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Hello everyone! My name is Antonio Câmara and I’m the captain of the Stillwater High School Academic Team! We are raising money in order to fund our trip to the 2018 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament in Atlanta, GA from May 26th to May 28th. This is the first year a team from Stillwater has qualified in over 5 years and we’re one of only a few teams who’ve qualified in the state.
Our team competes in quizbowl, a buzzer-based academic competition that pits teams against each other to answer questions on topics ranging from science and history to current events and literature — and just about everything in between.
Now, let me tell you a little bit about our team.
Stillwater’s Academic Team is a group of diverse, curious and hardworking students who represent the best of the student body. From musicians to athletes to activists, our team includes over thirty students from all walks of life. Quizbowl’s synthesis of so many vastly different fields of knowledge has brought people together from all sorts of interests. We all love to compete, but most of all, we love to learn. Quizbowl has provided each of us with opportunities to explore the world around us and has opened our eyes to tons of interesting branches of knowledge. Personally, I have become interested in and learned a lot about computing, fine arts, and philosophy; subjects that I never had the opportunity to learn in class and now hope to pursue in my future.
Our team is also one of the most tightly-knit communities on campus. Through quizbowl, I have met and become lifelong friends with many of my fellow teammates. I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to become close with some of the most talented, motivated and inspiring people I have ever met, all thanks to quizbowl.
From taking our coffee addictions across county lines,
going to prom together,
and even recreating some famous artwork,
my quizbowl family has been with me throughout high school and I am so happy that I stumbled on this group of lovable nerds. I feel that the quizbowl community at my school has allowed me to gain knowledge and friendships that have influenced me tremendously.
Our student-run organization practices twice or more times a week for several hours in our sponsor’s classrooms, in our homes or even in local coffee shops.
We’ve also hosted three tournaments this year, including our inaugural Pioneer Invitational -- one of only two high school-ran NAQT invitational tournaments in the state of Oklahoma. In addition, we’ve partnered up with our high school’s annual philanthropic week, Stillwater Makes a Change (SMAC), in order to host our school’s annual Trivia Night! For two years, our team has put on this event by writing themed questions, hosting a costume contest, selling food and putting on a show! Many of our teammates involved in concurrent also participate with the Oklahoma State University quizbowl team, attending practices and tournaments. Many of us also volunteer our time with the Stillwater Junior High Academic Team and help staff their events. On top of this, many of our team members study hard to prepare for quizbowl competitions, excel in the classroom and in various other activities from band and orchestra, to athletics, to mock trial and Youth and Government.
Our team has put in a lot of work in order to improve! This season, in which we have the most graduating seniors in our program’s history, seven, we have been blessed with success and opportunity. We opened the season at the University of Oklahoma’s Early Fall Tournament by capturing second place and our first nationals qualification since 2012.
At that tournament, all three Stillwater teams had winning records and our “A” team broke the school records in just about every metric. Since then, we have captured three more national-qualification bids for our “A” team, including a second place finish at the NAQT State Tournament.
We have also captured our OSSAA District and Area Championships!
To put things into perspective, at my first tournament during my Sophomore year, we barely broke 100 points per game and lost all but one match. Currently, our team scores on average around 300 to 400 points per game and has a pre-Nationals record of 36-14. Furthermore, four of the ten top scorers all-time for Stillwater High School are current players and I was named an All-Stater in Academic Bowl by the Oklahoma Academic Coaches Association a few weeks ago.
So where are we trying to go?
Our team is hoping to make the morning after graduation an early one, by getting onto a plane headed to Atlanta in order to compete in the 2018 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament. This tournament, the premier national quizbowl tournament for high school students, pits 352 of the best teams from across the country (and Canada, China) against each other in difficult and intense matches. Many of us on the team have worked hard throughout high school in order to both attend and succeed at our tournament. As captain, it has been my dream to attend quizbowl nationals since I knew it existed. And while I am blessed to have qualified, I still need your help in getting us there.
We are asking for $5,600 in order to fund the travel, lodging and tournament fees of eight of Stillwater High’s Academic Team most dedicated members. We are currently trying to raise $700 per student. Even the smallest donation will go toward the trip and will have a lasting impact on us. Tournament registration is $675, hotel rooms are an est. $1400 and flight tickets are an est. $4200. For our team, attending nationals would achieve a dream we previously thought unimaginable when we began playing quizbowl. Thank you so much for your generous donation, we appreciate your gift more than you could imagine.
This team has been such an important part of my life and quizbowl has helped shaped me as both a learner and as a leader. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Our team competes in quizbowl, a buzzer-based academic competition that pits teams against each other to answer questions on topics ranging from science and history to current events and literature — and just about everything in between.
Now, let me tell you a little bit about our team.
Stillwater’s Academic Team is a group of diverse, curious and hardworking students who represent the best of the student body. From musicians to athletes to activists, our team includes over thirty students from all walks of life. Quizbowl’s synthesis of so many vastly different fields of knowledge has brought people together from all sorts of interests. We all love to compete, but most of all, we love to learn. Quizbowl has provided each of us with opportunities to explore the world around us and has opened our eyes to tons of interesting branches of knowledge. Personally, I have become interested in and learned a lot about computing, fine arts, and philosophy; subjects that I never had the opportunity to learn in class and now hope to pursue in my future.
Our team is also one of the most tightly-knit communities on campus. Through quizbowl, I have met and become lifelong friends with many of my fellow teammates. I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to become close with some of the most talented, motivated and inspiring people I have ever met, all thanks to quizbowl.
From taking our coffee addictions across county lines,
going to prom together,and even recreating some famous artwork, my quizbowl family has been with me throughout high school and I am so happy that I stumbled on this group of lovable nerds. I feel that the quizbowl community at my school has allowed me to gain knowledge and friendships that have influenced me tremendously.Our student-run organization practices twice or more times a week for several hours in our sponsor’s classrooms, in our homes or even in local coffee shops.
We’ve also hosted three tournaments this year, including our inaugural Pioneer Invitational -- one of only two high school-ran NAQT invitational tournaments in the state of Oklahoma. In addition, we’ve partnered up with our high school’s annual philanthropic week, Stillwater Makes a Change (SMAC), in order to host our school’s annual Trivia Night! For two years, our team has put on this event by writing themed questions, hosting a costume contest, selling food and putting on a show! Many of our teammates involved in concurrent also participate with the Oklahoma State University quizbowl team, attending practices and tournaments. Many of us also volunteer our time with the Stillwater Junior High Academic Team and help staff their events. On top of this, many of our team members study hard to prepare for quizbowl competitions, excel in the classroom and in various other activities from band and orchestra, to athletics, to mock trial and Youth and Government.
Our team has put in a lot of work in order to improve! This season, in which we have the most graduating seniors in our program’s history, seven, we have been blessed with success and opportunity. We opened the season at the University of Oklahoma’s Early Fall Tournament by capturing second place and our first nationals qualification since 2012.
At that tournament, all three Stillwater teams had winning records and our “A” team broke the school records in just about every metric. Since then, we have captured three more national-qualification bids for our “A” team, including a second place finish at the NAQT State Tournament.
We have also captured our OSSAA District and Area Championships!
To put things into perspective, at my first tournament during my Sophomore year, we barely broke 100 points per game and lost all but one match. Currently, our team scores on average around 300 to 400 points per game and has a pre-Nationals record of 36-14. Furthermore, four of the ten top scorers all-time for Stillwater High School are current players and I was named an All-Stater in Academic Bowl by the Oklahoma Academic Coaches Association a few weeks ago.
So where are we trying to go?
Our team is hoping to make the morning after graduation an early one, by getting onto a plane headed to Atlanta in order to compete in the 2018 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament. This tournament, the premier national quizbowl tournament for high school students, pits 352 of the best teams from across the country (and Canada, China) against each other in difficult and intense matches. Many of us on the team have worked hard throughout high school in order to both attend and succeed at our tournament. As captain, it has been my dream to attend quizbowl nationals since I knew it existed. And while I am blessed to have qualified, I still need your help in getting us there.
We are asking for $5,600 in order to fund the travel, lodging and tournament fees of eight of Stillwater High’s Academic Team most dedicated members. We are currently trying to raise $700 per student. Even the smallest donation will go toward the trip and will have a lasting impact on us. Tournament registration is $675, hotel rooms are an est. $1400 and flight tickets are an est. $4200. For our team, attending nationals would achieve a dream we previously thought unimaginable when we began playing quizbowl. Thank you so much for your generous donation, we appreciate your gift more than you could imagine.
This team has been such an important part of my life and quizbowl has helped shaped me as both a learner and as a leader. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
