Social studies department teacher and Academic Bowl advisor Drew Wheeler teaches his fifth period Advanced Placement government class. Wheeler believes this year’s Academic Bowl team did well and that they have strong underclassmen coming onto varsity. Photo by Coles Ehlers.
By COLES EHLERS – Staff Writer
Governor’s Honors Program is a four-week summer enrichment program located in Valdosta, Ga for the state’s top gifted and talented high school juniors and seniors. Six finalists were chosen from the Clarke County School District to attend GHP this summer.
Coles Ehlers: Overall, how was Academic Bowl this year?
Drew Wheeler: It was a good year. We didn’t lose until the region tournament and we only lost one match there. We didn’t do as well at state as we did last year but it was a good year for our seniors to go out on.
CE: Compared to past seasons, how well did they do?
DW: Last year’s season tied with the best season we’ve had since I’ve been here. Varsity finished second at the state tournament. This year’s team did as well as many others in the past have done and better than some other seasons. It was a better than an average year. We usually win most of our matches, sometimes losing one or so in the regular season. This year was what I expected, but it wasn’t bad at all. It was exactly what I expected them to do.
CE: Is there anything you’re planning on implementing or working on for the coming season?
DW: Nothing in particular, outside of the fact we lost a really strong group of seniors so we need to make sure, especially with the new freshmen coming in, that we recruit well for the JV team, because they’ll be the varsity in no time. Anytime we lose a group of seniors as strong as this year’s, we need to make sure we’ve got a just as strong group coming up behind them. I know we have some. We just to make sure we keep people coming in.
