Brunswick Brain Power Wins
- May 5, 2017
- 2 min read
[Photo above, members of the Brunswick team celebrate, Academic Tournament FB page]
Brunswick High School had a special reason to celebrate earlier last month when the school’s champion Academic Tournament team was congratulated by the FCPS School Board.
The victory was especially sweet because Brunswick’s win had broken a five-year championship streak shared by Middletown and Urbana high schools, this year relegated to second and third place respectively. Brunswick is the second smallest high school in Frederick County. The Academic Tournament is now in its 36th year.
"Students who participate in the Academic Tournament value the quest for knowledge for its own sake,” said Academic Tournament coordinator and FCC Trustee Nick Diaz. “While knowing how to look up information and using it effectively is important, there is simply no substitute for knowing stuff. It will serve our students well when they reach their college years.”
The Academic Tournament matches the brain power from each of the high schools in answering rapid-fire questions that test each team’s academic knowledge across a broad array of subjects. This year’s tournament moderator was Tom Kollai, a teacher from Walkersville HS who also prepares the questions. They included anagrams, identifying words starting with the letters “eu”, quotes from Shakespeare, math problems, and familiarity with the National Park Service. Kollai also does considerable work behind the scenes to keep this event running smoothly.
Three teams from ten high schools competed in five rounds each and scoring was based on an addition of points for correct answers and subtraction of points for incorrect answers. Using a buzzer system, a team signals it has an answer ready and the first to buzz gets called upon to submit an answer. The Brunswick group seemed particularly adept at making team, rather than individual responses.
Like any athletic team, the participants are coached throughout a six-week season beginning in January each year with matches held weekly. Lou Eskuchen, known affectionately to Brunswick students as “Señor” has taught Spanish at Brunswick HS for 37 years and has coached the Academic Tournament for sixteen of them.
“It doesn’t matter if you are just intelligent,” Señor said. “What matters is the practice and preparation the team puts in, working together so we can build self-confidence. After all, students are taking a risk when they represent their team by giving an answer that might be wrong and in front of a large audience. Preparation for the Academic Tournament builds camaraderie. The coaches get along well, too.”
The team is also coached by Jim Kelly who teaches AP physics and chemistry and ninth grade science at Brunswick HS. Kelly likens the preparation and practice for the Academic Tournament to an attorney preparing for trial. “We practice so much,” he says, “we know what the other guys know or don’t know. The team learns to consult with partners before the team captain makes a response. Coming to practice is the key. The experience is intense and very personal.”
When representatives of the Brunswick championship team was asked by BOE members how they had won the competition, they collectively replied “with a lot of study.” As team members thanked the adults who had supported them and especially their teachers and coaches, for one brief moment academics rivalled sports in importance and social approbation. Bien hecho muchachos.
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