Florida school takes the National Journalism Quiz Bowl trophy in Orlando
Advisers and staff from American Heritage School, Plantation (Fla.) Campus, celebrate a 10-6 win against Conestoga High School, Berwyn, Pa., in the National Journalism Quiz Bowl in Orlando, Fla. Pictured from left: Broadcast adviser Maria Molina, seniors Adam Turner, Spencer Krimsky, Grace King and Zach Chou, and newspaper and yearbook adviser Diana Adams. The team had more than its win to celebrate, as Nov. 14 also was Krimsky’s birthday. Photo by Evert Nelson
The all-seniors team of Zach Chou, Adam Turner, Grace King and Spencer Krimsky from American Heritage School, Plantation (Florida) Campus, won the National Journalism Quiz Bowl Nov. 14 at the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Orlando, Florida.
Students on the winning team represented several publications, and each brought his or her expertise to the competition. Turner is the editor-in-chief of both The Patriot Post newspaper and the Expressions literary magazine. Krimsky, who was celebrating his birthday the day of the competition, is sports editor for the Patriot Post. Chou is editor-in-chief of the online newspaper iPatriotPost, and King is co-executive producer of the student broadcast program, WAHS Broadcast.
The team’s advisers helped prepare them: Diana Adams advises the print and online newspaper, literary art magazine and yearbook. Maria Molina advises WAHS Broadcast.
“My kids and I all loved it, and we still would have even if we had lost. It was fun,” Adams said. “I know my kids in the audience are going to pay more attention to AP style because of it.”
A qualifying test on Nov. 13 determined the initial seeding of the 28 entered four-person teams representing Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas. The next day, the top 16 teams met for four rapid-fire buzzer rounds, answering current events, media law, journalism terminology, style and civics questions.
The first team to 10 correct answers won each round. AHSP started the buzzer rounds as the No. 2 seed, beating out the No. 15-ranked Kingwood (Texas) Park High School team, 10-8; the No. 7-ranked Cherry Hill (New Jersey) East High team, 10-6; and the No. 11-ranked Scotch Plains (New Jersey) Fanwood High School, 10-7, before taking on Conestoga High School from Berwyn, Pennsylvania, in the final round. AHSP students won 10-6 against CHS, which had two teams of students going into the buzzer rounds seeded at No. 1 and No. 5.
“Just the fact that we won made me incredibly proud and excited as the team exceeded my initial expectations,” Krimsky said. “The fact that we won on my birthday just made it that much sweeter and was another gift from my friends on the newspaper staff.”
The runner-up team from Conestoga High School included seniors Michael Hong, Michael Li and Michale Zhang from The Spoke newspaper staff and junior Caleigh Sturgeon from the broadcast class. The Spoke advisers are Susan Gregory, MJE, and Cyndi Crothers-Hyatt, CJE. Gregory also oversees “Good Morning Stoga,” produced by the broadcast journalism class.