On February 6, five local high schools faced off at Chicopee High School for Academic WorldQuest, an annual quiz-based competition. The competition focused on international relations and economies and subjects that impact a multitude of countries, such as privacy in the digital age, the Arctic, and food security. The schools present were Chicopee High School, Springfield Renaissance High School, Springfield High School of Science and Technology, Longmeadow High School, and Holyoke High School.

Academic WorldQuest is new to Holyoke High, started by History teacher Bob Frye. The club meets once weekly to study and review material, as there is a study guide made by the World Affairs Councils of America, the national organization that sponsors the competition, to prepare team members for the event. Current members are Melanie Kos ‘16, Will Hunter ‘17, Justin Sanchez ‘17, Pat Morrison ‘18, Joe Cavanaugh ‘18, and Madison Chouinard ‘18, a small and humble beginning for a great showing.

Going into the event, stakes were high, as the winning team receives an all-expenses paid trip to Washington D.C. to compete in the national version of the tournament. All schools except for Holyoke High and Renaissance had competed previously.

The competition was split into two rounds of 50 questions each. Teams had 30 seconds to choose from four potential answers to questions drawn from the readings. The layout was simple; get a question right, get a point, get a question wrong, get no point. Morrison believes that the new matchups created by the competition are great: “WorldQuest is a really awesome way to be able to flex Holyoke’s trivia prowess some more.”

By the end of the first round, Longmeadow was in the lead with Holyoke trailing by only 3. In the end, Longmeadow held onto their lead, besting Holyoke by just one point, with Chicopee, Renaissance, and Sci-Tech following in that order.

While Holyoke may not have won the title, Frye has high hopes for next year’s competition: “As a first time coach I wasn’t sure what to expect. Now that I’ve gone through it, I understand the type of questions and strategy involved. It will be hard to fill the slot of graduating senior Melanie Kos, but with our core intact, I think we have a real shot next year.”

Academic WorldQuest is looking for new members for the upcoming school year! Talk to Mr. Frye in Room 318 for more information.