Wilmington Charter
| The Charter School of Wilmington | |
| |
|---|---|
| Location: Wilmington, Delaware | |
| Coaches | Bill Tressler |
| State Championships | 2002-2009 NAQT Delaware Championship 2003-2008 Comcast Academic Challenge |
| National Championships | 2009 NSC 2009 NAQT |
| Program Status | Unknown |
| School Size | Unknown |
| NAQT Page | link |
The Charter School of Wilmington, often known simply as Wilmington Charter or Charter, is a school located in Wilmington, DE. The school opened in 1996, and its quiz team has existed since nearly its opening.
Team History
In the early years, the team was coached by Beenu Gupta. Because Mrs. Gupta also coached many other activities (e.g. Science Olympiad, Envirothon) she often had the team practice questions on their own. During this period the team was good, but not a powerhouse team.
In Fall of 2002, Bill Tressler left the Sanford School and joined the faculty of Charter as a computer science instructor. Having a quizbowl background from his college years, Mr. Tressler proceeded to build the team. Charter has grown from a handful of members to having over thirty most years. In fact, in fall 2008 forty-five students tried out for the team and thirty were turned away.
The team is notorious for showing up to tournaments with 5 to 8 teams, and on multiple occasions has qualified up to six teams into the playoff phase of a tournament. Two tournaments that the team is particularly proud of are the 2006 NAQT State Tournament and 2006 Blue Hen. At the state tournament, there were 16 teams in attendance and Charter's five teams finished 1st through 5th. (This was subsequently repeated in 2008.) At the Blue Hen, Charter's teams took the top 3 spots, upsetting the top-seeded Gonzaga in the semi-final and then beating them again in the third place game.
NAQT HSNCT
The first time the team ever traveled out of the state was to attend the 2003 HSNCT in Myrtle Beach. The team surprised many by making it to round 4 of Sunday's playoffs, and finished tied for 8th overall. The team next attended HSNCT in 2005, finishing 13th out of 96. The same students finished 14th the following year.
More notable in 2006 was Charter's B team. Though they only earned one playoff win before being eliminated in 25th place, Charter B defeated TJ A in their third match of the tournament. This snapped a 40-game winning streak that TJ had accumulated stretching all the way back to Myrtle Beach.
In 2007, now playing as Charter A, this group finished tied for 5th overall. In 2008 they were in the final, losing to Thomas Jefferson in the second game of an advantaged final. In 2009 they won both HSNCT and NSC.
Titles and achievements
- 1st place at the 2009 NSC
- 1st place at the 2009 NAQT HSNCT
- 2nd place at the 2008 NAC
- 2nd place at the 2008 NAQT HSNCT
- 3rd place at the 2008 NSC
- Blue Hen (University of DE) 2006-2009
- Comcast Academic Challenge (DE), 6 titles: 2003-2008
- Maryland 11 against open, college, and HS teams) 2007
- Maryland Fall Classic 2008
- NAQT Delaware Championship , 7 titles: 2002-03, 2005-09 (not held in '04, and thus the only school to ever win this tournament)
- Long Island Fall Tournament (NY) 2007
- QuAC (U Penn) 2008
- State College Academic Tournament (PA) 2008
- Thomas Jefferson's Fall 2008 TJIAT and Winter 2009 M.O.H.I.T.
- THS 1137 (Temple University, PA) 2008
Hosted Tournaments
- The Delaware Fall Open, hosted every December
- 2006 and 2007 Mid-Atlantic TRASH Regionals
- Charter Challenge, a tournament for grades 5 through 8 hosted each January