Academic Team: Buzzing in Virtually
By Aidan Rodriguez
One of the many activities that Owasso offers to their students is the Academic Team. This is a club that meets after school every Monday and Wednesday. As the name suggests, this club is composed of bright students who work to expand their academic knowledge. They test their knowledge with questions spanning several subjects and compete against teams from other schools. Along with many other clubs, the academic team has made several changes and accommodations for this year.
“Usually, we either drive [to another school] or we greet a school here. We have our competitions in the library, [and] we have a buzzer system [to] buzz in.” Mr. Yankey, the club’s organizer, clicks through his computer excitedly showing me the system. “[However] this year, what we’ve done is we go either over Zoom or Google Meet depending on whatever the school is set up for, and then we’re using an online buzzer.” He continues his description while gesturing to the kids. “We [the coaches] all decided with COVID that we would make this more of a fun year. We’re not giving medals this year, [and] we’re not giving trophies because it’s too difficult. We’re trying to make it a competition, but we’re also trying to make it fun.”
Picture of Shreya Rohatgi, a member of the varsity team
Another big change this year was centered on leadership. The team now has three co-presidents: Merrik Barnes, Amina Kamara and Katelyn Wiehe. Typically, there would be a singular president, but because of COVID-19, the team has three. Even though there are two teams, the co-presidents help lead everyone.
Sophomore co-president Amina Kamara explains, “Typically, I would be on the junior varsity team, but I was allowed onto the varsity team this year. Our teams have won several rounds, [but] they are constantly changing due to contact tracing.” She continues, glancing over at the junior varsity team. “[We’ve] definitely had to change our learning methods; it’s a lot of studying for competitions. [At competitions,] we encourage everyone to at least try to answer because it boosts morale for our junior varsity team.”
Senior Shreya Rohatgi fondly remembers her time on the academic team recalling, “I joined my sophomore year. I had fun, and it was really enjoyable. Now, I get to be the upperclassman and form those bonds with the underclassmen as I had my Sophomore year.” Continuing on to this year, she proclaims, “It’s also been interesting how novice to varsity questions have leveled up. With COVID, we haven’t been able to go and travel to other schools. [It’s] kind of unfortunate that we can’t compete in person and have that good-natured competition. It adds to it when you can see your opponent, but now we’re just competing with a screen. It’s difficult, but we’re doing our best and still winning meets.”
The year has changed the way the academic team has practiced and competed, but they are doing as well as ever. Winning several rounds and building morale, the team is off to a strong start. They compete every Monday, so let’s wish them luck for the rest of the year!