In the first filming of It’s Academic on Sept. 21, AHS won it’s first round of the television show over Herndon High School and North Point High School.

The final score of the event was AHS, 540 points, Herndon, 470, and North Point, 390.

The first television event will premiere on October 12 at 11:00 AM.

This win puts the team into the playoffs, to take place in February.

“I am very pleased with our performance, they did a great job working together,” It’s Academic co-sponsor Meghan Saladino said.

It’s Academic is a television show that films different high schools participating in a quiz bowl like contest each year. It is currently in its 53rd year as a television show.

The first filming on Saturday consisted of AHS, Herndon, and North Point, with two other filmings following throughout the day.

At AHS, there are other parts to the It’s Academic club besides participating in the television show, It’s Academic. There is also the scrimmage league that AHS participates in in the fall with seven other schools to prepare them for the VHSL district tournament.

“There are two parts of the It’s Academic Club at AHS,” senior Christine Tamir said. “The majority is quiz bowl, where we compete against other high schools from the area, and the rest is the television show, which consists of a lot of schools.”

In past years, the AHS has performed very well in the It’s Academic television show, as well as in the VHSL league.

“Last year we had the longest winning streak of any team at AHS, were 14-0 throughout last year’s season,” senior Amelie Trieu said.

“We won in our scrimmage league last year, and also made it to the district round,” Saladino said.

This year’s win did not come easily to the AHS team, with filming beginning earlier than last year, they had a lot less time to hone their skills before the event.

“The filming wasn’t until November last year, so we had a lot more time to practice,” Trieu said.

“We’ve had a bit of a delayed start, since the taping is really early this year we haven’t had much time to practice,” Tamir said.

Practices for the AHS It’s Academic team take place every Friday in Mrs. Berry’s room, room 285.

“Our practices are set up like the scrimmages, we use buzzers and a moderator asks questions while the kids try to answer fastest,” Saladino said. “We’ve been working on simple, basic questions because of the taping, but now we’re switching our focus to district style questions.”

The lack of practice time is not the only thing that the AHS It’s Academic team had to overcome.

The team has lost a lot of team members in the past year, and that has shown in the teams attendance at practices. To make up for this, the team has been actively recruiting members through the social studies department and at Back To School Night.

Many members see this as a long term goal, and are planning on preparing for the future.

“Considering how we have very few remaining members,” Trieu said. “My goal is to rebuild and strengthen the team for years to come.”