Martino Scholastic Bowl: Embracing 'Our Inner Nerds'

The Village Board welcomed "some of our brightest students in New Lenox" on Monday night when it honored the scholastic bowl team.

Mayor Tim Baldermann and the village trustees credited the students, schools and parents for the work that goes into scholastic bowl, which went 27-3 in the regular season. This month Martino became one of eight teams in Illinois to make state after 389 teams competed.

"We embraced our inner nerds," coach Jennifer Corona said. "We got nerdy."

The team is named the Prestigious Polymaths. A polymath is a "person of great and varied learning." There were 45 members on the team including seventh- and eighth-grade students. They are: 

Alexis Aguirre, Sean Curran, Rachel Dohm, Sebastian Esparza, Jack Gustafson, Jake Haubenreiser, Paulette Hipelius, Sawyer Hobbs, Alyte Katilius, Maddie McCastland, Riley McLaughlin, Angeina McNulty, Aaron Michalack, Mike Mikolajczak, Gillan Nevins, Madison Smith, Olivia Smith, Jacob Stoltz, Jalayna VanderVelde, Connor Watson and Emma Zmuda.

Members who attended the regionals, sectionals and state tournaments were: Alyssa Boisvert, Skyler Bojan, Noah Bryles, Nathan Chianelli, Liana Chidichimo, Eric Hypke, Matt Klock, Mike Kulinski, Matthew Murphy, Nate Rosendale, Molly Schmitt, Meghan Sieja, Jared Thomson, Kevin Triner, Allie Wesel, Justin Yurkanin and Peter Kolyvas. 

The team is also scheduled to be honored during the District 122 school board meeting, which is Wednesday night.