2 Karns City High School students take 1st at Academic Games
FAIRVIEW TWP — Placing well at the Academic Games National Tournament is nothing new for the Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School seniors who competed this year. However, for the two who took first place in one category each, the win is a nice cap on their school careers.
Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School had five seniors compete in the competition April 25 through 28 in Charlotte, N.C., and 16 students total. But two students — seniors Jack Lampus and Mason Bell — took first this year in the propaganda and presidents categories, respectively.
Mason has been a first-place contender at the Academic Games League of America nationals before, taking home the gold in 2022 in the presidents category for the ninth and 10th grade division. He said the competition interests him because it’s a good way to delve into history through increments of presidential terms.
“They give you a range of presidents for a year. This year was one to 33,” Mason said during a study hall Monday, May 4, at the school. “I love reading about history, especially military history.”
Jack has done well at the national competition as well, and said the win was a nice way to wrap up his high school journey. He said the propaganda competition involves deducing what method of messaging a sample uses and identifying if more than one method is being used, or if there even is propaganda at play.
He added it is interesting to look at an image and figure out how it might be trying to manipulate its viewer.
“Each round, you are given a section, in each section you have anywhere from eight to 10 different techniques that will be used to convince you of something,” Jack said. “And you look at the sheet, figure out what is being used to convince you and mark it down, and go bold or cautious based on how confident you are in your answer.”
The competitions take a lot of preparation time. Playing the games for the last time is also a bit of a weight off the shoulders of the soon-to-be-alumnus.
“It's going to take a while to adjust my brain to not constantly be thinking about it,” Jack said of Academic Games.
The Academic Games team is led throughout the entire school district by Terry MacKrell, gifted program coordinator for Karns City Area School District. MacKrell said the school district as a whole has done well at the national games over the years. His students frequently earn individual awards, as well as team awards.
MacKrell explained the Academic Games are broken down into divisions of two grade levels each, starting with fifth and sixth grade as an age group, then seventh and eighth and so on.
Some game categories are consistent; others change every time, such as the theme competition, which this year featured questions about Norse mythology and history. There are also math, English and current events competitions each year, so there are seven total academic games annually.
Competitors spend a lot of time in study halls and after school preparing for the games, but the prep time paid off for many of them. MacKrell said Karns City Area School District students sometimes competed alongside students from other schools in Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV.
“I took 16 total kids and we were mixed with other schools in our MIU,” MacKrell said.
He also said the senior division this year “probably had 82 kids and around 20 teams total.”
To qualify for the national event, schools and students must first do well regionally. The state Academic Games competition took place in Grove City starting in October and ending in February, as shown on the MIU IV Academic Games website.
While the categories of games relate to topics taught in typical classes, it takes a lot of studying and practice for the students to use their knowledge in a contest instead of just on a paper test.
“It's a lot of just knowing the definitions and going through examples because (it’s) the easiest way to get a feel for each of the techniques and what they mean in context,” Jack said. “So getting a feel for the phrasing of each question, you get this pattern recognition, different things they say will push you toward individual techniques.”
Mason also said that over the years, the games have been an event he tries hard in.
“I had a string of second places for a while,” he said of his president competitions. “I have had a lot of aggravation through propaganda because of some techniques.”
While Academic Games don’t involve kicking a ball into a goal, throwing a disc into a net or even rolling dice onto a board, they are competitive and intricate in how they are played. Mason said the presidents category is based on a certain range of dates. Players can earn more points by taking on harder questions.
“Each round was on 1-17, the second was 16-33,” Mason said. “Each question they'll give you three clues: a hard clue, six points; a medium is four and an easy one is two and whichever one you answer on that's how many points you get.”
Jack said the propaganda examples given by the competition sometimes try to trip up players as well.
“There's also occasionally no technique. There is nothing trying to convince you of anything in particular, so you have to pay close attention,” Jack said.
But the games are like any other sport or activity to the high school seniors. It feels good to have the dedication preparing for them pay off in a big way, Jack said.
“Having finished out my senior year with a first place win was pretty incredible,” Jack said.
According to MacKrell, Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School’s presidents team in the senior division was the national champion this year, which Mason was part of.
