North Point High School’s It’s Academic team earned the top spot in the annual Charles County Public Schools competition held Dec. 5 at the school. The three-member team of Captain Adam Cullen, Andrew Fan and Amara Gammon won in the championship round with a score of 310 points against La Plata and St. Charles high schools.
The team from St. Charles High School earned second place with a score of 290, followed by La Plata High School in third place with a score of 250.
The North Point team also includes students Amber Wachowski (alternate), Sophia Carpentier, Landon Garrity, Liliana Gordon, Sydney Lewis, Graciella Ndjampa and Kelsey Njembu. Coaches of the team are North Point Spanish teachers Deen Stewart and Moriah Rochlinski.
Each year, the county regional winner goes on to compete in a regional match. The North Point team will compete against Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Centreville high schools in a regional match set to air April 7 on NBC4.
Completing the St. Charles team are student members Darius Dantzler (alternate), Amara Kazim, Maximilian “Max” Kegley-Oyola, Lausanne Oliver, Kate O’Meara, George Southworth and Jahari Williams. St. Charles social studies teacher Matthew Howard and Meghan Potter, an English teacher, coach the team.
Representatives from the Greater Waldorf Jaycees presented the North Point team with a $500 scholarship for its first-place win. As second-place winners, the St. Charles team received a $250 scholarship from the Jaycees.
For participation in the competition, all other high school teams received a $250 scholarship from the Jaycees. Schools compete in the event by selecting three members of their team to participate in the rounds. The other three-member teams who competed at the event, as well as students who complete their school’s team, were:
Henry E. Lackey High School – Captain Annie Landgraf, Sterling Jakob Moorehead and Peter Stewart. Completing this team are Brynna Bode (alternate), Garrett Batchelor, Raymond (RG) Bolton, Samuel Guzzone and Sahara Venkatesh. Lackey social studies teacher James Hojnowski coaches the team.
La Plata High School – Captain Michael Gill, Jasmine Washington and Samantha Yorio. Completing the La Plata team are students Elizaveta Gievaya (alternate), Margaret Stine (alternate), Liliana Adamo, Michelle Ameyaw, Daniel Berthiaume, Jenna Burtch, Michelle Candela, Alexandra Elford, Ashton Gordon, Jordan Harris, Bethany Holder, Madelyn Nicholl, Aashka Patel, Aastha Patel, Natalie Patrick, Gillian Pendergist, Kasey Scroggins, Eric Valentine and Emma Vanden Berg. The coaches for the La Plata team are science teacher Michelle Schoenbauer and John Holmes, a retired La Plata testing coordinator.
Maurice J. McDonough High School – Captain Camdin Edge, Daniel Hines and Nicholas Long. Also on the team are Peyton Carney (alternate), Samuel Chernoff, Rachel Cox, Grayson Deeb, Jason Haley, Matthew Jozwik, Omar Manning, Daniel Mears, Maria Molina, Lewis Salada and Olivia Whorl. Joanna Hobbs, library media specialist at McDonough, coaches the team.
Thomas Stone High School – Captain Lyndsay Rivers, Clayton Groves and Alexandria Spencer. Other students on the team include Dosias Cassamajor, John “Tony” Gaskins, Markela Porter, Marlon Rodriguez-Menjivar and Erica Tolson. Nancy Jeffrey, a German teacher at Stone, coaches the team.
Westlake High School – Captain Migue Darcera, Megan Carr and Hanna Schaffner. Westlake students Gillian Gibson (alternate), Deidre Gilliard, Marco Moore, Madison Parrish, Abdullah Shahzad, Kaya Shepherd and Alicia Walker are also on the team. Westlake social studies teacher Natalie Finch-Howard and Amanda D’Onofrio, a Latin teacher, coach the team.
The December 5 competition will air on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12 starting next week at 7 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. The event will be posted on the school system website, ccboe.com.
