The Academic Quiz Team (AQT) has consistently demonstrated its academic excellence over the past years, but the AQT culture is also strikingly unique.
Academically, the prestigious team has won districts and advanced to nationals for the third consecutive year. Their success over the past couple of years is largely attributed to the SENIORS of the team, Jackson Riddle, ‘26, Nikolai Fedorov, ‘26, and Adithi Rao-Bedi, ‘26, the veteran leaders on the squad who each had a distinctive start to their journey.
Fedorov joined the team in seventh grade during the pandemic. It was his first time being on a quiz team, unlike most players who compete in quiz bowl during elementary school.
“My mom actually saw a Schoology [the old Canvas] notification saying that the AQT was going to have tryouts… I was a little bit hesitant,” Fedorov said. “I ended up making the team, and ever since the first practice, I’ve loved quiz team.”
Fedorov has been on the team for six years. He has experienced two Eastern Cincinnati Conference (ECC) championships, two national tournaments, and has earned third all-time in points scored in WHHS history.
“When I saw him play, I was a bit mesmerized,” Jerry Isham-Ndiaye, ‘27, a member of AQT, said. “He’s very, very [knowledgeable] in music and Russian literature, and I found those two things very fascinating. My first impression of him was that as a student, he is very sharp.”
Along with serving the team as a valuable player, Fedorov is the spirit captain, running the AQT social media account and elevating team morale.
“The [spirit captain role] was created this year because [Nikolai] is not the captain, but he is still a leader,” Brian Meeron, math teacher and coach of AQT, said. “He has embraced it fully; he is just able to rile up the troops in a way that no one else on the team is currently able to.”
Fedorov plays a key role in sharing the team’s accomplishments and pride with engaging Instagram posts to celebrate their success. He brings an energetic presence to AQT, fueling a spirited and prosperous culture during practices and games, an energy balanced out by Adithi Rao-Bedi.
“The thing about Adithi is [that] she brings this air of calm,” Meeron said. “We have Nikolai, and we have Adithi, and together they kind of balance; we find our zen with Adithi.”
Rao-Bedi had a unique start to her involvement with AQT; her first year attending practices, she wasn’t an official member of the team.
“This girl just started coming to practices, and she was awesome,” Meeron said. “She participated fully, she was at every practice [and] she made her presence known even though she wasn’t on the team… it just got to the point where [I asked myself], ‘Why isn’t she on the team?’ The answer is she didn’t try out, but sometimes, the coach has to make exceptions, and Adithi was that exception.”
Now, Rao-Bedi has been a member of AQT for four years. She has competed in two ECC Championships and two national tournaments.
The final SENIOR on AQT is Jackson Riddle, who serves as the SENIOR captain.
“He is a perfect combination of Nikolai and Adithi,” Isham-Ndiaye said. “He’s humble, he likes winning, he’s a very good sportsman [and] he’s very, very knowledgeable. I would say he’s the best player on the team.”
Riddle has been a member of AQT for six years. He has competed in two ECC championships and two nationals, and has earned first in all-time points scored in WHHS history and two ECC all-conference awards. He was also ranked eighth nationally as a sophomore in AQT, with his academic mastery impressing coaches and players since seventh grade.
“I’ve been coaching here for 10 years, and we have the potential and ability for this year to be our best finish yet, and I’m looking forward to that happening,” Brian Meeron said.
“Jackson did so well, I thought he was cheating on the [online] tryouts [during the pandemic],” Meeron said. “For a seventh grader to do as well as Jackson did on the tryouts, I had half a mind to cut him because I don’t take cheaters on our team… Knowing what I know of Jackson now, I know he wasn’t cheating at all; he would rather lose the right way than win by cheating, that’s the moral compass of Jackson.”
As team captain, Riddle designs the game strategy to enhance the team’s effectiveness.
“I’ve just noticed that without him, there [is] a lot more division,” Isham-Ndiaye said. “We [aren’t] as cohesive as we normally are, whereas when he is there, he [is] the glue that binds us together.”
Jackson is a role model for many younger students in the group as well, as he significantly helped with the development of the middle school AQT.
“Over my six years, we’ve gone from having no middle school team to one that routinely dominates the local circuit and competes nationally,” Riddle said. “That development is something I’m extremely proud of.”
Each SENIOR has left a special impact on the AQT environment and served as an exemplar for the younger players. Their loss will be felt, but the impact they left will continue.
“[I’ll miss] how funny they were,” Isham-Ndiaye said. “Any type of joke you could imagine: six-seven, brainrot, tung tung, any type of joke you would find humorous or funny or political or relevant, anything that only a nerd would get, they would understand it… [It makes AQT] like being in a culture of your own.”
As the end of the year approaches, the SENIORS and the rest of the team alike are preparing to dominate at nationals. The team has a slogan, “To Forge the Enduring Legacy,” and they hope to bring this motto to fruition.
“I’m looking forward to us having our best finish in modern history,” Meeron said. “I’ve been coaching here for 10 years, and we have thepotential and ability for this year to be our best finish yet, and I’m looking forward to that happening.
“I feel very confident about nationals,” Jerry Isham-Ndiaye, ‘27, said. “We’re a very strong team, and everyone is working on their weaknesses. Nikolai is doing review, I’m getting more diverse in what I’m doing. We have good chances, If we keep pushing, we’ll [rank] much higher.”