Get ready, gamers! Beaver Area’s Academic Games season is in full swing, and players are studying their hardest for a chance at going to the national tournament.
In case you didn’t know, Beaver Area Academic Games is part of a non-profit organization called the Academic Games Leagues of America. The organization is “dedicated to developing ‘Thinking Kids’ of character, integrity, and excellence.”
The league hopes to foster a love of learning in students at a young age as well as creating an environment for students to compete and have their hard work recognized. The tournaments include the subjects English/language arts, mathematics, and social studies.
“Academic Games is a great way to connect with others that share the same passion for knowledge,” explained senior Brandon Osborne. “Getting to see these people year after year makes for a great community that you can be yourself in.”
The most recent tournament was World Events which was held January 26 at Blackhawk’s Highland Middle School. It was a combination of two different tournaments in one day: Current Events and Theme.
Current Events covers topics of global and United States news, scientific advancements, natural disasters, and more all from 2022. The theme changes yearly and is decided by a student vote at the annual national tournament. This year’s focus is the Cold War.
Beaver Area’s team members looked forward to both of these tournaments and expected to score well but especially in Theme.
“I was hoping we would have Cold War since I took a class on it last year, so I feel very prepared going into the competition,” explained Osborne prior to the tournament.
In order to compete in the national tournament, participants must receive a qualifying score in two or more tournaments. For reader games including Propaganda, Presidents, Current Events, and Theme, qualifiers are determined by the top 15 percent of scores. In cube games like Equations and LinguiSHTIKS, players have to receive a fixed score of 15 or above to qualify.
Qualifiers in the Current Events tournament include Osborne, sophomores Ava Sutter and Grace Vinopal, and freshman Sam Good.
Theme tournament qualifiers are senior Reed Garrett, junior Gracie Turyan, and sophomore Hailey Ziegler.
Seniors Robert Cestra and Olivia Wooley qualified in both tournaments.
The expected Beaver Area High School nationals roster has been increased to nine students after World Events, which is so far made up of seniors Cestra, Garrett, and Wooley, junior Turyan, sophomores Sutter, Ziegler, Noll, and Vinopal, and freshman Good.
Competition teams are created by county and score, so the top players from each county form a team. The next few teams are created by going down the list of qualifying scores. Those who either did not score well enough or didn’t attend the county tournament join a combination team with other individuals in the state. So, the higher you score at counties, the more likely you are to do well at nationals.
The national tournament was canceled for both the 2020 and the 2021 seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This will be the second year back since the two year break, and competitors are excited to return to normal.
Nationals run April 21–24. It is hosted in Orlando, Florida this year for the first time since 2019.
Qualifiers can compete in as many events as they would like, and the top teams and individuals in each event earn special thinker trophies or ribbons. Outside of the weekend of competition, players usually visit the Universal Orlando Resort for a day, swim in the hotel’s pool, and take a walk (or run!) to the nearby Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream.
There are still two more opportunities for the Academic Games team members to secure their spots at nationals with LinguiSHTIKS tomorrow and Presidents February 23.