Academic Bowl team celebrates second place in national tournament

This year, Housatonic’s academic bowl team has had the biggest success that they have had in years.

Peter Vermilyea, a history teacher at the high school and faculty advisor for the team, said this year was the first national second place finish the team has had since he started working at the school nearly 30 years ago.

“I started academic bowl here my first year here, that was 1995, 1996, and we’ve had 7th place, 6th place, and 4th place finishes in the country, but in the November Tournament we finished 2nd in the country,” Vermilyea said. Senior Silas Tripp, who competes on the team, said he was amazed with the success. “To get to watch some of these kids answer questions that I don’t even know where to start is honestly a humbling yet eye opening experience,” Tripp said.

Housatonic’s success at November’s national competition, known as the Knowledge Master Open, earned the team a spot in the World Academic Championship. Out of the 107 questions asked, Housatonic answered 95 correctly. “That was in a smallish tournament about 50 schools, and in December we finished 21st in the country but in a tournament of about 500 schools,” said Vermilyea.

For the last few years, the team, whose members shift every year as seniors graduate and younger students join, has been first in Connecticut and first in New England.

Junior team member Danny Lesch said everyone is welcome on the team. “My experience is that anyone can bring value to the team even if they think they don’t have the knowledge to contribute,” he said.“This attitude from the team had led to our high finishes in New England and the country.”

Also participating on the team are seniors Hannah Johnson, Tenzing Sherpa and Silas Tripp; juniors Jon DeDonato, Jonas Johnson, Daniel Lesch, Finn Malone and Meadow Moerschell; sophomores Bridger Rinehart and Owen Schnepf, and freshman Alastair Schnepf. “We’ve got a lot of people, COVID was really bad for a lot of things but it was really good for academic bowl because it created a digital environment to play that didn’t really exist before COVID,” Vermilyea said.

“The whole interface of the game has changed, instead of just playing New Milford, or Terryville, or maybe we are going to be adventurous and play E. O. Smith High School from Storrs, now we are playing teams from all over the country.” Now, the team can play in five to seven online tournaments. Students will even play teams internationally later this year in a tournament that the Housatonic team qualified for.

Tripp said the online competitions bring less pressure than in-person matches.

“Most of these competitions are online because of Covid, which honestly can be more fun because it decreases the pressure, but sometimes I wish we had more in person competitions,” Tripp said. “Overall, it’s given me many new relationships and taught me how to be confident when you believe you know something.”

Tripp has been on the team for the past three years.“It’s been far better than I could have imagined,” Tripp said. “Verm really makes sure everyone is welcome no matter if you answer every question or none.”

Lesch agreed that the team is a good opportunity, “We’ve steadily improved throughout the season,” Lesch said. “Picking up new players and encouraging anyone who wants to come.”