On Thursday, it was my honor to visit Urbana High and present the school’s Academic Team with its first-place award from winning the 40th annual Frederick County Academic Tournament.

Simply having the tournament at all this year was cause for celebration and required planning and ingenuity.

For 39 years, the Academic Tournament was an in-person competition, a chance to match wits with peers from throughout the county. This year, coordinators chose a virtual option. They successfully executed it from the first match to the tournament final during the winter months when our area was facing a daunting challenge from the global health crisis.

We even found a way to broadcast the competitions on YouTube so supporters could tune in and view the competition.

I am delighted students are resuming beloved extracurricular activities again in person. Our fall high school athletics season is underway. Student athletes are allowed to invite a limited number of spectators.

For those who cannot attend, they can still tune in, just like the Academic Tournament supporters could this winter. Each school has its own dedicated YouTube page, where they can livestream athletic events to the entire community.

I hope you have the opportunity to view these livestreamed events as athletics continue countywide. The full list of YouTube channels is available online on our athletics webpage.

Plans are also underway for spring concerts and theatre performances. Watch for more information in the weeks ahead.

And don’t forget to “virtually visit” the amazing display of artwork created by our talented FCPS students. We appreciate the Delaplaine Center making this virtual gallery available for our community. 

Speaking of virtual offerings, FCPS is planning to livestream in-person high school graduations later this spring to maximize our audience when social distancing requirements limit large gatherings. We will provide more details on graduations in the weeks to come.

In the meantime, best of luck to all of our students in their extracurricular pursuits. Thank you, once again, to Academic Tournament coordinators Beth Strakonsky and Kelly Misner, along with moderator Eric Reickel, for helping to lead the way.