Academic teams wins at World’s
After a year of hard work and dedication, the Adair County academic teams came home from the International FPS competition with a third place win.
Students from the ACES, ACMS and ACHS academic team traveled to Wisconsin last Friday to compete in the international FPS competition.
Students who attended were Heather Jackson and Roslin Wilson, ACHS; Chloe Cheng, Sydney Bright, Kyle Castenada, Abby Walker, Sarah McQuaide and Amber Turner, ACMS; and Rebecca Montgomery, ACES.
Students came home on Monday, June 14 at 2 a.m. with not only a third place win in the world but also individual awards.
Heather Jackson brought home a fifth place trophy for scenario writing. She competed against students from 66 teams across the globe.
Rebecca Montgomery placed second in the on site scenario writing competition. Students had the option of signing up for the contest and were placed in a group. Montgomery was grouped with students from Singapore and Australia.
The FPS teams also took home a fourth place trophy for its presentation of action plan. The presentation of action plan is the sixth and final step in the FPS process. The students were judged on the presentation of that plan.
TEAM REACTION
During the presentation of awards the top 10 teams are brought up on the stage in alphabetical order.
“We were the only Kentucky team called up to the stage,” academic team coach Brett Reliford said. “Kentucky does really well at the FPS competition.”
Even though Adair County was the only Kentucky county recognized in the top 10, other groups from Kentucky were just as excited for their win.
“One of the great things about the international conference, Kentucky sticks with each other… there was a humongous Kentucky section,” Reliford said.
The students were nervous as more and more schools were called. As the winners were being called off, the group huddled together waiting to be called.
“It was unbelievable … then each time it got more exciting when they called a number and it wasn’t ours,” Castenada said.
“There are so many things that go through your mind when they go from 10, nine and eight,” Reliford said. “We were all just in a big huddle and the Kentucky people were on edge.”
The atmosphere around the students was filled with excitement when their school was called.
“It was really exciting honestly because we just stood up and screamed,” Cheng said. “It was really amazing.”
“It was like ‘I can’t believe this,’ pride and ‘man we are really, really tired,’” Reliford said.
There were 66 teams from around the globe that competed. The 66 teams qualified from more than 250,000 students from all over the world.
“It was so intense because there were so many teams,” Bright said. “It was amazing that we even got on stage.”
The students who competed in the international competition qualified at the state level earlier this year.
“It was a great feeling being undefeated and being the best in the state and having all my friends around me to share the excitement with,” McQuaide said.
“State was very pressuring because it would get you to the next big step,” Montgomery said. “You were basically about to bite your fingers off in suspense.”
Along with nerves and excitement, there was pressure on the students because it was at such a high level of competition.
“It was at first very tense and pressured,” Montgomery said. “Once we realized we had won it was very happy and tearing.”
The top three finish exceeded the expectations of coach Reliford.
“Just to make the top five is the ultimate goal,” Reliford said. “This goes beyond our expectations.”
DEDICATION AND PRACTICE
Throughout the year students practiced a lot.
“We had practices pretty much four days a week,” Castenada said. “It was two hours long. You really had to study.”
“We have practiced so much this year,” McQuaide said. “We all became really good friends and we cooperated and helped each other out when we were writing things.”
Reliford said that no matter how much time a team puts into practice, it is just as important to practice the right way.
“We worked the right amount and we practiced the right way,” Reliford said.
Reliford said the students never had a problem with the amount of time they practiced.
“Their attitudes are tremendous,” Reliford said. “They never complain about practice.”
The students thought that the amount of dedication they put into practicing was a factor in their win.
“We were very dedicated,” Bright said. “We weren’t just trying to do our very best because it would be our last time this year competing together.”
A lot of practice meant a lot of studying.
“Education wise, we had to study a lot more than other students,” Cheng said. “We had to know information about certain topics.”
It was also important that the students be present at all of the practices so they wouldn’t miss any important information.
“You always practice a lot and always come to practices and try not to ever be late because you’re afraid you would miss something very important,” Montgomery said.
Another unique aspect of the students who were a part of the academic teams was that they not only studied during practice, but during their free time.
Montgomery’s mother spoke to the Adair County Board of Education earlier this year about how her children Rebecca and Ryan studied as a ‘hobby.’
“You study for fun,” Montgomery said.
EXPERIENCE
The students won at regional, state and now world championships.
“The whole year goes from baby steps to giant leaps,” Reliford said.
A part of the success of the team was their ability to work together.
“Whenever you have a group together so long that knows what each other is thinking, its almost like you don’t have to say anything,” Reliford said. “We can read each other’s minds.”
“We were so dedicated in studying,” Bright said. “We were just very lucky.”
The year with the academic team was also uplifting because the students were exposed to new experiences.
“It was really fun and a great thing to do because we were able to travel and meet new people while also learning,” Cheng said.
“I pretty much loved it,” Castenada said. “I love academics as it is. FPS is another branch of it that I had never experienced.”
COACHES
The academic teams coaches were Reliford, ACHS, and Sherry Stotts, ACMS.
The students’ attitude played a big part in the success.
“The group is always smiling about stuff,” Reliford said. “It makes it really easy as a coach.”
Despite having to practice for most of each week, the students said the coaches were justified in making them study so much.
“They are very dedicated,” Montgomery said. “They always do the best if we don’t understand something to explain it.”
Some of the content the students had to study wasn’t easy.
“They don’t give us work that is too easy for us,” Montgomery said. “They’re always scheduling practices even if we are good.”
“We do some really tough stuff,” Reliford said. “They never complain.”
Bright said an important part of the team was that their relationship went beyond academics.
“It wasn’t just us, the team, it was our coaches,” Bright said. “We were basically a family.”
Reliford said the moment of realization that the students had a chance at winning at the world championship came after the state competition.
“As soon as we won the state championship we knew we had a shot,” Reliford said.
The coaches spent the better half of the spring fundraising for the funds to go to the international competition and the national quiz bowl competition.
“That is so important to us … we didn’t have a shot of getting there if it weren’t for the donations,” Reliford said.
The coaches had to figure out how to raise thousands of dollars, but managed to because of community support.
“We just didn’t have it,” Reliford said. “We appreciate that.”
In addition to celebrating a win at the world championship, they also made an important win a couple of weeks ago.
The ACHS academic team won seventh place in Chicago at the National Quiz Bowl competition.
By Allison Hollon
allison@accvonline.com
