A team will only be successful if every member does their part. If just a couple of team members are using their skills and the others are not, the team as a whole will not be able to reach its full potential. Owen Hall is a member of the Perry High School Academic Team and says that having people with knowledge on different topics has been important for the team.

“It helps to have people with very diverse and different pieces of knowledge,” he said. “Another key is to buzz as much as possible, which seems obvious, but people will often be reluctant for fear of getting the question wrong.”

Hall is in his junior year and says that whenever competition time comes around, he is proud to compete for his school.

“Representing the school is a huge part of the Academic Team,” Hall said. “It means a lot to be able to do well at the meets for Perry.”

During his life, there have been a few people that have been influential on Owen’s life, but he has a few that have made a bigger impact.

“My parents are probably my biggest role models,” he said. “They have always been supportive in everything that I do. I also look up to my older brother who has taught me a lot about growing up. My fourth-grade science teacher is a teacher I will always list as one of the most impactful teachers I have had. She would find a way to tie whatever she was teaching into our lives and didn’t just make it about science, which I really appreciated.”

During his time on the team, Hall has had some memorable moments, but he says a come-from-behind victory is probably his favorite.

The highlight moment for me was when we were down a few questions going into a lightning round,” he recalled. “I ended up getting 9/10 questions right. It was a super exciting moment and we ended up beating the other team.”

Along with the Academic Team, Owen is also a part of the basketball and golf teams, the Gifted and Talented program, and the National Honor Society.