Members of Irvington High School’s Academic Challenge team had an outstanding performance at the 37th annual National Academic Championship, held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center in Alexandria, Virginia, from May 31 to June 2. Academic Challenge
club adviser Alison Zerbo explains that they went into Sunday’s playoffs ranked as the No. 2 seed, won three playoff rounds, including a comeback victory in the semifinals.
Zerbo said, “[This] is truly a collaborative, group effort… They listen to each other and have a great amount of trust in their teammates…Though they ultimately lost in the finals to the No. 1 school, it was an exciting and close match, and they did a wonderful job.”
The team members – comprised of senior captain Rishi Madabhushi, junior Zach Rosman, sophomore Esha Shenoy and senior Jerry Wu –competed against students from across the nation in the varsity level. The team qualified for the national competition by winning two Westchester-based Academic Challenge tournaments, MACC and WACKO.
