Having already competed, Revere’s Academic Challenge team will feature on Channel 5’s competition, the Nordson-Academic Challenge, on February 11, revealing who emerged victorious in their encounter with Hawken and Benedictine

Making a return to the screen, Revere’s Academic Challenge team has not competed on television in four years. The last time Revere competed, Varsity adviser Jeff Fry led his students to victory, winning a $6000 grant offered at the tournament-esque show. In the Nordson-Academic Challenge, the top 3 teams with the highest point scores go to a final to compete for a winner who receives the grant.

While most traditional Academic Challenge teams have four players on the floor simultaneously, with available substitutions, the Nordson-Academic Challenge requires just three, with no substitutions. Fry picked seniors Tate Johnson and  Philip Liu, and junior Neal Pannala to compete on the show, but he explained how difficult his decision was not to play Andy Long, a usual contender. 

“You are only allowed to take three, and we had a really difficult time narrowing it down. Our 4 are awesome,” Fry said 

Liu, an Academic Challenge participant since 6th grade, and a Varsity member since his Junior year, spoke about not only their quality in the show but also their opportunities at the end of the line. 

“I think there’s a really good chance that we’ll be competing in the finals. We’re pretty confident that we’ll be able to win this thing,” Liu said.

Although Liu’s eyes are set on the Nordson-Academic Challenge for now, going to states sits in the back of his mind. Him and Johnson placed 7th last year after Pannala and Long were unavailable for the competition. Liu further explained his thoughts.

“I think we’ll definitely [perform] better than last year. I think we can place higher than 7th. It’s very tough when you get that high. I think this year because we’ll have [Pannala and Long] and we’re all individually better, we should be able to do really [well] this year,” Liu said. 

The team’s success in the Summit County League and Medina County League has already landed them a spot in regionals, the first step towards states. 

26 years in, Fry feels positive about the future of Academic Challenge. Although Nick Kos, an English teacher at the high school, supervises the growth of the freshmen and sophomores within Academic Challenge, Fry spoke briefly of the underclassmen in Junior Varsity. 

“They’ve been winning all their matches. We always hope that we see an underclassmen step up and become a super strong player. We’re hopeful that someone will step into that role,” Fry said.

Nicky Ghiorghie, a freshman on Junior Varsity, hopes to step into the role Fry described. Ghiorghie has competed in Academic Challenge since middle school. He explained how Academic Challenge provides more to him than just the tournaments and acclamation.

“It’s a very good opportunity to make good friends and learn new things,” Ghiorgie said.

The results of the Nordson-Academic Challenge are currently unknown as the contenders were asked to remain silent about the competition’s results. Despite not giving away the result, Fry gave a statement about their performance.

“Our kids performed very well, and people will be proud to watch them compete,” Fry said. 

The episode will air on February 11 at 11:30a.m on Channel 5.