Devon Prep Wins Chester County Academic Competition Championship

March 21, 2012 - PRLog -- Devon Prep’s varsity Academic Challenge Team (ACT) won the 2012 Chester County Academic Competition Championship last week and earned the honor of representing Chester County in the Pennsylvania State Academic Championship in Harrisburg on May 4.

To win the county title Devon Prep competed against West Chester East and Great Valley High Schools at the Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU) Educational Services Center in Downingtown.  The match came down to a tie breaker round between Devon Prep and West Chester East during which Devon Prep answered four out of five questions correctly to secure the victory. The final score was Devon Prep - 140; West Chester East - 120; Great Valley - 75. Each team was awarded a scholarship for its school provided by the competition sponsor, Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union.

According to Devon Prep’s longtime ACT coach and faculty member Mr. Paul Sanborn, this year’s team was lucky to have mostly upper classmen. “Having a large number of seniors really helped with focus, maturity and knowledge,” said Sanborn. “Adam Swift was by far the reason we are going to the State Competition since he scored so many points during the matches.”

Devon Prep’s Varsity ACT included Seniors Matthew T. Bonner of Havertown, Conrad A. Damstra of Newtown Square, John R. Damstra of Newtown Square, Daniel J. Lewis of Exton, James M. Lockard of Wayne, Adam T. Swift of Audubon, and Junior Antonio Muscarella of Norristown.

Team Captain Adam Swift believes teamwork and hard work was the winning combination. “West Chester East had a strong third round, and erased a 15 point deficit, which got things to the tiebreaker stage,” he said. “The tiebreaker had some difficult questions, but we managed to answer four of them. I am happy we won the title. Everyone on the team worked hard to get to this point.”

The competition, which is coordinated by the Chester County Intermediate Unit,   www.cciu.org, included 21 Chester County high schools that began competing against one another last fall in a "college-bowl" format where students answered a wide variety of challenging questions. The subject areas include literature, math, science, American and world history, geography, and current events. The teams who accumulated the highest number of points during the regular season then competed in semi-final matches to earn a spot at the county championships.

This year 24 - 26 intermediate units are expected to participate in the Pennsylvania Academic Competition which is hosted by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and coordinated by the Chester County Intermediate Unit.  Each intermediate unit is permitted to send one high school academic team to the competition. The championship team will receive a $2,000 scholarship for their high school.

“Chester County has a history of success at the state competition,” said Swift, “so we are excited to go.”

Senior Dan Lewis agreed. “I am really excited and can't wait to get up to Harrisburg and win,” Lewis said. “The county competition was exhilarating and it felt great to have helped contribute to the win. We're going to try our best at States and remember that we are here through the grace of God.”

The mission of the Academic Challenge Competition is to promote lifelong learning, celebrate academic achievement and enhance self-confidence as members of a team by providing healthy yet challenging opportunities for high school students to develop academic, social and personal skills.

Devon Prep is a private, Catholic, college preparatory school for young men in grades six through 12, conducted by the Piarist Fathers. Located on a 20 acre campus on Philadelphia’s Main Line, Devon Prep enrolls students who hail from Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester counties as well parts of Philadelphia. For more information call 610-688-7337 or visit www.devonprep.com or www.facebook.com/devonprep.