Wasatch Junior High - Academics - Academic Games

Academic Games

Academic Games is a team event based on answering trivia and math questions and a round of oral presentation. In the academic rounds, there are individual, team, and speed question rounds. The third round consists of persuasive presentations on an issue that is given to the creative team a few days before a game. The National Academic League sets up numerous brain teasers and questions for schools across the country.

In 2007, the Academic Games team was the champion of the Granite School District, and therefore went on to national play. In the national championship round, the team faced Hanes Middle School of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Wasatch's presentation on teen drivers broke a tie going into the fourth and final round, which resulted in a tie. The game went into overtime, where Wasatch Junior lost by 11 points. The final score was 71 to 82.

The Wasatch-Hanes game was the third year in a row a Granite District junior high school has been in the national championship, and the fifth since 2002. Eisenhower, from the Granite School District, is a two-time champion, while Brockbank won in 2006 and took second in 2003. "These kids will be the same ones who walk away with a bazillion scholarships in a few years," principal Doug Bingham said. "That's where they shine."

In 2008, Wasatch won its second straight District Championship by defeating Eisenhower Junior High. In the National Tournament Wasatch defeated Orion Junior High in a landslide victory, but was defeated by Eisenhower in the next round. In 2010, Wasatch lost the district title to Brockbank Junior High, but defeated Brockbank in the Final Four to advance to the national game. Wasatch lost there by three points in double overtime. In 2011, Wasatch Junior High won the district championship and the national championship as well. Wasatch's team defeated Hanes Middle School, whom they faced in 2007. Wasatch won 88-62. In 2012, Wasatch Junior High faced Hanes Middle School again and won.

Read more about this topic:  Wasatch Junior High, Academics

Famous quotes containing the words academic and/or games:

    The 1990s, after the reign of terror of academic vandalism, will be a decade of restoration: restoration of meaning, value, beauty, pleasure, and emotion to art and restoration of art to its audience.
    Camille Paglia (b. 1947)

    At the age of twelve I was finding the world too small: it appeared to me like a dull, trim back garden, in which only trivial games could be played.
    Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)