February 2025 News
Indiana Academy Shines at Model UN-University of Chicago
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
A fifteen student Model UN delegation from the Indiana Academy recently competed in the 2025 Model UN-University of Chicago (MUNUC) conference from February 6th through February 9th. MUNUC’s annual conference in downtown Chicago ranks as one of the best in the world, attracting over 3,000 students from across the United States and around the world. Students from the Academy participated across several committees with about half earning recognition for exemplar performances. Congratulations go to Alex Christman, Alex Overmars, Kenne Rasnick, Rori Hailey, Henry Godfrey, Kenny Gihozo, Keagan Brogdon, Christopher Holmquist, John Eenigenburg, Jeevisha Dhanda, A.J. Carter, Ella Robertson, Jackson Bales, Brody Chestnut, and Agastya Anand for a job well done! “Being recognized at a Model UN conference this large is usually reserved for the top 3-5% of schools and delegates that participate. Considering the global talent and staunch preparation we competed against, returning with seven of our students earning recognition is beyond impressive and almost unimaginable,” remarks Dr. Olufowote, Director of Academic Affairs and Academy Model UN sponsor. Award winners can be found below:
War of the Roses: YORK
Honorable mention – Ella Robertson
Planes, Trains, and automobiles: TRANSIT
Honorable mention – Jackson Bales
The Russian Constitutional convention: RUSSIA
Honorable mention – Brody Chestnut
The court of the Nizams: HYDERABAD
Verbal commendation – Agastya Anand
NATO: Belgium
Verbal commendation – Alex Overmars
EU: Belgium
Verbal commendation- Christopher Holmquist & John Eenigenburg
Quiz Bowl Team Qualifies for State, National Tournaments
Thursday, January 30, 2025
On Saturday, January 25, the Indiana Academy’s Quiz Bowl team competed in the regional Quiz Bowl tournament sponsored by the Indiana Association of School Principals (IASP). The team consisting of Brody Chestnut, Lena Beghtel, Hunter Dunnuck, Isaac Fischer, and Sarah Glunt took second place and qualified for both the state championship sponsored by the IASP and the Small School National Championship Tournament (SSNCT) sponsored by National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC (NAQT), the suppliers of the questions used in the tournament.
This is the 6th year in a row that the Indiana Academy has qualified for this national championship, and the team hopes to improve on last year’s 5-5 performance, the best in school history. The SSNCT will be held April 25-27 in Rosemont, Illinois.
Congratulations to the Indiana Academy Quiz Bowl team for their excellent performance!
BETA Club Success
Sunday, November 17, 2024
BETA Club “is the largest, independent, educational youth organization in America, emphasizing the four pillars of academic achievement, character, leadership, and service.” The weekend of November 15-16, the Indiana Academy chapter competed at the Indiana State competition and achieved resounding success! Four teams and eleven individual Academy competitors (a total of 15 students) advanced to the National competition in Orlando, Florida, this summer. Those advancing are:
Individual
1st Place – Hand Drawn Anime Division II – Lily Ellis
1st Place – Black & White Photography Division II – Sophia Vijverberg
2nd Place – Digital Enhanced Photography Division II – Kinlee Taylor
2nd Place – Digital Art Division I – Jeevisha Dhanda
2nd Place – Biomedical Health Science – Jeevisha Dhanda
2nd Place – BETA Scholarship – Brody Chestnut
3rd Place – US History (12th Grade) – Brody Chestnut
3rd Place – Poetry Division II – Kayla Cavanaugh
3rd Place – Mathematics (11th Grade) – Yedaam Cho
3rd Place – Spelling (12th Grade) – MaKaela Gist
3rd Place – Psychology (11th Grade)- Doris Li
3rd Place – US History (11th Grade) – Kennedy Rasnick
3rd Place – Creative Writing Division I – Presli Ginder
Group
1st Place – Musicology Senior – Keagan Brogdon, Brody Chestnut, Grace Koester, & Eva Vessels
2nd Place – Engineering Senior – Sylvester Acherekoh, Yedaam Cho, Kennedy Rasnick, & Sophia Vijverberg
3rd Place – Book Battle Senior – Keagan Brogdon, Lily Ellis, Izzy Orpurt, & Calley Thomas
3rd Place – Quiz Bow Senior – Keagan Brogdon, Brody Chestnut, Lily Ellis, & Grace Koester
Congratulations to all of our Indiana Academy student competitors!
Academic Spell Bowl Results
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
On Monday, November 4th, ten of our students traveled to Hamilton Southeastern High School to compete in the area Academic Spell Bowl competition. Our team had a strong performance, with one perfect round (Sarah Glunt) and one near-perfect round (Jillian George). However, our score of 52 as a team was one point shy of the state qualifying cutoff this year. Sarah will have the opportunity to compete in an individual match against other students who had perfect rounds at area.
Your Spell Bowl team is: Alesya Rathinasamy (captain), Miriam Boersma, Jillian George, Sarah Glunt, Brooklyn Grey, Jordan Heaviland, Lily Partridge, Savannah Scott, Malachi Smith, Calley Thomas, and Delaney Blankenbuehler-Lee (alternate).
A big thank you to Dr. Sean Scott for driving the second van for the competition and giving us his Monday evening!
Connecting Students to Careers
Thursday, May 23, 2024
IU Health Ball and the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities have been within walking distance of each other since 1988. In 2023, the organizations came together in a partnership to connect students with careers in the healthcare field.
Read More…
Courtesy of IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital
2024 Academic Super Bowl Results
Monday, May 6, 2024
On Saturday, May 4, twelve Academy students competed at the state level for Academic Super Bowl in Science, Fine Arts, Mathematics, and Interdisciplinary. Fine Arts placed third, and Math placed first, with Science and Interdisciplinary giving respectable performances as state qualifiers.
The new State Champion banner is hanging in Burkhardt lounge. If you see any of these students, please congratulate them!
The team includes Alexander Bell (interdisciplinary), Theo Davis (fine arts), Hunter Dunnuck (science captain), Garrett Elliott (math, science), Sam Greathouse (fine arts captain, interdisciplinary captain), Anna Gu (math, interdisciplinary), Carson Gull (math captain, science, interdisciplinary), Christopher Holmquist (science), Sung Hoo Hong (math), Justin Lin (math), Alesya Rathinasamy (science), and Marissa Silken (fine arts)
One Ball State Day Recap
Thursday, April 4, 2024
One Ball State Day 2024 at the Indiana Academy is in the books. We had incredible support from faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni, and friends of the Academy, raising $57,414, a slight increase over 2023. This was across 365 gifts, a 41% increase over 2023! Several people donated multiple times. The Academy received gifts from 325 unique donors, a 33% increase over 2023!
In a few weeks, the Academy leadership team will review how these donations were distributed across the various funds and map out a plan on how to best use them to benefit current and future Indiana Academy students.
Thank you to everyone who helped make One Ball State Day at the Academy a huge success! This would not have been possible without your help spreading the word, donating, and voting for the Academy as the Fan Favorite in the Dash and Splash duck race challenge. Although I had a lot of fun with the duck race, I have decided to hang up my paddle and retire. Meg Wright, Assistant Director of Academic Advising and Guidance, has already agreed to take my place!
On behalf of everyone at the Indiana Academy, thank you!
Dain Kavars
Executive Director
Quiz Bowl State Championship Tournament Results
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
On Saturday, March 2, the Academy’s quiz bowl team participated in the state quiz bowl championship tournament sponsored by the IASP (Indiana Association of School Principals). The Academy entered the competition seeded 11th of 18 teams and after posting a 4-5 record, finished the tournament in 10th place. Congrats to the Varsity quiz bowl team of Carson Gull, Brody Chestnut, Lily Ellis, and Lily Highbanks.
Next up for the team is the Small School National Championship Tournament in Chicago during the last weekend of April. Good luck!
Quiz Bowl Team Advances To State and National Competitions
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
On January 20, the varsity Quiz Bowl team participated in the Quiz Bowl regional competition at Homestead High School hosted by the Indiana Association of School Principals (IASP). For the third consecutive year, the team has qualified for both the state tournament on March 2, 2024 and the Small School National Championship Tournament sponsored by National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC (NAQT). The varsity team anticipates competing in this national competition against teams from all over the country on April 26-28, 2024.
Congratulations to the Quiz Bowl team and coach Mr. Joshua Ruark!
Volleyball State Champions
Saturday, November 4, 2023
Congratulations to the Academy/Burris volleyball team for winning the state championship on Saturday, November 4! They won three sets to zero by scores of 25-23, 25-16, and 25-17. This is the school’s 23rd state volleyball championship, but the first since 2010. Congratulations to the players and coaches for the hard work they put in this season!