Douglas claims academic victory

Douglas High School took the title at the Northern Nevada Academic Olympic Championship recently defeating Manogue High School in the semifinals and Reno High School in the finals.

“The last time Douglas High School won the title was in 2019-2020, although we came close last year,” said DHS Social studies teacher and academic coach Katie Jensen. “This year, the team that won had a significant number of seniors who not only brought a lot of experience but had also competed before.”

Academic Olympics is a quiz-bowl style team competition based on academic trivia in math, science, history, literature, geography, music, art and current events.

“All of our team members are incredibly skilled in a wide range of subjects, and participate in advanced classes,” said Jensen. “They each have their own niche areas of expertise, which brings a valuable balance to our team.”

Douglas High School’s winning team was captained by Liam Wall, and included team members Cristian Valenzuela-Gonzales, Anthony Pacuar, Ender Dempsey, Carlo Barton, Jed Li, and Tyler Croxall.

“It’s a lot of trivia, which is fun,” said Wall. “My strengths are in geography, history, and current events, while Cristian excels in music because he likes to play. Carlo is our go-to for literature, and Ender excels in science and math. Each of us bring something special to the table.”

The matches were hosted each week at McQueen High School in Reno. Each team competed in four matches per week for four weeks. At the end of those four weeks, teams were ranked based on the number of games they had won. Teams were then placed in a double elimination bracket based on rankings from their first four rounds.

The academics team is a club at the high school open to anyone. The club practices every Tuesday at lunch, where the team, consisting of two groups of seven, sharpen their trivia and buzzer skills.