Four Wayne City High School Juniors and Seniors placed in three categories at the Rend Lake ACES Regionals, qualifying them for Sectionals. A.C.E.S., or Academic Challenge in Engineering and Science, sponsored by Eastern Illinois University is an academic competition in categories of math, English, science, and computer science. Klaire Stich, Kenna Anselment, Liam Smith, and Andre Maguet each placed first or second at the Rend Lake Regionals on February 7 and went forward to the Sectionals tournament at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Klaire Stich and Andre Maguet tied for second in Physics, Kenna Anselment placed second in Math, and Liam Smith placed first in both Math and Physics in the sub-300 division at Regionals. The Sectionals tournament on March 13 saw both Liam Smith and Andre Maguet placing second and first respectively.  Coach Jessica Fagan stated, ¨I am incredibly proud that we even had students qualified for Sectionals. It is great because Wayne City hasn’t had a student make it to State is the first time in at least 10 years, much less two.¨

This qualified them for the state competition at EIU on April 9. Unfortunately, neither would win any awards at State. Their overall test placements have yet to be published as of the writing of this article. Smith stated,”I am happy we made it that far and although it is sad we did not place, I do not know if I would even want to go another time.”