From after school practices, to tournaments, to televised competitions, the Menchville Academic Team has a lot on their plate.

Kevin Murphy and Jennifer Wenska are the sponsors of the Academic Team.  They hope to provide a fun environment for students to challenge themselves and go against their peers.

For the past few years, Menchville has been participating in Battle of the Brains, a televised quiz competition on CBS6 in Richmond for academic teams in Virginia. “The knowledge doesn’t always pertain to school subjects,” says Laura Madler, a sophomore on the academic team. “You could have anything from opera to AP physics, and everything in between.”

Menchville has already won two rounds of Battle of the Brains. “Our first taping was in September and we won that one pretty easily. Then we just went back a few weeks ago. That one’s already been on TV in Richmond,” says academic team sponsor Kevin Murphy.

Menchville goes back again in March to compete against Maggie Walker Governor’s school in the quarterfinals.

The academic team has been preparing heavily for Battle of the Brains by reviewing released questions and competing against each other at Monday meetings.

“Some years we don’t have as much competition in practice so it’s good when we have more (people), which this year has been pretty good for that,” says Murphy. He also says the biggest challenge for the academic team is accommodating practice time for kids with other extracurricular activities.

Murphy hopes that Battle of the Brains will give his students something to “showcase what they’re good at.”