Academic Bowl Highlights Sts. Joachim & Ann’s Educational Excellence

Eight students representing Sts. Joachim and Ann Catholic School in St. Charles, Missouri  successfully competed in the Academic Bowl hosted by Saint Dominic High School in O’Fallon on Tuesday, March 26, 2019.  The team of eighth graders won 1st place in their division and 3rd place of all 17 teams, representing 11 schools who participated.

Teacher Colleen Rau shared that “Sts. Joachim & Ann students have been attending for the 12 years I have been a teacher here. J&A has done very well over the years.  Last year they came in first in their division, and first overall.  We usually place in the top 3 every year.”

The Academic Bowl is held every year for local 7th and 8th grade students attending Catholic schools.  The subjects vary greatly;  there are questions in math, science, literature, pop culture, grammar and more. The questions are submitted by teachers from each of attending schools. This year, for the first time, National Honor Society students were involved in running the event.

This event has been held for 13 years and for the last 8 years, has been hosted by St. Dominic High School. This event was initiated by Mrs. Janet Eaton, former Principal who initially started the competition as Principal at Immaculate Conception of Dardenne and brought it with her when she later became Principal at St. Dominic.  

The fast-paced competition mixes written question and answer sessions with speed rounds which include a buzzer – the first team with the correct answer wins – all rounds are tallied up at the end to declare the winners. There were 9 Written Rounds and 16 Buzzer Rounds.

The schools who participated were as follows:
1 team -  Sacred Heart Troy, St. Cletus, St. Joseph (Josephville), St. Theodore and Sts. Joachim and Ann.

 2 teams of 8 - All Saints, Assumption, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Joseph (Cottleville), St. Patrick and St. Paul

This year’s Academic Bowl was coordinated for the first time by Brad Dempsey, who is completing his first year as Assistant Principal at St. Dominic High School.  He did a phenomenal job in coordinating this event. When asked about the Academic Bowl, he stated, “As a Catholic high school we are blessed to have a large number of Catholic grade school students come on our campus for a day of fun competition.  We strive to provide each student a memorable experience.  Our hope is that SDHS is a future home for many of these students!”