By Eli Solomon

The Poteau High School Academic Team is back at state after their victory on the 14th at Area. "Only the top eight teams of about 65 make it to state, so to do so four times in a row speaks to the depth of talent at Poteau High School year after year,” says Coach Tom Brennan,  commented. junior Daniel Zheng, whose favorite question categories are Mythology and Life Science, was proud of their hard-fought win "The last game in the area tournament was pretty close, so it was nerve-racking," The state tournament will be held on the 28th to help pay their way to the meet they have begun the "Sponsor a Nerd" fundraiser to cover travel costs. Any amount will be appreciated, and donations are accepted in the front office. The team is fully in practice mode.  "Usually, for practice, we ask questions and answer. Most of the time, the things that we use to prepare are learned elsewhere, each person in the team already comes in with their own strengths, and then we assign them their category to study up on,” states Zheng.  Mr. Brennan is optimistic, but cautious about the level of competition: "There are also (in addition to other public schools) some really high-scoring private schools like Holland Hall and Cascia Hall. As a public school teacher and a firm believer in the public school system, I really hope to be able to beat those schools." Good luck, team. Go Pirates!