With most extracurricular offerings and competitions being based around athletics at Warrenton High School, those more interested in academics welcomed a change.
In fact, science teacher Mike …
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With most extracurricular offerings and competitions being based around athletics at Warrenton High School, those more interested in academics welcomed a change.
In fact, science teacher Mike Shaw has been amazed at the amount of students drawn to an opportunity created for the intellectually-driven just four years ago.
The formation of the ACES program (Academic Challenge for Engineering and Science) in 2016 was a result of a phone call from someone who noticed the potential of WHS students.
“We had plenty of students at East Central College in the past, and the person in charge of ACES told me they noticed our students are good at physics,” said Shaw. “They asked if I would form a team and start competing there.”
Shaw reached out to faculty members at WHS to identify candidates for competition and gauge the interest in the program.
“I just asked all the science teachers and other departments to gather up the people who are doing best in those subjects, have them come see me if they’re interested,” said Shaw.
What followed was an overwhelming response.
“We filled every spot on all three levels,” said Shaw. “It’s amazing.”
There are 14 students competing at each level — varsity, junior varsity and at-large.
Despite the newness of the program, WHS has experienced immediate success.
After a strong showing during regionals at East Central College in Union, Shaw’s team will be competing at sectionals this week at Missouri S&T in Rolla. WHS placed second out of 10 teams in the large school division at regionals.
“Basically, students go there and take college level tests and compete with their knowledge against everybody else down there,” said Shaw. “It’s almost like scholar bowl. They choose tests on two subjects to take and the scores are added up.”
Students pick from seven subject areas, including biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, graphic engineering, English and math.
“They get to see what college information will be like for that specific class,” said Shaw. “They get to see the complexity of what they’re going into to prepare them for what they need to know. It’s also good for transcripts when applying for colleges.”
Shaw said ACES has provided an opportunity for students who lean toward academics over athletics and are eager to advance their knowledge.
“It shifts the focus from athletics to academics,” said Shaw. “It shows we have plenty of kids who are on the proper path academically. They have goals and are doing this to make themselves better.”
Shaw feels confident WHS will advance at least a couple students to qualify for the state-level competition to be held at Eastern Illinois University.
