The La Plata High School It's Academic team, pictured from left, of Captain Tyler Fini, Rachel Clark and Alex Smith, won first place in the regional Charles County Public Schools competition, held Dec. 9 at the College of Southern Maryland. The team will compete against Blake and Wakefield high schools in January in a regional competition to be aired March 20 on WRC TV (NBC 4). (Submitted photo)
LA PLATA, Md. (Dec. 14, 2009)—The La Plata High School It’s Academic team will participate in the regional televised competition as the first-place winner in the annual Charles County Public Schools competition, held Dec. 9 at the College of Southern Maryland.
The three-member team of Captain Tyler Fini, Rachel Clark and Alex Smith scored 590 points to earn the top spot. The school was presented with a $500 scholarship from the Greater Waldorf Jaycees and the team will compete against Blake and Wakefield high schools on Jan. 23, which will be aired on WRC TV (NBC 4) March 20. Each year, secondary schools from the Washington D.C. metropolitan area participate in the televised It’s Academic program.
Melissa Reen is the La Plata team’s alternate and Veronica Bohne, Tyler Cox, Rexford Holmes, Bhaskar Joshi, Molly Monaghan, Colin Qualters, Ayla Padgett, Matthew Paesch and John Sackman are also members of the La Plata team. Principal is Evelyn Arnold and team coach is Corinne Fox, a science teacher at La Plata.
Placing second in the competition was the North Point High School team with 570 points, followed by the Maurice J. McDonough High School team in third place with 500 points. Teams from Henry E. Lackey, Thomas Stone and Westlake high schools also competed. Each of these schools was presented with a $250 scholarship from the Jaycees.
As the second place winner, the North Point team will also earn a chance to compete in a televised competition on NBC 4 next fall.
The five other high school three-member teams were: Lackey – Captain Elizabeth “E.R.” Forstner, Jacob Vahle and Tyler Langley; McDonough – Captain Ross Gardiner, Deanna Huntt and Jessey Hunt; North Point – Captain Gaston Lopez, Erin Chapman and Ryan Friedrich; Thomas Stone – Captain Sean Ward, Emily Le and Alaric Powell; and Westlake – Captain John Buntz, Ronnie Ibrahim and Misha Stone.
Darryle Smith is the Lackey team’s alternate and Jennilyn Gabor, Hazel Afroilan, Sylvia Kim, Chynna Keys, Alex Reese, Gershawn Mason and Sarah Gotzmer are also members of Lackey’s team. Principal is James Short and team coach is Don Browder, a social studies teacher at Lackey.
Melissa Bortner is the McDonough team’s alternate. Principal is Jervie Petty and team coach is Daniel Brady, a science teacher at McDonough.
Karen Eaton is the North Point team’s alternate and Kenjeray Bernett, Samuel Brown, Cayley Dymond, Thomas Keim and Nick Teleky are also members of the North Point team. Principal is Kim Hill and Peggy DeVeny, a literacy instructional assistant, and Deen Stewart, a foreign language teacher at North Point, are the team’s coaches.
Jessica Wiley is the Stone team’s alternate and Chase Arnold, Emmanuel Bakare, Lemuel Carpenter, John Carr, Jorge Alamo-Guzman, Erik Kang, Breana McIver, Steven Messmer, Jasper Raguindin, Darryl Smith, Joey Trefry and William Trusnovic are also members of the Stone team. Principal is L.C. Martin and Nancy Jeffrey and Claire Gritzinger, foreign language teachers at Stone, are the team’s coaches.
Misha Stone is the Westlake team’s alternate and Leo Pierce, Mariama Souley Dounda and Amelia Tarlton are also members of the Westlake team. Stone competed in the event in the place of team member Ross McCool. Principal is Chrystal Benson and team coach is James Ressler, an English teacher at Westlake.
The Dec. 9 competition will be broadcast on Comcast Channel 96, the school system’s educational television station, and Verizon Fios Channel 12 later this month. Check the programming schedule at http://www2.ccboe.com/publicinfo/channel96'schedule.cfm for dates and times.
Source: Charles County Public School System