off,” she said of the team’s membership.
She said the team has won 17 competitions since it joined the Arkansas Activities Association in 2008. Conway Christian has high school, junior high and elementary-level Quiz Bowl teams, encompassing grades six through 12 and including about 40 students.
“We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from the community,” she said of the victory in New Orleans. “I think it shows the level of excellence at our school.”
Staff writer Daniel A. Marsh can be reached at (501) 399-3688 or dmarsh@arkansasonline.com.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 62 on 06/21/2012