His affection for trivia led senior Grant Beck to explore a new activity before he graduated from Bridgewater-Raritan High School.
During his scholastic tenure, Beck devoted much of his extracurricular time to performing on stage with the highly popular Bridgewater-Raritan Theatre Arts program.
But he stated:
“I began branching out.”
That desire to discover a new club and some friendly advice resulted in Beck becoming a key member of arguably one of the most accomplished after-school groups at Bridgewater-Raritan High School—the Academic League Team, the Somerset County champion in 2024.
Ten high schools compete weekly in the Somerset County Academic League, which provides a field of questions that students in small groups–usually three to four per school– must answer correctly to earn points.
The competition is broken into two parts of the trivia-type game, each with 14 categories. Students are asked the questions by their school’s team advisor and coach. The questions cover various subjects such as literature, sports, entertainment, sciences, history, arts, and government.
Bridgewater-Raritan’s Academic League Team is directed by its advisor, Dr. Eleni Arapaki, the high school's AP Physics 1 and 2 Teacher.
Each of the 10 high schools serves as a host for one of the weekly competitions during the winter season. The 10 Somerset County high schools converged at the Bridgewater-Raritan campus on Thursday, December 12, to compete in rooms located in the 1000 Building.
That day, host Bridgewater-Raritan improved to 2-0 when it swept past Rutgers Preparatory School—-207-150 on the varsity level and 210-140 in the junior varsity match.
Bridgewater-Raritan opened the 2024-2025 season on Thursday, December 5, against Somerville High School when it scored a 170-145 triumph in the varsity match and 185-147.5 on the JV in the competition held at Hillsborough High School.
Bridgewater-Raritan closed the first semester on Thursday, December 19, with a sweep against Ridge High School, 225-180 in the varsity match and 190-187.5 in the JV competition at Bound Brook High School. The next game for Bridgewater-Raritan is slated for Thursday, January 9, at the Gill St. Bernard's School against Bound Brook.
The 3-0 start has delivered a dose of confidence in Dr. Arapaki, who believes this year’s group of sharp students can repeat as the varsity champion of Somerset County.
Last winter, Bridgewater-Raritan and Montgomery High School each finished with an 8-1 record to share the Somerset County Academic League varsity title. Bridgewater-Raritan’s JV team was the Somerset County runner-up to Hillsborough last season.
“Yes, we can win again,” Dr. Arapaki claimed.
Her new addition, Beck, and three astute students from last year’s JV team, senior Foteini Gallou, junior Ethan Pear and sophomore Jasmine Young, form this year’s undefeated varsity unit.
This year's unbeaten JV team consists of juniors Arjun Agarwala, Navneet Kalatheeswaran, and Anika Seshan, sophomores Joshephine Ethier and Rohan Venugopal, and freshman Constantinos Gallos
Their enjoyment matches their success.
“I heard about the Academic League Team from Tim Gaffney ( a Class of 2024 student who competed on last year’s Somerset County championship group),” Grant said. “It sounded like fun and I like trivia."
“It is fun and challenging,” Young added.
“It is right up my alley,’ Beck concluded.