Scott
Plaster, Principal Joe Childers, Sonya Rexrode, and Monta Ervin accept the
Scholastic Cup at the NCASA Annual Meeting
By Scott Plaster
We all
know schools whose programs dominate in almost every event across the board,
going to state finals, taking home medals and trophies, winning state
championships, and having individual state and fielding teams in almost every
imaginable category. In sports, we call that school a “powerhouse.” But in
academics, there’s an actual award given by the NC Association of Scholastic Activities
(NCASA) for the school that has the best year in academic competitions at the
state level.
For the
year 2015-16, Atkins HS in Winston-Salem was that dominating school, winning
the NCASA Scholastic Cup award by over 300 points and repeating as champions in
the 1A small-school division. The Cup was presented to Atkins at its annual
Letterman Banquet on Saturday, May 21, which recognizes competitors and award
winners of both academic and athletic teams each year.
“I am
excited that our school has won this award for the second consecutive year,”
said Atkins Principal Joe Childers. “I believe this validates all of the
outstanding after-school academic programs at Atkins. Students and teachers are
extremely motivated to be the best, and I believe it shows.”
Schools
striving for the Scholastic Cup compete in a range of seventeen competitions
that span nearly every aspect of the school curriculum, from math and science
all the way to the arts and dance. “Atkins ended up participating in 13 NCASA and
Cup Partner competitions, more than any other high school in North Carolina,”
according to NCASA Executive Director Leon Pfeiffer. ”They also earned Top Ten
points in twelve competitions, also more than any other high school.” Top
finishes for academic teams this year for Atkins were “HS Large Chapter of the
Year” honors at the state Technology Student Association (TSA) conference and
state championship runner-up finishes in NCASA Art Showcase and at the NC Chess
tournament. Atkins also had an individual category state champion with student
Ryan Holmes in the Quill, and the school earned a state champion certificate
for one of its Cyberpatriot teams.
Just
some of the Atkins trophy winners at the state TSA conference
“Having
such a comprehensive scholastic program is both a blessing and a challenge,”
said Atkins HS Scholastic Director Scott Plaster. “Many of the teams at Atkins
grew larger this year, and we also added several teams. Sustaining growth and
maintaining success will take dedication and focus as we head into next year.”
Some academic teams at Atkins, such as Chess and TSA, are the largest in the
state or even region, even including “JV” teams the same way a sports team
would.
The
NCASA Scholastic Cup competitions are not even the full scope of the scholastic
program at Atkins, which also fields academic teams in 13 other areas that are
not associated with NCASA, such as HOSA, JLAB, and arts and music programs.
Atkins teacher Kevin Hamilton coached some of Atkins’ most talented students
this year, fielding teams for the NCASA Twelve and Quiz Bowl, but also the local
Winston-Salem Forsyth County Academic Team. The county Academic Team
competition pits area schools against each other for a regular “season” and
then a conference tournament. Atkins emerged as county champions again this
year, despite losing ten seniors. “The team still started strong and only lost
one regular season match against Reagan near the midpoint of the season. The
team then ended up repeating as district champion when they beat Reagan in a
thrilling come-from-behind win in the championship match,” said Hamilton. The
NCASA Quiz Bowl team coached by Hamilton finished fifth in the state this year
against very stiff competition, which is the school’s highest-ever finish in
the state quiz bowl.
Some
academic competitions at Atkins this year were even large-scale or schoolwide
efforts. Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest, begins at the class
level, with nearly the whole Atkins English department and over 100 students
participating. For this year’s Economic Challenge, Curriculum Coordinator and
Coach Monta Ervin created 25 teams of students, and two teams went all the way
to the state level.
Some of
the other state-qualifying competitions for Atkins this year were teacher Dr.
Ellen Palmer’s Environmental Debate team, which took first-place honors at the
state level, the Atkins team for the NCDOT Model Bridge Building competition
(also first place), and the health issues debate team at the state HOSA
conference, who won the state title in that event. This HOSA team, along with
Atkins students of some other competitions such as TSA, will actually get the
distinction of competing at the national level.
Arel
D’Agostino is just one student who competes in multiple academic competitions
at Atkins; he even plays Varsity Tennis, leads a school dance club, and is
actively involved in his church. “I really love that at Atkins, students have
so many opportunities to compete and excel. The sky is the limit when it comes
to being on competitive teams here at our school,” he said.
Students
are so actively involved at Atkins that sometimes they end up double (or even
triple) booked as they qualify for regional and state competitions, coupled
with juggling their sports team schedules, family commitments, and academic
course work. “It’s definitely a cultural change in the building that makes this
type of student involvement possible,” said Principal Childers. At least
sixty-five percent of Atkins students are involved in a competitive team, with
most students being on multiple teams. “It wasn’t always like this here at
Atkins. We literally started with just three competitions and built everything
from there,” he said. Curriculum Coordinator Sonya Rexrode attributes the high
student involvement to the school’s unique academic environment. “At Atkins,
our students are encouraged to excel and are not afraid to try new things and
take risks,” said Rexrode. “They’ll go out for a team when they haven’t done it
before, and when they do that, they sometimes discover talents and skills they
never even knew they had.”
This
type of cultural change is what it takes to make Atkins the dominating force it
is in area of Scholastics. Winning the NCASA Scholastic Cup earns Atkins the
right to call itself “The Premier Small School in the State of NC.” Just as in
its heydey of the Atkins Camels of the 1940s and ‘50s, Atkins has kept its
winning tradition by bringing home a string of high individual and team
finishes and championships over the past few years in a wide variety of
events—everything from art to science. With these accomplishments under their
belts, some Atkins students are often offered scholarships from multiple
universities and can write their own ticket, just as top athletes around the
country can.
The
Atkins chess team coached by teacher Scott Plaster even competed
internationally against schools from several countries around the world as a
part of a global chess partnership in conjunction with the Sister Cities
organization of Winston-Salem. The team from Freeport, Bahamas even came to
Winston-Salem in person to play the Atkins players the weekend of the state
chess championship.
Atkins
player Daniel Winkelman engaged in intellectual battle on the chess board
The
NCASA Scholastic Cup was first presented in 2011 to encourage schools and
students to increase their participation in NCASA and other independent
scholastic competitions. Since it was first presented, NCASA membership has
grown from 44 high schools to 143 high schools this year. Schools with a
comprehensive scholastic program have grown from since 2016. NCASA and the Cups
we present have provided additional scholastic opportunities for tens of
thousands of North Carolina students.
Atkins High School was
also recognized at the May 24 WSFCS school board meeting for the Scholastic Cup
win, along with some of its individual students and teams.
One group on the Atkins Twelve team strikes a pose at the state
finals
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