Keith Country Day School, today has announced that Saketh Dontaraju ranked in the top-one percent of players at the National Academic Quiz Tournaments’ (NAQT) 2019 Middle School National Championship Tournament held May 10-12 at Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Rosemont, IL. Dontaraju, an eighth grader at Keith School, placed 12th out of the 919 competing students.
Players are ranked by their PP20TUH (points per 20 tossups heard) in the preliminary rounds of the tournament. Ties are broken by their power percentage (P%). The tournament All-Stars, based on performance over the eight preliminary games, can be found here.
“This is a tremendous achievement for Saketh and we are proud of his success,” said Kristin Burns, History Chair and Quizbowl Coach at Keith School. “He is incredibly talented and we’re lucky to have him as a member of our Keith School family.”
NAQT is the preeminent quiz bowl tournament provider in the U.S. It provides a standardized, nationwide competition format that is open to all middle schools, high schools, home school collectives, community colleges and colleges. Schools from all 50 states compete using their tournament sets each year. Keith has participated in the National tournament for the last seven years.
In addition to this exciting achievement, Dontaraju was recently honored as the national player of the week and No. 1 individual scorer at the Gladiator Fall Tournament in Elm Grove, WI, on Nov. 10, 2018. He is the team’s captain and has competed in 11 NAQT tournaments since he began in fifth grade.
Quiz Bowl/Scholastic Bowl is just one of the many academic teams and student interest clubs available to Keith Middle and High School students. Its quiz-bowl format is designed to encourage and promote academic excellence and teamwork.
About NAQT
National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC, organizes the premier middle school, high school, community college, and college national quiz bowl championships in North America. NAQT was founded in 1996 by a group of former players. Those competitors — including several national champions — are now college professors, high school teachers, lawyers, engineers, software developers, physicians, and research scientists who make time to promote and improve the fast-paced question-and-answer game that was an important part of their lives. In addition to its national championships, NAQT provides questions to invitational tournaments and league championships throughout the year as well as television shows and online games.
About Keith Country Day School
Celebrating more than 100 years of educating children, Keith Country Day School proudly stands as the premier college-preparatory school in the northern Illinois region. Keith has a rich tradition of preparing students from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 in academic rigor, character development and leadership skills. Keith’s mission is to prepare children for lives of meaning and purpose.
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