The school’s Its Academic team participated in the National Bee and Bowl on April 27, 28, 29 and will soon compete in the semifinals of, which will be filmed and aired in a few months.
Throughout the DMV area, each high school is allowed to send one team to the It’s Academic Quiz Bowl and each team consists of three starters and two alternates.  The team is made up of the members of the quiz bowl club, which is run by science teacher Brett Bentley. The A Team (or the starters on the team) is seniors Eva Flesig and Martin Rakowszczyk and sophomore Arnav Patra.  Along with the A team are the two alternates, junior Molika Singh and sophomore Surya Perla.
Since Patra was unable to play for the team and participate in the National Bee and Bowl the team called upon Singh to compete.  The National Bee and Bowl is similar to most quiz bowls as it covers a broad set of topics that include history, science, literature, math and pop culture.  While this was only the second time the team competed together they were satisfied with the fact that they came in 20th place. Along with that it was Singh’s first time participating in a bowl for the team.  At one point the team was in 12th place. “I was satisfied as it was a record setting performance for Wootton, but there is always room for improvement,” Patra said.
The way members of the team are picked to participate in the bowls is based on their performance in practice.  SInce Singh was doing well in practice she was picked to be a part of the team when the team found out that Patra was unable to play.  This way of picking the teams adds for a competitive component to practice as each member of the team knows that each practice can mean representing the team or not.  Their time practicing can be the most important part of the club since there is so much to learn and so many techniques to help study. “We practice every Thursday after school, which helps us learn to buzz faster and share knowledge with other members,” Flesig said.  “The important thing is to study something you really care about or find interesting or you won’t remember it.”
The team is excited about the It’s Academic semifinals, which will be shown on television.  This experience is different than any other quiz bowl they have been a part of since it determines whether they move onto the next round or not.  Past episodes can be seen on YouTube.. “I actually don’t like to see myself on TV,” Rakowszczyk said. “My voice sounds weird when its played back and I try to avoid it.”