Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 2014, Page 144

Description:	Making history isnt easy. Just ask thesocial studies team from Bloomington HighSchool Souths Academic Super BowlClub. Thanks to senior Thomas Stewartand sophomore Walter Guardino, theteam took an astonishing third place in theclass one division.Traveling to Purdue, the paircompeted with 23 other teams to see whocould answer the mostquestions covering theAmerican westwardexpansion from the earliestEuropean interest through theturn of the twenty-first century.Significant as a stateThis year,we wantedto work.- senior Thomas Stewartcompetition may be, Guardino s team wasconfident enough to balance out the nerves.Despite extensive familiarity with theirsubject, however, time constraints couldadd pressure: You just wanted the correctanswer, and you only had 20 seconds,Guardino explained, so you had to befast.Compared to past years, this teamsperformance was a major step up. The seachange could, members speculated, bepartly attributed to improved study habits.In past years, we had a lot of people whowere very knowledgeable, but not asdedicated, Stewart said. [This year,] wewanted to work.And where does the passion neededto compete in Academic Super Bowl comefrom? For Guardino, it may be a matter ofpedigree. My father works as a historyprofessor at Indiana University, so I guessits in the blood, he suggested. As forStewart, the seniorattributes his drive to alifelong attraction tohistory, and credits thedirection that the clubgave for his individualresearch.It may not be long before the pairsees their own names in the books;Stewart, particularly, expressed a desire tohave an input on history. On the otherhand, Guardino — as a student whoentered an elite academic competition,then commented that it was merely goodexercise for [his] intelligence — may haveother plans in mind. On whatever trackthey choose, the Academic Super Bowlmembers aresure to succeed.- ETHAN BRIGGSAs eager as this yearssenior class has been tomove on to the next greatadventure, the looming endof their high school careersstill presented opportunitiestoo great to pass up. OnMay 23, senior AlexandriaBurnham saw her designcome to fruition: the seniorsparried on school groundsand during school hours.Burnham headed the planby making a Facebookgroup and inviting onlyseniors. Realizing that underappreciated janitors,cafeteria workers, and otherstaff members had trulymade this year the best itcould be, the senior classchose to invite faculty andthank them. With a cookout,music, games and an openswimming pool, the partywas a success with studentsand adults alike. Momentumgained throughout the yearwas at its height, andimpact seemed inevitable -thanks to the class of 14, theend of the year will be amemorable one.1 44 IMPACT
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/9250
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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