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The La Plata High School's It's Academic team earned first place in the annual Charles County Public Schools competition held Dec.2 at the La Plata campus of the College of Southern Maryland (CSM). Pictured from left are the three-member team of Matthew Fan, T.C. Martin (captain) and Justin Cortez who competed in the event and took first place in the championship round with a score of 300 points against North Point and Westlake high schools.
LA PLATA, Md. (Dec. 3, 2015)—La Plata High School's It's Academic team earned the top spot in the annual Charles County Public Schools competition held Dec.2 at the La Plata campus of the College of Southern Maryland (CSM).
The La Plata three-member team of T.C. Martin (captain), Justin Cortez and Matthew Fan won in the championship round with a score of 300 points against North Point and Westlake high schools to earn first place. This is the third consecutive year the La Plata It's Academic team has won first place at the regional level. North Point earned second place in the championship round, followed by Westlake in third place.
Each year, the first-place team goes on to compete in a regional match. The La Plata team will compete in a regional match against Dominion and Gonzaga high schools that will air April 2 on NBC4. As the second-place winner in the championship round, the North Point team earned a chance to compete in a regional match that will air next fall.
The Greater Waldorf Jaycees presented the La Plata team with a $500 scholarship for their first-place win. Other student members of the team include Angela Cortez, Rochelle Dickerson, Justin Fawls, Michael Gill, Katie Holland (alternate), Hannah Kalmus, Karisma Magsakay, Aashka Patel, Mohammed Rafique, Nick Shutters, Paige Upright, Preetaman Virk and Robert Yorio. The team coach is Michelle Schoenbauer, a science teacher at La Plata.
As second-place winners, the North Point team received a $250 scholarship from the Jaycees. Students who competed in the event were James Adkins, Luke Gibson (captain) and Dennis Whitley. Other student members of the team include Skye Corbin, Adam Cullen, Andrew Fan, Amara Gammon, Jonathan Heng, Nathan Hubbell (alternate) and Chandler Williams. The team coach is Deen Stewart, a foreign language teacher at North Point.
For their participation in the competition, all other high school teams received a $250 scholarship from the Jaycees. The other high school three-member teams were: Henry E. Lackey High School—Captain Max Bode, Brett Culhane and Amanda Hobgood; Maurice J. McDonough High School—Captain Franklin Olmsted, Michael Fialkowski and Chadeya Miller; St. Charles High School—Captain Jake Garcia, Eden Lakner and Julia Plater; Thomas Stone High School—Captain Adam Sachsel, Lee Powell and Brian Ward; and Westlake High School—Captain Ben Nordmann, Demi Daniel-Akanle and Alitzah Parker.
Other student members of the Lackey team include Zakaria Abderrahim, Shaun Hange (alternate), Joy Nichols and Tim Wilmot. The team coach is Don Browder, a social studies teacher at Lackey.
The McDonough team also includes student members Denver Bennett (alternate), Sophia Deeb, Julien Jordan-McClain, Elizabeth Saoud and Hunter Stempin. The team coach is Courtney Abell, an English teacher at McDonough.
The team from St. Charles also includes students Maurissa Ferguson, Joshua Ray, Anthony Richardson, Kennedy Smith, Shion Thompson (alternate) and Sharon Wakaria. Coaches for the team are Matthew Howard, a social studies teacher at St. Charles, and Charlotte Florea, an English teacher.
Other members of the Stone team include students Anthony Abarca, Bradley Basden, Brandon Hill, Devin Malloy, Lyndsay Rivers (alternate), Amira Sago, Sequoyah Saunders, Alex Trimble (alternate), Josh Waters and Isaiah Williams. The team coaches are Nancy Jeffrey, a German teacher at Stone, and Sara Thompson, an English teacher at Stone.
Westlake's team also includes students Migue Darcera (alternate) and Mehar Malik. James Ressler, an English teacher at Westlake, is the team coach.
The Dec. 2 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 beta.ccboe.com/ccboetv for dates and times.
Source: Charles County Public Schools