With five seconds left in the game, senior Ben Hellman buzzed in to identify an 18th-century scientist. With only the scientist’s portrait and a clue that he discovered oxygen, Hellman conferred with his teammate sophomore Haughton Neppl and then correctly identified the scientist as Joseph Priestley. Hellman’s quick answer with two seconds left solidified the GDS It’s Academic team’s win in their first playoff round of the 2024-2025 season.
GDS finished with 705 points, ahead of Wheaton High School’s 505 points and West Springfield High School’s 360 points. GDS led the game from the start, but Wheaton gained ground on GDS in the penultimate round. GDS then clinched the final round after a back-and-forth with Wheaton. The team competed in the recorded game on Feb. 8, and the game later premiered on YouTube on May 2 and aired on TV the day after.
When the playoff game premiered on May 2, GDS students watched the game projected on the screen in the Forum. The premiere came to a close as lunch began and It’s Academic host Hillary Howard announced GDS had won. Students then let out cheers in support of their classmates.
The GDS It’s Academic team is composed of Hellman, Neppl and juniors Henry Fragale and Lomahn Sun. History teacher Sue Ikenberry and associate director of college counseling Shawn Miller are the team’s coaches. Hellman, Neppl and Fragale competed in the game, while Sun was an alternate.
Guinness World Records named It’s Academic the world’s longest-running TV quiz show in 2003. The show has aired on WETA (Washington Educational Telecommunications Association) for 64 years, and games are also uploaded to YouTube. The single-elimination tournament features high school teams in the Washington metropolitan area, teams in the Baltimore metropolitan area and teams in the Central Virginia region. The winners in each region go on to compete in the It’s Academic Super Bowl.
Questions in the first round were related to rocks. Wheaton started the round by correctly answering the first two questions about Plymouth Rock and the National Anthem. However, the GDS team pulled away after eight consecutive correct answers and closed the round when Hellman answered scissors as the cutting instrument in the children’s game with paper and rock. The round ended with GDS at 180 points, 60 points ahead of Wheaton’s 120.
The lead continued into the Mix-and-Match round, where GDS scored 120 more points and didn’t miss any of the six questions. Both Wheaton and West Springfield also answered all six questions correctly. Hellman then closed off the round when he correctly answered a question about Columbia University.
“The game started off a little tense,” Hellman said. “But then in round four we got the questions down, and I’m really proud of the effort we put into round five when we got most of them and pulled away.”
“I think our team rose to the occasion,” Ikenberry said. “We normally play Quiz Bowl and in Quiz Bowl, the questions are a little harder. You have to be more careful about buzzing in quickly. Our team was playing a cautious game, until it was obvious that the [West Springfield] Spartans were not going to let them do that, so they just began buzzing like the wind.”
Ikenberry has coached the It’s Academic and Quiz Bowl team for 37 years.
Howard has hosted It’s Academic for 13 years. “I love interacting with all of the students,” Howard said in an interview with the Bit. As the host, Howard not only reads questions but also discusses anything from extracurricular activities to summer plans with students between rounds. “I like to see what they bring with them, who they are, what they hope for. But mostly, I love to see that they’re committed to education.”