Orleans Academic Team Wins Two State Championships

Last updated on Sunday, May 6, 2018

(LAFAYETTE) - The Orleans High School Academic Team captured two state championships at the thirty-second annual Indiana Academic Super Bowl held at Purdue University on Saturday.

The defending State Champion Social Studies squad from Orleans led all Class 4 schools to win the championship for the third straight year. The English squad dominated the pack in their round to also earn the title of State Champion. In other rounds, the Interdisciplinary squad was crowned State Runner-Up, and the Math and Science teams were awarded third place plaques and bronze medals.

Photo caption:

Front row, left to right: Jailynne Radcliff, Emily Jacobs, Hunter Morgan,Matthew Ross, Andy McFarland, Makenna Purlee, and Margaret Naumoff. Middle row, left to right: Coach Leah Morgan, John McFarland, Duncan Gerkin, Michael Holsapple, Caty Carlisle, Dylan Reid, and Coach Kristina Hole. Back row, left to right: Coach Natasha Guthrie, Michael Reid, Nicholas Hester, Kevin Johnson, Jacob Pinney, Lillia Camp, and Gavin Morgan.

The two new state championship banners bring the total to fourteen that the academic teams have won in the school's history. Of the 278 high school teams that participated in the Area Competition on April 17, only 92 qualified for the State Finals. Orleans and Fishers High School were the only schools in the state to qualify five of their six squads for the State Finals sponsored by the Indiana Association of School Principals and Purdue University. The Orleans Fine Arts squad narrowly missed qualifying for the State Finals by one question.

The social studies team consisted of Matthew Ross, Andy McFarland, Kevin Johnson, and Dylan Reid. Members of the English team were Hunter Morgan, Emily Jacobs, Caty Carlisle, Kevin Johnson, Jailynne Radcliff, Nicholas Hester, Dylan Reid, Michael Reid, and Makenna Purlee. The math team members were Matthew Ross, Jacob Pinney, Duncan Gerkin, John McFarland, Margaret Naumoff, and Gavin Morgan. The science team was made up of Jacob Pinney, Michael Holsapple, Lillia Camp, Margaret Naumoff, and Gavin Morgan. The interdisciplinary squad included Matthew Ross, Hunter Morgan, Jacob Pinney, Lillia Camp, Kevin Johnson, Nicholas Hester, and Andy McFarland.

Students began preparing for the spring competitions in November with study materials revolving around the 2018 theme, World War One, with coaches Kristina Hole, Leah Morgan, and Natasha Guthrie.

"It takes an incredible amount of preparation to be successful in this competition," said social studies and English coach Kristina Hole. "The students spend hours and hours reading, studying, and practicing questions over the specialized material. They truly become experts on the subjects.

Matthew Ross, junior and captain of the social studies, math, and interdisciplinary squads, added, "The state academic contest is a nice event because everyone there is such a good sport. I think that everyone understands that any team that makes it to the state contest is exceptional, so everyone is treated as a champion."

The high school competition is made up of five subject matter rounds (English, science, social studies, mathematics, and fine arts) and a sixth interdisciplinary round in which questions may come from any and all of the subject matter rounds. Schools were divided into four classes based on school size, and a champion was named for each class. At the competition, teams were given twenty-five multiple-choice questions. The squads had twenty seconds to converse and choose an answer.

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