The members of the 2009 Academic Skills team from Wilmot High School.
Wilmot High School students struck a big blow for the home territory in the west-east of the I rivalry earlier this week by winning the 2009 Kenosha Academic Skills Challenge championship.
The eight-member Wilmot team prevailed in a field of 15 teams from nine Kenosha County high schools. The culmination of the month-long competition was the final last Tuesday, a rematch from 2008 of Wilmot versus Tremper High School, Kenosha. Last year, Tremper won. This year, Wilmot defeated the Trojans by a score of 645 to 510.
The Panther team received a score of 450 out of 500 points for the presentation it gave after a 50-minute problem solving session. This is the highest score any Wilmot team has earned at the event in nine years. The team then went on to defeat Tremper in the rapid-fire portion of the competition by a score of 195-90. Junior Robb Evans led the charge with 85 points in the penalty round and Junior Mitch Marks added a solid 70 points in the non-penalty round. In addition to Evans and Marks, seniors Tessie Benser, Joey DeBenedetto, Marcie Weiss, junior Kyle Welzen, and sophomores Cara Dowell and Mandy Aug will each receive a $400 U.S. Savings Bond for their accomplishments. Wilmot teams have amassed $18,000 in Savings Bonds over the past nine years. The team also collected a handsome championship trophy.
Despite having half the enrollment of the Trempers and Bradfords, the Panthers have appeared in eight of the last nine Skills Challenge championships and have now won the title three times.
Don Serkowski is the team’s advisor.
