Vineland and Millville High Schools battled furiously for more than an hour Saturday morning in the 9th annual Academic Bowl at the VHS South auditorium. In another fine display of intellectual expertise, some of the best and brightest students from Vineland and Millville High Schools battled furiously for more than an hour Saturday morning in the 9th annual Academic Bowl at the VHS South auditorium.
For the record, Vineland won the match, 95-87, and thus leads the series 5-3-1. But since this event is intended to showcase the academic prowess of the top students at the county’s two largest high schools, the final point total is less significant than how well the contestants answered some extremely challenging questions in history, literature, geography and math.
Asking the questions was moderator Louis Russo, a political/legal education teacher at Vineland High School. Judges were Millville’s Frank Ferzetti and Vineland’s Chuck Griffiths.
Winning Vineland’s team included Ryan Humphries, Suparerk Anusontarangkul, Brandon Tomasso, Amanda Creech, Shiv Patel, Angelina Harr, Brent Butler, Sonal Puri, Hannah Ahrens and Laura Heller. Coach is Vicki Volpe.
“The students worked very hard,” said Volpe. “We had practice sessions every Tuesday, but it’s difficult to prepare for an event like this because of the variety of questions.”
“The questions today, especially in the second round, were very challenging,” she said. “I am very proud of the inherent knowledge of our students.”
“This event is extremely valuable to the extent that it allows both communities to observe the academic talents and the poise of our students in a very challenging environment,” said Charles Ottinger, Superintendent of Vineland Public Schools. “Perhaps more important is what I saw after the contest – the students from both teams talking to each other, discussing the questions and hopefully making new friends. Forming and strengtheni
ng these sorts of relationships can only help the students learn and grow into the future leaders of our cities.”
Millville’s team included Ryan Dailey, Tyler Donato, Sean Ireland, Jill Smaniotto, Darren Carr, Erin Murowany, Jessica Atkinson, Vince Discepola, Jason Junghans and Winfield Pettit. Babs Bennett substituted for Millville coach Donna Cedermark at Saturday’s contest.
Vineland roared out to an early lead and by halftime was ahead 65-38. Millville chipped away at Vineland’s margin in the second half and closed the gap to 90-79 in the latter stages of the contest by getting the correct answer to a math question. Vineland, however, countered by racking up five points on another math question to seal the victory.
More than $1,000 in scholarship money was provided by four sponsors --- the Daily Journal, the Gruccio, Pepper, DeSanto and Ruth, P.A. law firm, the Vineland Rotary Clubs, and Mints Insurance of Millville. The winning team was also presented with a trophy.
The event was videotaped by students in the VPS Broadcasting program and will be aired on Channel 13 Nov. 19, 20 and 21.