Sarah Jacobson
The academic challenge team is one of the most competitive activities happening at Central High School. It focuses on academic achievement and competes against other high schools in seven different subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Engineering Graphics, and English.
The team is led by Central Physics teacher Mr. Plattner, and meets every Thursday after school in room 3220. During each session, each competitor takes two 40-minute tests in two different subjects, all of which are multiple choice. Academic challenge is open to all students and any student can join at the beginning of the year. In the fall, based on scores, competitors are placed in either the junior varsity or varsity team. The varsity team consists of about 10-15 people total, and determines whether the whole team moves up a level. However, any competitor can qualify for the next competition individually, whether they are on varsity or not.
The team competes in three competitions per year, all of which take place in the Spring. Normally, the competitions would be held at Eastern Illinois University, however, due to COVID, they have been virtual this year. In the past month, Central’s academic challenge took home 2nd place in both regionals and sectionals! They will be competing at State in early April. Junior Sarah Kim, who is a part of the academic challenge team, stated, “We wanted to make it to state, if not at least to sectionals. And we’ve achieved that.”