Walter Johnson High School defeated Holton Arms and Landon to win the It’s Academic Championship for the Washington area. Walter Johnson then went on to beat Centennial (Baltimore) and Robert E. Lee (central Virginia) high schools to become the It’s Academic Superbowl winner.

The quiz-format competition tests the knowledge of students from high schools from the Washington area, Baltimore area, and Virginia. The program, hosted for 46 years by Mac McGarry, airs on WRC, NBC- 4.

The captain of the Walter Johnson team is senior Tianhui Shen. Sophomore Daichi Ueda also played in the Washington championship and Superbowl championship games. The third team member in the Washington championship game was junior Aki Onda; for the Superbowl, it was sophomore Andi Shahu.

The It’s Academic team at Walter Johnson has been coached for 14 years by physics teacher Mark Whipple. Joan McDermott, a science teacher at the school, served as co-coach for the first time this year.

Walter Johnson also won the It’s Academic Superbowl in 2005.

The Washington area championship match airs on WRC, NBC-4, on June 30 at 10 a.m., and the It’s Academic Superbowl airs at 7 p.m. on the same date.