Published: June 25, 2009 09:22 am      

CCS quiz team member honored

By MICHELLE MILLER
Staff Writer

Cooperstown Central School senior Weston Honicker was selected as a student quiz team all-star during a high school challenge held at Tompkins Cortland Community College recently.

Weston, who has been participating on quiz team at CCS for five years, said it was a great honor to be awarded this, as he held up the trophy he received for his accomplishments. ``I am proud of it,’’ he said.

Weston said he knew he did very well in the competition, but didn’t expect to receive such an honor. The Cooperstown High School Quiz Team, under the guidance of Thomas Good and Amy Kukenberger, competed in the National Academic Championships last year. This year, the team missed the opportunity to compete in nationals by one question, according to Good.

The team was also named champions of the fast-paced academic quiz show called ``Double Down’’ last year. It was the first time the team had competed in the televised match.

``It is nice when the team does well, but it is also good to recognize individuals,’’ said Good, who has been CCS quiz team advisor for 37 years.

Weston said he moved to Cooperstown from New York City when he was 10 years old. He said he was home-schooled before he was enrolled in CCS in the sixth grade.

Cooperstown high school has both an A and a B quiz team. Weston has been on the A team since his freshman year when he served as an alternate and became a permanent member.

Weston said try outs are held every year and during his sophomore year, he was the second highest scorer and was named captain of the team.

``This was one of my biggest accomplishments,’’ said Weston, who has served as captain of the team for the past thee years.

Weston said he enjoys participating in quiz team because it enables him to show off his knowledge in a competitive way.

He said he really likes to read and believes he gains a lot from doing so.

``I love to learn,’’ said Weston. Questions used for quiz team competitions and preparedness are on a broad range of topics that really test one’s abilities, said Weston.

``It’s just a heck of a lot of fun,’’ he said.

Weston said he is planning to go to Swarthmore College where he will be a part of the honors program and major in history and minor in comparative literature and interpretation theory.

The high school quiz teams try to meet at least once a week, and practice for competitions by pulling out the buzzers and quizzing one another. The teams use ``Questions Unlimited’’ as a main source for questions.

According to Good, the teams are selected by performing an open competition, and those who do best in the preliminary rounds are invited to a final competition. Good said he typically gets a good turn out of kids who want to participate.

CCS also has a middle school quiz team, mostly consisting of eighth graders, said Good.