For the second year in a row, a group of Waiakea High School students won the Grand Prize at the 2023 Hawaii Regional Academic WorldQuest Competition hosted by the Pacific &Asian Affairs Council, or PAAC.
More than 100 students from 13 public, private and charter schools across Hawaii competed at the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus in February, and Taarini Godbole, Abigail Jensen, Claire Kildahl and Beatrice Kim-Lee emerged as the victors.
The group of students will represent Hawaii at the national competition in April, with airfare and hotel accommodations paid for when they compete in Washington, D.C.
“It feels so great to have won the state competition, especially since this is my senior year of high school,” said Godbole. “The opportunity to travel to D.C., visit national monuments, and meet students from across the country makes this experience even better.”
Godbole also was a part of last year’s winning team, along with Jensen and Kim-Lee.
“This competition has brought us so much closer as teammates and friends,” Godbole said. “Over the past two years, we have really enjoyed working together during study sessions and the competition, and we can’t wait to explore D.C. together.”
The competition is a trivia-based event with topics like autocracy vs. democracy and the future of supply chains. Each of the six categories has 10 multiple-choice questions with 60 questions total for the group. Together, they work in teams to answer in one minute or less.
“Mine were ‘Economic Sanctions — A Double-Edged Sword’ and ‘The Future of Supply Chains,’” said Godbole of her categories. “I learned about each topic in great detail through about 15 articles that analyzed different aspects and perspectives of each issue.”
Students were provided with a study guide to prepare and studied as a part of their PAAC extracurricular club or after-school classes.
“These young ladies are nothing short of amazing,” said Joel Wagner Wright, a host advisor for the Academic WorldQuest Competition at Waiakea. “They participate in a wide variety of different activities, they’re involved in student government and in different clubs, some of them are doing science fair and history day. They do a lot and are motivated and very involved.”
With just one month to study for the national competition, the pressure is on.
“There will be a whole new set of topics and different focus areas and all kinds of additional things they’ll have to study for and look at,” said Wagner Wright. “It’s a nail-biter and a bit of pressure because that’s a very short time.”
The runner-up at this year’s regional competition was a group of students from Kealakehe High School including Anna Payesko, Malina Chiddo, Andries Ferreira and Sophie McIvor.
Prizes also were awarded to students from Punahou School, Konawaena High School and Maui High School.
The competitions are organized by the World Affairs Council of America and sponsored by the Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation.
“It’s an amazing way for students who are on neighbor islands that don’t necessarily have the same kinds of access as the schools that are on Oahu,” said Wagner Wright. “It gives them an opportunity to be involved in a way that they wouldn’t otherwise have, if not for programs like the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council.”
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com.