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The High School Academic Bowl was held on Saturday, February 22 at the Plains Historic High School. The Academy for Classical Education (ACE), Thomas County Central High School, Commerce High School, Warner Robins High School, and Northside High School all participated.

Students were quizzed on a variety of topics, ringing buzzers to submit answers. Topics ranged from history, math, games, art, and popular culture.

Thomas County High School was fifth place with 260 points, and Northside High School was fourth place with 740 points. The final three, Commerce with 900 points at third place, Warner Robbins with 990 points at second, and ACE with 1080 points at first, all made it to State.

Alex Hamlin, one of the seniors participating with ACE, shared his experiences. “It was very fun. It was stressful in that last round. It was close competition with that last team. We only [ended] up winning by about forty points.” He described the preparation that went into the win. “We have practice two days a week, every week, for months at a time. We’ve had multiple competitions that we go to, and it’s been a fun year.” Alex gave his reaction to realizing they had won. “It was very good to secure that in that last competition, whenever we knew that we had enough points that they couldn’t come back. It was a relief of stress to be able to know that it was ours.”

Teddy Knowles, also a senior, shared his experiences. “Stress, just a lot of stress until it wasn’t stressful anymore.” The stress paid off. “It’s the first time in the school’s history that we swept the competition, and one of the only times we’ve won first in a championship.” He described their preparation. “Way too much jeopardy.” The win came as a major turnaround. “We’ve come to this six times, and have come short pretty much every time.” The team has qualified to go on to state championships with both GRAB and GATA. Knowles is optimistic for a win. “Maybe we can hopefully come away with one at the very minimum, at least one.”

Their coach, Brice Odom, expressed pride in their efforts. “They put in a lot of work during the school week and throughout the season. So glad they could get a win this season, and we got a couple more chances for wins. So we’ll see what we can do.”