By Natalie Rummel Correspondent
WARSAW — NorthWood High School’s academic teams placed second overall at the Warsaw Academic Superbowl Invitational Thursday, March 1 at Warsaw Community High School. This was the first competition of the season.
“They always step up to the plate every year,” NorthWood fine arts coach Melinda Sharp said. “All of our teams have a consistent record.”
Sharp’s team placed first in the fine arts competition. The social studies and science teams both placed third and the interdisciplinary team, which includes members from all five teams, placed second. The math and English teams did not place.
“I’m very proud of them,” Sharp said. “Because of all the delays and cancellations, it has affected our practice times, so a lot of information came later than normal.”’
Science Team Coach Susan Freymiller said, “We finished third but were only two points away from first, so we’re right in the thick of things.”
Senior Krystal Zimmerman explained a typical competition day, which kicks off in the cafeteria with pizza, pop and cookies.

    “Then we load the bus, study some more and quiz each other.”
The night does not end until they arrive back at NorthWood around 10 p.m.
This year’s topic for the academic teams is the English Renaissance from 1500 to 1690. A few topics that are covered in this period are Galileo’s telescope, Isaac Newton, Shakespeare and music by William Byrd. Freymiller’s team has been studying since October.
“In preparation for competitions, students do weekly presentations, quizzes and study, study, study,” Freymiller said.
As a tradition, every year the fine arts team makes a pilgrimage to Notre Dame’s library to gather research material for their topics, said Sharp.
“We study what we have, but we are always looking for more to add to our knowledge basis as much as possible,” she said.
NorthWood’s next academic competition is the Northern Lakes Conference March 12 at Wawasee High School.