Martin Luther King, Jr. HS Takes Tennessee Global Affairs Championship

Tennessee teams take five of top seven spots in 27-team field.

The 2021 Tennessee Anne Smedinghoff Academic WorldQuest global affairs championship match was won by a team from Martin Luther King, Jr., Magnet High School in Nashville on March 7, 2021. MLK’s “Team A” bested 26 other teams in a regional match including teams from seven states with the highest score achieved in the twelve year history of Tennessee World Affairs Council championships.

The regional match and Tennessee championship team – Parwan Machingal, Mallory Queener, Michael Xie, and Xiyan Zhu, and teacher coach Katherine Prather – will represent Tennessee at the April National Championship match of World Affairs Councils of America. This is the third Tennessee WorldQuest championship for teams from Martin Luther King, Jr., Magnet High School. The students each won the first place prize of a $2,500 scholarship from CIEE, a study abroad and intercultural exchange organization.

WorldQuest is an academic competition on global affairs topics with students preparing throughout the school year for a 100-question match on ten topics, this year including subjects such as conflict resolution, post-pandemic economic outlook, fraying international alliances and current events. The championship match is typically held in person at TNWAC partner Belmont University. The 2021 competition was held virtually in cooperation with World Affairs Councils from New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Illinois.

Teams from Centennial High School in Franklin and the Randolph School in Huntsville, Alabama will also advance to the national match representing TNWAC. “The Tennessee World Affairs Council welcomes teams from around the state,” said Council President Patrick Ryan. “But we’re more concerned about getting young people connected with global affairs than what zip code they come from. So teams from Georgia and Alabama, that don’t have local World Affairs Councils, have been welcome to join our program.”

Advancing from Centennial HS are: Jacob Williams, Lenny Hanson, Lia Milionis and Carson Kokes and teacher/coach Cassie Bates and from the Randolph School: Marko Milenkovic, Harrison Weathington and Alex Covert and teacher coach David Hillinck.

The TNWAC WorldQuest program, in its twelfth year, engages students in global issues and topics through the competitions, weekly quizzes, and the opportunity to complete the Tennessee Global Scholars Certificate Program. In 2018 TNWAC named its WorldQuest championship in honor of the service and sacrifice of Anne Smedinghoff, a young American diplomat who was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan in 2013 while delivering school supplies. TNWAC’s student programs are led by Education Outreach Coordinator Catherine Kelly.

WorldQuest is a flagship educational outreach program of the network of 90+ World Affairs Council in the United States, a network of grassroots organizations that promote international understanding and “global literacy.” This year the United States Institute of Peace is a key sponsor of the national WorldQuest competition.

The Tennessee World Affairs Council is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational association that promotes international awareness, understanding and connections to enhance the region’s global stature and to prepare Tennesseans to thrive in our increasingly complex and connected world. To join, make a gift or for more information visit www.TNWAC.org

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS IN GLOBAL AFFAIRS AWARENESS AND EDUCATION OUTREACH

THE MISSION of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Tennessee World Affairs Council is to promote international awareness, understanding and connections to enhance the region’s global stature and to prepare Tennesseans to thrive in our increasingly complex and connected world.

THE VISION of the Tennessee World Affairs Council is a well-informed community that thinks critically about the world and the impact of global events.