For more than a decade the Naples Council on World Affairs has sponsored an Academic World Quest (AWQ) competition for public and independent high schools and middle schools in Collier County. The objective of both programs is to promote student awareness of world affairs and of the role of the United States in the international political system.

In the Spring of 2021, we hope to conduct both high school and middle school AWQ competitions, but whether those events will be held in person or virtually remains uncertain. We will follow the guidance provided by the World Affairs Council of America, and hope for the best. Please continue to check on this website for updates on the competitions tentatively scheduled for February 27th, 2021 (HSAWQ) and March 27^th 2021 (MSAWQ).

2020 Events

High School Academic World Quest

The 2020 High School Academic World Quest competition demonstrated once again the diligence and knowledge of the region’s high school scholars.  On February 29th, nearly eighty students on nineteen teams from Barron Collier, Lely, Gulf Coast, Naples, Palmetto Ridge, the Community School of Naples, and Seacrest Country Day School battled it out for prizes and bragging rights in answering a set of tough questions supplied by the World Affairs Councils of America.  Topics included “US-Russia Relations,” “South Korea,” and “Brexit and the EU”.

A team from Naples High School coached by Jason Gore won the competition, while teams from Gulf Coast coached by Sue Soulard finished second and third. Traditionally, the Council sponsors the winning team to contend in the National Academic World Quest Competition in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, that competition was cancelled. But we still have plans to reward the winners accordingly, so keep checking back on our website for the award of the trophy. The winning teams, with their coaches, are pictured below.

1^st Place

Naples High School

Left to Right -   James Biasoni,   San Rachumalla,   Hisam  Setyawan,  Logan  Szitai, Coach: Jason Core

2^nd Place

Gulf Coast High School

Left to right   -  Nick McClure, Brandon Casey,  Joseph Hernandez, Hadi Dalao, Coach: Sue Souland

3^rd Place

Gulf Coast High School

Left to Right - Sonny Tran,  Zayn Dalao,  Aiden Cahill,  Mickey  Kwa, Coach: Sue Souland

Middle School Academic World Quest 

The 2020 Middle School Academic World Quest was to be hosted by the Community School of Naples on March 28th.  This year eleven local middle schools were planning on competing with up to 165 students. Unfortunately, the closing of Collier County middle schools owing to the coronavirus compelled us to cancel the event. We will retain and update the questions we had developed for these bright students in categories such as civics, world leaders, geography, and current events and look for another fiercely fought competition next year.