Giant Academics!

Guest blog post by Keith Burke

Marion High School has a very proud athletic tradition. The Giants have won eight state championships and are tied with Muncie Central for the most titles in Indiana high school boys basketball history. Nearly everyone knows of the Giant athletic tradition at Marion High School but, there is another successful competitive group here at Marion and that is our Academic Giants.

The Academic Giants compete nearly all year in many different types of competitions. At Marion, we field teams for the Academic Super Bowl, Spell Bowl, numerous other math and science competitions. The Academic Giants have had much success thanks to wonderful sponsors and a school board and superintendent that will resource anything that benefits our students. Competition in society is real and not everyone excels on the sports fields of play. Academic competitions give our students another way to compete besides athletics.

Our Academic Giants practice just like sports teams, they feel the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat like sports teams and they truly are great teams. Marion High School has made it to the state in at least one subject area for as many years as I can remember. We are also the only school in Indiana the competes in the Mu Alpha Theta National Math Competition where the Giants have finished in the top 25% in the country in each of the last 3 years.

I encourage you to get your students involved in academic competitions and make it special for the competitors. We include the academic teams in our pep sessions and let them know how proud we are of them. IASP sponsors many academic competitions! Check out what they have to offer and give your academic students an opportunity to compete with GIANT pride. Please contact me at kburke@marion.k12.in.us with any questions for suggestions on how to start your academic teams and get them competing.