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.

The High School AWQ was held on February 27, and the Middle School competition on March 27. The top three High School AWQ teams will compete in the National AWQ competition on April 17.

High School Academic World Quest 

In February of 2021, instead of poising their pencils over answer sheets, this year's High School Academic World Quest teams huddled together in front of a monitor with their team captain in charge of clicking on the correct answer to 100 questions. The questions, presented in 10 sections, tested the players’ knowledge of current events, international politics, geography, global economics and world cultures. Students prepared by studying an online guide supplied by the World Affairs Council of America.

This year, the Naples Council hosted 12 teams from five local high schools: Lely, Barron Collier, The Community School of Naples, Gulf Coast High School and Naples High School. Our first and second place winning teams came from Gulf Coast High School, coached by Sue Soulard. The third place team is from The Community School of Naples, coached by Mike Mansfield.

Because of COVID-19,unlike in other years, AWQ competitions for both high schools and middle schools were administered virtually. Teams met at their respective schools and signed on to their computers. Instructions were given from a remote location via computer. Students logged onto a separate website for each section of 10 sections of the competition. In a year that already was challenging for students and teachers, this added one more level of complexity. Teachers, coaches and volunteers did a great job acting as proctors and scorers to ensure the integrity of the competition.

2021 High School AWQ Winning Teams

Winning first place was Team A from Gulf Coast High School. Members were, from left, Zayn Dalao, Mickey Kwa, Nick McClure and Hadi Dalao, team captain. Presenting the trophy is Jim Schmotter, NCWA president, right. 

Team B from Gulf Coast High School won second place. From left are Robert Haffa, chair of the NCWA School Outreach Committee, team members Sonny Tran, Aiden Cahill, team captain; Bharath Ram and Joseph Hernandez, and Jim Schmotter, NCWA president. 

Members of the third-place team were Simon Weardon, team captain; Charles Rubin, Henry Donath and Brent Bartholomew.

Middle School Academic World Quest 

Fourteen teams from six schools competed in the Middle School AWQ contest. This event also complex, using two different software systems. 

The teams competed in their own schools, emceed by Bob Haffa, School Outreach chairman, using WebEx software.Ten questions in each of 10 categories were presented on software from MyQuiz. Sandy Karaganis, chair of this year’s competition, made sure all teams were logged in for each section before starting that section, after which teams had 25 seconds to decide on an answer for each question.

Winning first place was the North Naples Middle School team. Second place was Team A from Pine Ridge Middle School and third was Team B from Oakridge Middle School.

The North Naples Middle School team was first-place winner of the Middle School Academic World Quest competition. From left are Mark Walchak, NCWA board member; Noah Marshall, sixth grade; Isidor Radojevic, eighth grade, team captain; Selma Parfene, eighth grade; Luke Brown, sixth grade; Ashley Forest Giannone, team coach and teacher of sixth grade world history, and Jim Schmotter, NCWA president.

Second place middle school winners were Team A from Pine Ridge Middle School.

The second-place team was Pine Ridge Middle School Team A, coached by Lisa Carraher. Members were Ariama Russian, team captain; Alex Russian, Gabriella Chernysh and Jossimar Reyes-Barrios.

The third place team was Oakridge Middle School Team B, coached by Taylor Wilson and Laura Heald. Members were Jayden Gomez, team captain; Jon Ellis, Anderson McAdams and Joshua Lairet.

We look forward to both competition next year. We are hoping we will be able to host them in person. Congratulations to all competitors in 2021!