In mid-January, some of Calvert Hall’s smartest scholars and fans went down to Television Hill to participate in the It’s Academic TV tournament that airs weekly on WJZ.
The TV team included Andrew Sontag '19, Dean Ceresini '19, and Aidan Scible '20. There, they competed against students from Patterson Mill and Bryn Mawr.
The TV game includes many rounds with questions ranging from history to literature: team rounds, beat-the-clock buzzer rounds, and picture rounds. Calvert Hall played strong during the opening rounds and the “picture perfect” round, and the team held a small lead at the end of the first half of the competition.
What helped propel the Calvert Hall team to a large lead, however, was the team packet round. In that round, teams are given eight questions from a packet, and each question is worth 20 points for a correct answer, but if a team gets all eight of their questions correct, they earn a bonus 25 points. As host Dave Zahren puts it: “We make a big fuss. We release balloons, and we light up lights.” From a statistical perspective, this round is the most important in the whole game, since the difference between 7/8 answers and 8/8 answers is 45 points. During the competition, Calvert Hall was the only team to successfully answer all eight questions correctly and score the bonus points, giving them a substantial lead going into the timed round.
The final timed round became a bit easier when approaching with a lead, but the team was weary that upsets could happen. Questions were worth up to 30 points, including a 30-point penalty for incorrect answers, so it was extremely important that the CHC team answer as many questions to keep their lead and to avoid any penalties.
At the end of the game, Calvert Hall was successfully able to hold the lead with a substantial win, scoring 665 points against Bryn Mawr’s 310 points and Patterson Mill’s 270 points. The match will be televised on WJZ-TV on Saturday, March 9 at 10 AM. CHC will return to Television Hill on April 6 for the playoff round. The Academic Team also continues to complete in the Catholic League, where they remain undefeated after wins against schools including Archbishop Curley, IND, and NDP.