News
Annual Acolympics take place at BHS
Scott Wagar
04/07/2015
Bottineau High School held its Second Annual Acolympics on April 2, which turned out to be a fun and competitive competition.
Individuals, who do not know what the Acolympics event is all about, the word stands for Academic Olympics, which grants the students an opportunity to show just how bright their brain power can be against their fellow students.
“The acolympics is a quiz show contest amongst high school students in grades 9-12,” said Nate Simpson, business teacher at Bottineau High School. “They are asked various questions from all content areas at the high school, ranging from English and math to business and building trades and everything in between.
“The event is divided into 10 rounds. Each round consists of five questions of varying content areas. Each question is worth one point and the teams have one minute to answer the question,” Simpson said.
“Before the question is asked, the content area is announced. Here, the kids can decide if they want to use their alternate player as a sub or keep their team they have,” Simpson added.
“We also have a set of four staff members, which included Dave Hoff, Dana Alinder, Jacque Marum and Marissa Deslauriers, who act as the judges. They have final decision as to whether questions are deemed correct or incorrect.
“The final round is a wagering round. There are still five questions and alternates are in play. Before each question, the teams decide how many points they want to wager on that question. If the team answers correctly, they receive the amount of points they wagered. If they answer incorrectly, they lose the amount of points wagered,” Simpson stated. “The team with the most points at the end wins.”
This year’s winners were Erin’s Einsteins, while Braden’s Brains placed second, Munson’s Marvels took third place and Diepolder’s Diamonds ended up in fourth place.
The team and its members included: Erin Einsteins – Erin Severson, Stephanie Brenden, Megan Fix, Anjali Kumar and McKinley Agnes. Braden’s Brains – Braden Pewe, Kennedy Olson, Andrew Haberman, Megan Olson and Alexis Gullett. Munson’s Marvels – Jared Munson, Laura Ellen Brandjord, Jaden Strand, Nolan Pewe and Kaitlyn Christenson; and Diepolder’s Diamonds – Maria Diepolder, Kyler Kortgaard, Kate Aufforth, Dylan Block and Katelyn Pigeon.
Simpson said he was pleased with how the Acolympics went this year.
“We felt this year went very well. Last year was our first year and we had a few bumps that we tried to fix this year,” Simpson said. “We had the event in the auditorium this year versus the gym last year. The setup was nicer and the seating more comfortable for the audience.
“We also shortened the rounds and changed the content areas quicker,” Simpson said. “Last year, our rounds were 10 questions and each round covered only two content areas. This year, it was five questions and each question was from a different content area.
“We had more audience involvement this year. After every other round, we asked the audience a question and they texted their answers to an online poll,” Simpson said. “The first correct answer was given a gift certificate. Each team also had three audience lifeline members. If they didn’t know the answer to the question, they could call on one of their pre-authorized audience members to help them.
“Lastly, we added the wagering option to the last round,” Simpson added. “This drastically changed the outcome of the event as Diepolder’s Diamonds were leading by four points going into the last question, but they ended up getting it wrong while wagering all of their points. They went from first to fourth just like that.”
Simpson hosted the Acolympics, Whitney Hansen organized and typed all the questions for the event, while Ron Chittum was the advisor for the event.