The Elder Academic Team is home to some of Elder’s best and brightest students. However I, like many, have no idea about what the academic team really does.

I decided to go to Elder Senior Collier Smith and ask him as many questions as I could.

Collier Smith is easily one of the smartest people that I know since met him in 2013 in my Freshman year. Not only does he get incredible grades being ranked #1 in the Class of 2017, but he is also in the highest level classes and is involved in organizations like Student Council, Student Ambassador, Key Club, Pro-Life Club, and his personal favorite: the Glee Club.

He joined the Academic Team back in his Junior Year, “I was approached a few years ago, since some people seem to think I’m smart, but I turned them down. But last year, I wanted a new organization to join to fill out my college application, and I’m glad I decided to join.”

Collier as well as other standouts such as Owen Plagge, Brent Gavin, Jack Ellert, Eric Bley, Alex Kuderer, and Matt Tressler (no surprise there are a lot of St. Jude Bulldogs) have been representing the intelligence that Elder has in front of many other schools. The Elder Academic team proved its talent  by besting GCL rival LaSalle in an early match.

But that’s not the only big win this year.

They even came out victorious over prestigious schools like Mount Notre Dame and Ursula, which I figured would be the powerhouses of Cincinnati. The top minds of our academic team had a different opinion of who ran Cincinnati.

I decided to find out just how this team really works under Coach Rick Ceddia. We have matches at Cincinnati State most Tuesdays, and on the Tuesdays we don’t have matches, we meet in room 11 to practice.

The End of Season Tournament held at Cincinnati State is just around the corner. A young and carefree team like Elder of course is not favored to win it all, but we made it on the radar. “We’ve had a pretty good season, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we did well,” said Smith.

Such a brilliant mind, as you might expect, must have big plans for college. “I’m headed to The Ohio State University on the Evans Scholarship. I want to study engineering, and I’ll decide what kind once I get there.”

The Academic Team is a mystery that a lot of students know very little about, but the members deserve accreditation as they represent the intellectual side of Elder High School. Although its title as a sport may be a little misleading, it is a competition, nonetheless.