competition – AHS NEWSPAPER

AHS Quiz Team Reflects on Quarterfinals

May 31, 2023

By Jacqueline Zhu
COPY EDITOR

Andover High School’s Quiz Team lost against Mansfield in the High School Quiz Show quarterfinals on April 8.

According to Alan Hibino, Quiz Team adviser, the High School Quiz Show, hosted by television personality Billy Costa and broadcast by GBH, is a trivia competition open to all high school students in Massachusetts. The tournament bracket consists of 16 teams of 4, which compete in hopes of winning the state championship. Participants are tested on their knowledge of various subjects, including history, literature, math, science, and geography.

COURTESTY PHOTO / Liz Friar/GBH
Members of the Andover and Mansfield Quiz Team get ready to compete.

Senior Mahathi Veluri, a member of the Quiz Team, described competing in quarterfinals as “really surreal and exciting.”

“I couldn’t believe that it was happening,” she said.

Aniketh Sherigar, a sophomore, felt prepared for the event. “I was a little less nervous than in previous rounds, since this was the second time that we would be in the studio,” he stated.

Sherigar’s most memorable experience occurred just before the match. “Our coach, Mr. Hibino, brought a case of Coca-Cola, and he told us to drink it so that we would be more reactive while answering questions,” he said. “It was a gesture that was a little out of the ordinary, but it calmed my nerves.”

In preparation for the tournament, the Quiz Team studied information that they anticipated would be asked about frequently.

“We focused a lot on current events, pop culture, and categories where you could study lists, such as the constitutional amendments and US presidents,” stated Hibino.

“I used the National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT) website, which has a lot of useful information,” said Veluri.

Sherigar explained the traits that successful Quiz Team participants have. “A good member of the team would help supplement where someone else falls short,” he said. “For example, one member could excel in history and civics, while another could excel in science and math.”

Another hallmark of an adept player is the ability to remain focused under pressure. “You have to be quick on your feet,” said Veluri.

Hibino encourages more students to join the Quiz Team. “You can be on TV and win the state championship, which AHS was able to do in 2018,” he stated. “I think it’s important to be involved at AHS, and joining the team will allow you to be part of a club that’s a combination of academic, social and competitive pursuits.”

Andover High School Students Show Off Their Talents

May 23, 2022

Dane Connor
STAFF WRITER

Students demonstrated their talents to the people of Andover at the Andover High School Talent Show on March 6. The competition brought together talented students to compete for a $50 Amazon gift card.

The talent show winner this year was The c+Cgrinatucs, an Andover a capella group, that performed Take on Me.

AHS guidance counselor Kimberly Bergey helped put the show together for all students to show off their talents. “My favorite part leading up to the show is seeing which students sign up to perform and what their chosen talent is,” said Bergey. “I am always surprised to see students who I would never expect to perform showcase their hidden talents!”

Bergey has been a part of the talent show and its planning for many years, and while some aspects of the talent show still remain the same, it has changed quite a bit since the beginning. When the talent show started, it was an in-school event, but once AHS switched to the eight day schedule, it became the talent show that AHS knows today. The talent show started incorporating judges and winners, much like a proper television competition.

AHS Junior Leeyah Soen performed in the talent show and got second place in the competition. Her performance included a mixture of her talents, which include piano and rhythmic gymnastics. Soen found the talent show as a perfect opportunity to show off her talents, because she loves to perform and show others her art. “I have been playing piano and rhythmic gymnastics for 14 years now and I felt I could take it a bit farther,” said Leeyah.

Soen was very proud of her performance and wouldn’t change her experience because of how much fun she had. “I really had fun performing, I don’t think I would have changed that,” said Soen. Her favorite memory was being able to watch everyone grow as they practiced their talents. “Everyone had so much fun just cheering for everyone that was going to perform,” said Soen.

AHS English teacher Krista Paminger was one of the judges for the talent show. In explaining what sparked her interest in the first place, Paminger said that she was interested in supporting her students and their talent.

Paminger was very impressed with all the students and their performances. She was very happy with how much courage all the participants showed by getting up on stage and performing their talents for everyone to see. ”Singing, rapping, songwriting, playing the piano, American Sign Language, comedy, choreography, and dance are only some of the talents that were showcased that night, and the level of talent was remarkable,” said Paminger.

Bergey has seen many talents over the years, but that still doesn’t kill her enthusiasm to see kids go on stage and show off talents that may have been hidden until that moment. ”My favorite part of seeing the kids perform is watching students shine on stage who usually don’t have the opportunity to showcase their talents. They all have a lot of fun!” said Bergey.

Soen has advice to students who may be interested in performing in the talent show. She said that many people have talent and just need to have confidence to show off their talent. ”You can succeed, and if you believe in yourself you can do anything,” said Soen.

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Key Club Wins Video Contest at DECON

May 23, 2022

Caitlin Connell
STAFF WRITER

Key Club at Andover High School won an award for creating a promotional video for Key Club International. On April 9th and 10th the club traveled to Springfield, for the District Educational Conference for Key Club, also known as DECON.

COURTESY PHOTO / Isabelle Galgano
Key Club Co-Presidents Isabelle Galgano, Dia Arora, and club Vice President Mara Duran-Clarke

Key Club is “a community service club that just tries to spread kindness and build community within our school and outside it,” says Co-president Dia Arora. Club Co-President Isabelle Galgano instated the club her freshman year. She says she “wanted to find something that was representative of what I was passionate about” and started Key Club because she wanted to “bring something to the school.”

The Key Clubs in the surrounding area make up the division and those divisions form the New England and Bermuda District of Key Club. There were contests held at the conference and Galgano says that the club is “really creative and so we wanted to go for one of those awards, and so we made a Key Club promotional video and submitted it to the contest and we actually won first place.” This video will be sent to the international Key Club convention to be considered for that event. Vice President of the club Mara Duran-Clark also won an award for Outstanding Vice President. Galgano was elected as the district secretary for the New England and Bermuda district of Key Club, and won an award.

Key Club has done many services for the community, one being the food drives they do with the Lazarus House like the one they did last year for Thanksgiving. They received over 700 cans of food. Key Club is also doing another food drive with the Lazarus house for the spring to be “our final hoorah… to kind of end off our good year,” Galgano said.

COURTESY PHOTO / Isabelle Galgano
Co-President Isabelle Galgano wins award for District Attorney at DECON

In the past, Key Club also ran a COVID-19 relief drive for India and received over 1,000 items. Arora says this was a “big project for them”. The kinds of products that were sent to India were “masks, hand sanitizer, tissues… a variety of items they might have had a shortage of during COVID times.”

Another project Key Club worked on locally was writing affirmations to “brighten people’s day.” Arora said. The affirmations were attached to lollipops which the club members handed out after school to students. This small act of kindness was enough to make a lasting impact on someone’s day and is a nice act of community service to help out the community at AHS.

Key Club strives to be more than a community service club; it is also a place to make friendships and build a community of their own. Galgano says, “I think our biggest thing is trying to be inclusive and our emphasis is on having a place in the school where people can feel comfortable going and a group of people where these are my friends but also working together to achieve our passion of service and helping others.” The club has become an outlet to not only help and serve those in need in Andover, but also a place to make friends and enjoy helping the community at the same time.

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Andover’s Seaperch Team Heading for Internationals

May 23, 2022

Grace Wang
STAFF WRITER

From June 3rd to June 5th, the team will be heading to University of Maryland for the International Seaperch Competition.

COURTESY PHOTO / Stephen Sanborn
Photo of the Seaperch team taken by Stephen Sanborn after their victory at the Regionals

After an outstanding victory at the regional qualifiers hosted at the University of New Hampshire, the 8 members of AHS’ team Orcas; Alex Tong, Aadarsh Arasu, Sarah Zhang, Sasha Dicovistky, Raven Diaz, Vismay Ravikumar, Alex You, and Shashwat Ghevde, are preparing for internationals. “They won the whole thing. They won every category which qualified them for the National and International Seaperch challenge,” said Stephen Sanborn, the district’s science program adviser for grades 6-12.

The Seaperch Competition is a timed underwater robotics course where the robots need to complete a list of tasks successfully. Each year, the teams are given a kit and allowed to spend a certain amount of money to build their robots.

Furthermore, the competition is a two-part competition with an obstacle course and challenge course. Held in a swimming pool, the obstacle course is a series of hoops that the robot needs to go and come back through. Meanwhile, the second part is the challenge course which changes each year with different tasks done to obtain points. Ultimately, the teams with the most points rank higher.

The club, Seaperch, was founded a few years ago. Andover’s Orcas will be competing this year in hopes of bringing home first place. In the past, the club has been extremely successful. Arasu said, “Every year we’ve done this competition, the club has gone to nationals since they’ve been founded.” Unfortunately, the club last year didn’t participate in the competition because of COVID. However, back in full steam, the club is looking forward to crushing it on June 4.