Upper, Middle School Teams Tops in Academic Challenge

Two teams, one comprising Upper School students, the other Middle School students, placed first statewide and, out of over 700 schools competing nationally, scored in the top 10 percent in the Knowledge Master Open (KMO). In the past eight years, Hawken has won the state at least once each year and has won the national title once. Hosted by the Colorado-based company Academic Hallmarks, the competition was a computer-based academic challenge that had teams of students across the country work to answer 200 math, geography, literature, science, and even trivia questions. The quicker the students answered the questions, the more points they received. Computer teacher Pat Jewell administered the competition at the Middle School. Stan Perry, math instructor, supervised at the Upper School. \"...Ohio is a tough state to win - with a higher average than the national - but Hawken students are no ordinary students,\" Jewell said. \"They have proven themselves worthy of the challenge.\" The KMO began in 1983 with only 72 schools. It now has over 3,000 schools and nearly 45,000 participants competing. Additional Challenge Facts and Info: Average Middle School Score Overall: 1187 Average Middle School Score for Enrollment 0-200: 1144 Average Ohio Middle School Score: 1210 Hawken Middle School: 1503 Average National High School Score: 1198 Average Ohio High School Score: 1235 Hawken Upper School: 1563 Middle School Team Seventh graders: Russell Cohen, Justin Faulhaber, Sarah Foster, McKenna Kasper, Alex Kaufman, Jonathon Kumin Eighth graders: John Brosovich, Adam Charnas, Aaron Ekstein, Nick Hajek, Mitchell Krall, Jonathon Meckler, Adil Menon, Jackson Oppenheim, Frankie Rico, Eric Xiao Upper School Team Freshmen: Jocelyn Adams 9, Margret Erlendsdottir 9, Julie Zeilinger 9 Sophomores: T.J. Callahan 10, Omar Diab 10, Michael Eby 10, David Gerson 10 Juniors: Pat Barnes 11, John Borokhovich 11, Alex Ferris 11, Drew Ford 11, Dylan Herts 11, Brian Huser 11, Alec Lai 11, Raj Mainthia 11, Sam Milner 11, Atreya Rajagopalan 11, Jacob Sachs 11, Ben Sala 11, Ian Wilson 11 Seniors: Shawn Sedlak 12