Lipscomb student coaches local high school team to Academic WorldQuest victory
Haley Coble |
Elizabeth Ashwood, a freshman international relations and French major, as well as member of the Lipscomb women’s soccer team, has recently spent time with students from Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School in Nashville helping them prepare and compete in the Tennessee World Affairs Council’s annual 
Academic WorldQuest competition, which was held on Feb. 22, and hosted by Belmont University.
Among the 10 teams from Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia competing in the competition, Ashwood's four-student-team from MLK came out victorious as state champions, and won a trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the WACA's national competition, April 22-23.
The MLK head coach and veteran teacher, Catherine Kelly said, “The WorldQuest competition was a wonderful experience.”
Kelly credited the teams’ success to Ashwood for thoroughly preparing the students.
As part of her required Serving and Learning Together (SALT) course, Ashwood spent significant time with students from MLK since January. SALT is Lipscomb's academic service-learning program enhances academic understanding by applying knowledge and skills in service projects that benefit the community.
“I did an academic decathlon for fun in high school which taught me a lot of different competition styles,” said Ashwood. “Susan Haynes, assistant professor of political science, told me about Academic WorldQuest. They were looking for coaches for these teams, and because I had experience doing something like this, I figured I could help out.”
WorldQuest is a quiz bowl-like flagship program of the Tennessee World Affairs Council, a Nashville-based nonprofit that develops programs to educate and inspire people to understand global issues. The competition runs year-round with teams reviewing study guides, practicing matches and keeping up with current international events in the news.
Teams undergo 10 rounds of questions from categories such as: NATO, Asia matters for America, international trade and finance, the Sultanate of Oman, privacy in the digital age, the Arctic, food security, the Organization of American States and other current events.
“We trained once a week and I was shocked when I first came in at how prepared they already were,” said Ashwood.
“These are the smartest kids that I have ever met in my life, so that made my job of a coach so easy. I had to make questions for them and I would pull 10 questions a week from each section and they would have no trouble answering them.”
Ashwood will continue coaching the team to prepare them for the national competition in April, and will be accompanying the MLK team to Washington, D.C., as well.
“The Martin Luther King High School students were ready and did a great job against very tough competition,” said Patrick Ryan, president of the Tennessee World Affairs Council.
The winners of competitions from the 96 independent councils around the country will meet in a match organized by WACA at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on April 23.
The Tennessee WorldQuest winners from MLK will also have a full schedule of visits to international affairs related venues like embassies, think tanks, Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, NGOs and other destinations where they will gain insight into the world of foreign affairs.
For more information on the Tennessee World Affairs Council and Academic WorldQuest visit: www.tnwac.org/programs/worldquest/.