photo by: Contributed photo

Bishop Seabury Academy's Academic WorldQuest team — from left, Lyle Griggs, Evan McHenry, Peter Westbrook and Audrey Nguyen-Hoang — is pictured here in February 2020 with their trophy from the competition's 2020 Kansas City, Mo., regional. The same team, known as Team A, won the regional for a second year in a row on March 4, 2021.

A Bishop Seabury Academy team once again proved its global knowledge by winning a regional Academic WorldQuest competition for the second year in a row.

As the winner of the 17-team Kansas City, Mo., area regional, the Bishop Seabury team will compete in the national tournament next month, according to a news release from the International Relations Council, which hosted the regional event.

The winning Bishop Seabury team, known as Team A, features Lyle Griggs, Peter Westbrook, Audrey Nguyen-Hoang and Evan McHenry. The team is sponsored by Sonja Czarnecki, the school’s Dean of Students. The same team won the Kansas City regional in February 2020.

Academic WorldQuest is an annual international knowledge competition by the World Affairs Council of America, a nonprofit educational organization, that aims to educate and challenge high school students on global topics while competing against other schools. The International Relations Council, a local member organization, has operated the Kansas City regional competition since 2006. For this year’s competitions, the teams were being tested on their knowledge of global protests, the Arab Spring, and the post-coronavirus pandemic economy, and several other world topics.

During the virtual regional competition on March 4, Bishop Seabury competed against many area schools, including much larger high schools from the Shawnee Mission, Lee’s Summit and several other private schools. The Bishop Seabury team pulled out a win after initially finishing in a two-way tie with Shawnee Mission East High School. The two teams competed in a tie-breaking round to decide the winner.

Additionally, a second Bishop Seabury team, known as Team D, came in third place at the competition. That team includes Hayden Slough, XiangXiand Zhang, Kirch Kulkarni, and Hugh Griggs, according to the news release.

Because of the initial tie, the Shawnee Mission East team was granted a berth into the national competition alongside the Bishop Seabury team, according to the news release. The national competition will be held virtual on April 16-17.