Two Hamilton County schools took top scores in the Academic WorldQuest competition held last Saturday at the University of Indianapolis, Schwitzer Center, UIndy Hall.
Eman School – Fishers placed first and Carmel High School had two teams that tied for second place.
Quiz-Master and International Relations Professor Dr. Douglas Woodwell presented 100 questions and answers to an audience of about 150, including the 60 competing high school students and teachers.
The winning teams, of four students each, demonstrated a high-level of interest for learning about world affairs.
Each year, for the last 16 years, the Indiana Council on World Affairs has sponsored the competition and funded the winning team’s trip to Washington, D.C. for the national competition. This year it is scheduled for April 24-26. The competition is open to any high school in Indiana.
As the top scoring team in the Indiana competition this year, the Eman School – Fishers, Team 2, will be among 50 other high schools across the nation who will be competing for the top score and an educational mission trip to Doha, Qatar.
In recent years, the Eman School has come within a few points of winning, and this year they achieved the top score.
Mia Sankari, Academic WorldQuest 2020 Team Leader and Assistant Principal of the Eman School – Fishers, remarked, “We are SO EXICTED! We are having our kids revamp and up their low score sections so hopefully at Nationals we will be even better prepared for the competition.”
Mia Sankari said, “Our students have a strong background in world affairs because they hail from about 40 different countries and many of the problems that they are learning about they know firsthand from their families or relatives still living in these countries.”
Carmel High School teams, Teams 3 and 4, tied for second place in the competition. John Carter, Academic Coach for Carmel High School teams that marked top scores for the last three years, has been named Indiana Distinguished Teacher by the Indiana Council for the Social Studies at its Annual Conference last November for his leadership with Academic WorldQuest.
At the competition last Saturday, Carter remarked that Academic WorldQuest was a positive experience for his high school students. He said, “We started preparing early in the school year for this competition. Each year, we have more and more students who want to be part of the program.”
In welcoming remarks, Carmel resident and Indiana Council on World Affairs President Larry Cimino said, “We have been presenting educational programs about world affairs for more than 50 years. What goes on around the world really does affect us.”
The Indiana Council on World Affairs offers educational programs on matters of global significance. One of its programs, the Great Decisions series, has been held at Carmel High School for several recent years and is now held at the Indiana Interchurch Center. Great Decisions is free for high students.
An additional program, Distinguished Speakers, features presentations by diplomats, journalists, universities and business leaders who address international matters.