Ep 26 | What are Allstar Academic Teams?

SPEAKER_01 0:00

A few years back we uh we had a student who he he just struggled socially, academically, top of the class, phenomenal, phenomenal student. Um and he just he needed a place. And um I had seen him kind of around campus and I didn't have him in class yet. He was too young. When I taught, I taught mostly juniors and seniors. And another one of his teachers came up to me and said, Listen, this particular student knows everything and he wants to share everything. And I was like, tell tell me more. And we were introduced, and and he was able to just thrive with the this group of kids and that particular team. We went to nationals. This was when I was coaching at Tate. We went to Nationals in Chicago, so we had this whole team that got to go to Chicago. He made these lifelong connections, um, and he's now teaching in the district.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. The South is known for its football, Friday night lights, bleachers full of fans, core memories for its players. But what do you do when your kid is less of an AC Slater and more of a Sheldon Cooper? My next guest is the coach for Scambia County's All-Star Academic Team, a place where kids with drive and book smarts can gain a sense of community and competition. Today she's going to share how this trivia style tournament team is making a difference for students in Escambia County. Panhandle Local, Community Creator, Academic Advisor at Tate High School, Tristan Harris.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Hi. Hi. What a lovely intro. I feel so fantastic. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Well, you are so fantastic. I'm so excited to hear about this because I had never heard, never had I ever heard about an academic team. So how far back does this go in our area?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Yeah, so just to give a little background on what an academic team is, um, think about Jeopardy, but team style. So typically a group of like four to six players, everybody gets together, we have buzzers, we ring in, we answer questions as quickly as possible. Um, it's a really cool format. We have had some sort of team here in Escambia County dating back to the 80s. So we started off with school-based teams, and I know anecdotally, uh like Woodham High School, when it was still a high school, had a team as far back as the early 80s, and then um our county all-star team started competing in the late 80s, early 90s. So we've been around for quite some time.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Wow. And how big is the the this in Pensacola?

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Uh in Pensacola right now, um, every single school is at least building a team or has an active active team. So our schools, five of our schools have teams right now that are actively competing. And when you say schools, you're talking about high schools. We're talking about high schools, right? Okay. Is there any middle or so we were trying prior to COVID, we were kind of rebuilding our academic teams in the area. They had kind of, you know, waned a little bit in the the 2000s. And so we were trying to bring it all back. And we thought, what's the best way to have high school engagement? Start the kids in middle school. So prior to COVID, we were bringing middle school teams together, rallying the troops, having competitions, and then COVID hit and it all kind of fell apart. So we are in the midst of bringing those middle school teams back. Um, although Ransom Middle School does have an active team right now, and they are very successful.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

What got you interested in leading these teams? I'm a nerd at heart.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

And I have to explain, I use that term in the most loving possible way. I love knowledge, I like to show off my knowledge, I'm interested in a variety of subjects. So when I call someone nerdy, it's not an insult. It is just this wonderful, like we're connected sort of term. It's kind of a badge of honor. It absolutely is. And I know for years and years and years, you look at high school uh, you know, cliches, like, oh, the nerdy kid. Those are my people. And I think those kids are a lot more our people than we recognize, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Like and I'd like to think that everyone has a little nerd in them. Absolutely. Because if you even think about the jocks, oh, they're nerdy. Think about how many football stats they know. Yes. And think about um, I don't know if they call them this anymore, gearheads, you know, people that are into building cars, repairing them. If I have to hear about a naturally aspirated engine from my husband one more time, I swear to you. But so everyone has their nerdy area.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

And so we don't always think about it in that way. I love that you mentioned that because we all do have our niche and we all do like little things that we delve into. And that's that's what my kids are, that they they find something, maybe it's literature or history or even sports, and they delve in and they know it and they want to answer questions about it. So I have that kind of brain. I love trivia. I ran a trivia uh night in the community for a long time and was committed to having these um, you know, high-profile questions and just really a good product. And that's coincided with the stuff I do with academic team.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

So, what do you think people misunderstand about an academic team? I think it's who these kids are.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

These are competitive kids. I know we get this image of uh the Sheldon Cooper and and Big Bang, I think did wonders for smart kids around the world. Like, oh yeah, that's just cool to be there and to be that way. But our kids are really, really competitive. Just because you don't hold a ball in your hand or you're not wearing sneakers doesn't mean that you can't understand a competitive spirit. These kids get into it, they're wanting to score points, they're high fiving. I mean, they're ready to go and they're passionate about what they know and about sharing that knowledge.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

And what else about them makes them a good candidate to be on the team, other than they have a propensity towards fun facts?

SPEAKER_01 6:46

The fun fact kids, we love them.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Yes, that may or may not be my nickname.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

I I think that it provides a home for a lot of kids that that may not find their their home, especially in high school. In high school, you're becoming very specialized, you know, you're you're in these groups, you're here, you're there. And academic team provides that place for a kid that may not find their quote unquote home in a sports team or in a club or in you know other sorts of activities. It's a a place where they can feel comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Do you think it builds soft skills also as far as like absolutely socializing and stuff? Because I think part of what um benefited me as uh an athlete was you know working together with kids that came from different backgrounds other than me, you know, overcoming shyness, insecurity, that sort of thing. So uh yeah, I'm curious what that what that looks like in the academic team.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Yeah, so the kids have to be able to work together. You're you're not an island on academic teams. So what you know is amazing, but you only know what you know. You have to be able to depend on your other players. So, like I'm a history literature sort of person, I can't do math, I can't do the science calculations anymore. That's way out of my field of knowledge. But when I have someone that can do it and I can recognize their talents and be like, hey, you you got this? Okay, write these numbers down. I got this for you. It builds that sense of community for them and it kind of puts them out of their comfort zone. Truth be told, we've had some socially awkward students in my nearly 20 years of coaching. And this allows them to feel comfortable enough to talk to other people, to engage with kids that they might not have engaged with before. When you go to competitions, you're seeing kids from all over the country or all over the area. And it's like, oh, we we have something in common. Oh, you like history? I like history too. What's your favorite element? I don't know, whatever they want to ask about. What national park do you identify with? We were at a tournament one time and I overheard a kid and he was like, Oh, my favorite element is plutonium. I was like, Oh. That is so cute. Okay, that it's adorable. And he was thrilled to tell people about it. And so then my kids were like, Oh, okay, well, let's choose an element for the day.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

I'm like, all right, let's do it. So you mentioned each kid kind of has his or her own interest, yeah, which becomes like their student specialty.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Absolutely. That's a great way to put it. Yeah, they the students will specialize in certain things. So, um, like our Scambia County team, which we can get into the differences in in that in a few minutes, they definitely specialize. We need to have a student that knows foreign language because we have questions in Spanish and French. What? Oh, yeah. It used to be in Latin. Years ago, they had a Latin category. Um, they also need to know uh musical, uh like classical music and composers and compositions, music theory. Uh, they need to know art and artworks. You need to be able to do calculus. We had a student a few years ago that could do calculus in his head. Stop. It was amazing. One of the greatest players I've ever seen. He and I I'm not a math person. So here I am trying to read the question, and I'm like, oh, I'm reading this wrong. He's like, I got the answer. And he buzzes it. What?

unknown 10:05

I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_01 10:06

I mean, and he was right. I was like, oh, bless you. That's witchcraft. I know, I can't even imagine. So everybody does kind of become specialized, but when you know what you know and I know what I know, every once in a while there's gonna be a little bit of overlap, and you can work together and just make it all happen and win, which is what I want to do.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

So talk to me about winning. How did these competitions work? What do they look like?

SPEAKER_01 10:32

So, um, in an in a school-based competition, you're gonna be in a team of four, and it's gonna be one school versus another school. And they have these two different types of questions. We have what are called toss-up questions, which are open to both teams. Somebody buzzes in, they give the right answer, and then typically your team then gets to answer bonus questions, and they'll be about whatever they decide to have it. So you may have a toss-up question that's a math question, but a bonus that's a literature question, and it kind of goes back and forth. For our county team, when we play at state, uh it's a whole different format. So it's a team of four and four only. They have one buzzer for the entire team, and they all have to work together to answer the question.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Yes. And so, like one of them will be writing information down, one of them will have their hand on the buzzer to get ready to hit, and they'll hit it, and then somebody else will answer. And um, depending on what style we're doing, they can earn, you know, up to 15 points a question, sometimes 40 points a question.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

It's who's on the county team?

SPEAKER_01 11:37

So our county team currently is made up of eight total players. Uh, we've got uh two of the players that returned from last year. That's Roman Bassett from PHS and Beatrice Funnel from Booker T. Uh we love them. They played on our team last year when we were state runner-up, which is awesome. And then um from PHS, we also have Ryan Zhang, Ben Cherick, Tristan Martinez. Then from Booker T, we also have Patrick Beaman. And then this year, uh for the first time in a really long time, we have participants from Pine Forest High School, and that's Malcolm Cheney and Randall Gohagan.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Wow. So it's kind of the county is a little bit more elite.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Yes, the county is definitely more elite. So they try out in October. Every school sends their four best players to the tryout, and the top eight after that tournament become the members of our county team. And then they go to state? They go to state. Yeah, we go to state in April. Um, the tournament's always at Disney World. It's put on by uh it's called the Commissioner's Academic Challenge, put on by the state. It's an FHSAA sponsored tournament. So when you win, you get a state ring. What? Yes, yes, and like Hurf Jones designs it, and you get your ring. It may not be like a football ring, but it's a ring. And we get it, and we have a little ring ceremony. Oh, yeah. Oh my gosh, that's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

So fun. It's so funny. I would get excited about that.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

And we're very fortunate. I know not other counties are like this, but our district provides the funding for our students to travel and compete in the tournament. So when you make the county team, there's no financial obligation for the families. The district takes care of that for us, which is phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Wow. Yeah. I could totally see why kids would be drawn to this. Do you have any um uh individual story of a student, maybe top of mine, where it just made a difference for them either academically or socially?

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Yeah. So um a few years back, we we had a student who he he just struggled socially. Academically, top of the class, phenomenal, phenomenal student. Um, and he just he needed a place. And um, I had seen him kind of around campus. I didn't have him in class yet. He was too young. When I taught, I taught mostly juniors and seniors. And another one of his teachers came up to me and said, Listen, this particular student knows everything and he wants to share everything. And I was like, tell tell me more. And we were introduced, and and he was able to just thrive with the this group of kids and that particular team. We went to nationals. This was when I I was coaching at Tate. We went to Nationals in Chicago. So we had this whole team that got to go to Chicago. He made these lifelong connections. Um, and he's now teaching in the district. And it made it's like this wonderful full circle moment. I'm so proud of him, and um is working, you know, to bring academic teams back and it's always willing to volunteer. And so it really made a difference for him to take this national talent and then be able to find these lifelong friends and connection and community. So he's a huge success story, and I just love him. And then around that same time, we had another student that was just kind of struggling in life. Okay academically. It wasn't cool to be smart in his circle of friends. And I had him in class, and I said, listen, come come to this thing. We need a scorekeeper. Okay, score keeper. He's like, I can keep score. And those kids accepted him, and he was okay, and he felt comfortable being smart and knowing the things that he knew. And he joined and he graduated when we weren't sure if he was gonna graduate the year. Really? Or yeah, yeah. It kind of turned his attitude around.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Um So it was like his mindset that was holding him back.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Absolutely. And we knew that he could do the work and we knew, but he just had other life going on, like so many of our students have. So once again, it's finding that home, feeling comfortable in his own skin with these other kids, and then being able to be successful with it.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Wow, that's a good example. I love those examples because one of them, you know, the first one that you said, usually people that are naturally just full of data, they are terrible teachers. Right. Terrible, terrible. But how cool that obviously he's not a terrible teacher if he got hired.

unknown 16:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

And that he wants to teach. Usually, people who are terrible teachers, they know it and they just don't go into the professional world.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Yeah. No, and and he said from from the beginning, like, I I want to be a teacher. This is my passion. I want to share this knowledge with other people. And so, like, he got his master's degree.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Talk about a proud coach moment years and years later. Um, but I have one other that I have to brag on big time. So we have uh a student named Maggie Brown. She was part of our 2018 championship team at state. She has a ring. Um so when she was a sophomore in high school, she auditioned for Teen Jeopardy and was on Teen Jeopardy. And we were so excited. She spent her birthday with Alex Trebek. It's just phenomenal. I know, I see the look on your face. It's amazing. And so it was actually just released this week on Monday. What? That Jeopardy has brought them back for, and I have to get it the wording right, for a high school reunion tournament. So a bunch of the kids that were part of the teen tournament in her year, and I think in in years kind of around it with COVID and all these things, they're like, we want to bring you guys back. What are you doing? They're all in college now. Where have you been? What's up? And they're bringing them in for a whole new tournament that will air late February, early March. And I think the winner gets to play in the tournament of champions. Oh my gosh. I know it's unprecedented. I ran into her and she was like, I have a press release for you. And I was like, I'm yes. So Maggie Brown, we're super, super proud of you. But she's not even the only one. We've had other students that have been on Jeopardy, that have been on Millionaire. Maggie's sister was on Millionaire.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Um, and so this shouldn't shock me. Like Pensacola, I feel like is always putting out amazing, talented people into the world. But I I love that we're talking about this because I suspect that the academic team is an under-recognized uh department of excellence in the county.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

In within our own little world, we get the recognition, absolutely. And and our district leaders are very complimentary and like I said, they're always there for us. But we're not making headlines in the local media. Um, so that's why this is such a great opportunity for us to come and brag on our kids.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Well, yeah. I mean, when when parents think about, okay, you need to be in an extracurricular activity. You know, for some families, they're like, listen up, kid. We're gonna be in something. You gotta be in something. You have to- Involvement. Involvement, exactly. And top of mind, I don't know if unless maybe they grew up here, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Because you said 80s, 90s, it was a thing. But maybe the academic team is not top of mind for them. So it's just so nice to know that it's that there's a place for all these different students and that it benefits them in more ways than one.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Yeah, and and if we can get the the building process in the middle schools, you know, big idea, grand, grand scheme. There are some elementary schools that have been toying with, well, maybe we could have an academic team, uh, or in maybe just have it as a club to start with. Well, then when they move to middle school, now they're asking their teachers, is there an academic team here? I want to play. And then that can build again in the middle school. And then when they come to high school, there's a place for them building up. And then, you know, just how I want to feel. When I have players coming in at the high school level who have been playing since middle school, that's just better for us. That's better to earn those rings and those championships. Because they know they know how it works. They they know what they need to study, they know that they need to understand five different Russian authors and know them off the top of their head, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Yeah, well, it's an opportunity to uh explore their own curiosity to get in touch with well, what lights me up and then become, you know, like I said, a little student expert in that area that contributes to a team. So there's that collaboration there. And then um, I just think that the the whole ring and going to state thing is just so cool. So if a parent wants to offer this to their kid as an option, which high schools is it in and uh how would they do that?

SPEAKER_01 20:25

So we have active teams at Pensacola High School, Tate High School, Booker T Washington, Pine Forest, and Escambia. Um we are building teams at West Florida High School and we are talking with Northview as well to um to work with their unique circumstances to have a team there. So hopefully, fingers crossed, by the start of 2023, 24 academic year, we'll absolutely be in all high schools and starting those teams again in the middle schools.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

That's so cool. Before we uh before we end, I want to know what do you want people to know about Escambia County Public Schools?

SPEAKER_01 21:02

I think people don't realize the amazing things that are going on here, and that we have teachers and faculty members and and staff that are connecting with kids every day. And it's not in the headline and it's not just out there, but they're making kids feel great about themselves. They're making kids want to be productive members of society, they're allowing kids to be able to be their authentic selves and celebrate that. And I'm just so proud of our employees here for doing all those things day after day after day through all of the challenges that we've all been through in the last few years. We've persevered and that spirit and that connection just hasn't it hasn't changed. In fact, I think in a lot of ways it's a recommitment. Like, you know what? Our kids are going through a lot, we're going through a lot. How can I make this a better situation for us and make that connection?

SPEAKER_00 22:03

That's beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing. Thank you so much for having me. This has been great. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.