With the state competition rapidly approaching in Riverton, Sheridan High School’s Academic Challenge team continues to practice and work hard towards winning the state title. The team consists entirely of seniors, including Joe Klebba, Adam Verdeyen, Lachlan Brennan, Maya Gilmore, and team captain Cody Perkins. Currently, two members of the team rank in the top five in the state, Perkins at fourth and Brennan at second.

Academic Challenge is a lot like Jeopardy; contestants answer random trivia about any subject including history, math, literature, science, music, and pop culture. Each team consists of four students plus an alternate, and each school can send up to two teams.The season started at the end of September and the team competes at competitions around the state once or twice a month until the end of the season in April.

“My eighth grade science teacher was the Academic Challenge coach out in Tongue River, and he was like a role model of mine and I decided to do it and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Perkins said. “It’s some good quality family fun! And it’s not as nerdy as everyone thinks it is.”

Besides becoming really close with their teammates, members can also enjoy the benefit of scholarships if a competition is held in a college town. In fact, Northwest College awarded a one year full ride scholarship to each member of the Sheridan team during their competition this year.

Academic Challenge gives members an opportunity to travel around the state and meet new people. “They get the opportunities to meet other students from other school districts. There’s typically 14 teams from 12 schools around Wyoming. It’s also a good opportunity for them to expand their knowledge, become more culturally diversified because they have to know information about a broad range of subjects,” Perkins said.

The next time the SHS Academic Challenge competes will be in Montana for regionals. The date is yet to be determined. For more information contact Tracey Hewitt-Adams in the Careers Center.