An inside look at the minds of McNick’s A-Team

pic-of-a-team — The Academic Team meets in English teacher and adviser Julie Muething’s room every Monday. The Academic Team competes once a week and faced Purcell Marian and Roger Bacon on Dec. 6.

Many McNicholas High School students participate in athletics and are a part of sports teams, but there is one team at McNick that is not like the others. The McNicholas Academic Team has started off their season with weekly practices on Mondays after school in English teacher and Academic Team adviser Julie Muething’s room with competitions on Tuesdays at Cincinnati State.

There are no restrictions on who can join the team and anyone is allowed to participate. The team is co-coached by Muething, who has been a part of helping lead the team since 2010, and John Chadwell, who is participating with leading the team for his first time this year. “My favorite part of co-coaching is probably the practices – it is the right mix of fun and competitive,” Chadwell said. The team also has student captains, like any other team. “Our co-captains this year are seniors Jared Taylor and Liz Beck, both of whom have been on the team since they were freshmen,” Muething explained.

“I really enjoy being on Academic Team because I really like trivia and things like Jeopardy and Academic Team is a lot like that, but better. I love it because I’m getting to do something that I love, while also hanging out with my friends at the same time,” Taylor said. Senior Carey Heekin said, “My favorite part about being on Academic Team are the matches. Whether we win or lose, it’s always fun and [the matches] have generated good memories and jokes between the team members.”