Woodlands Academy team to compete in national academic event

LAKE FOREST – Based on its performance at a recent preliminary round at Evanston Township High School, a team from Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest advanced to the 2025 Small School National Championship Tournament.

Senior Avery Drehkoff, junior Margaret Glunz, sophomore Claire Caserio and freshman Juliette Hopman are among the top small-school quiz bowl teams from across the U.S. and beyond invited to the championship event April 25–27 in Rosemont.

According to the contest’s organizer, National Academic Quiz Tournaments participants will compete against other high-caliber teams from similar schools, meet peers from different countries and showcase their knowledge while being motivated to learn even more.

Quiz bowl is a competition of questions and answers played by teams, or occasionally individual contestants, covering a wide range of topics from academic to pop culture, sports and current events. The SSNCT qualification marks the third consecutive year that Woodlands Academy advanced to the national level of an NAQT event. Woodlands will be competing in the Open Division.

“I am so proud of Avery, Margaret, Claire and Juliette’s qualification for the Small School National Championship Tournament,” said Shao-Yun Guo, Woodlands Academy mathematics teacher and Scholastic Bowl co-moderator. “They were selected for their exemplary performance throughout the current year, which will continue at the upcoming national competition.”

According to its website, NAQT, founded in 1996, organizes “the premier middle school, high school and college quiz bowl championships in North America.” It also provides questions to invitational tournaments, league championships and TV shows throughout the year.