Teams from North Atlanta have won many victories this year but it’s doubtful that any of them secured their championship crown in a glorious victory televised on local TV. Did you see them? Those brainiac, quiz-master Dubs on WSB 2? The North Atlanta “High Q” team recently took top honors — besting 30 other top-flight high schools in the state — to win the fast-paced trivia game show crown on May 12.

“High Q” is a game show that sees high school trivia teams compete against each other in duel of wits. Competitors have to answer various academic trivia questions faster than their opponents and members of competitive teams have to showcase encyclopedic knowledge, instant recall and lightning-fast reflexes. Questions can come from about any source and subjects include literature, science, geography, music and politics.   

North Atlanta’s team consists of juniors Devon Gates, Jake Churchill, Quint Gfroerer and Ishaan Ghosh. The quartet handily advanced through early “High Q” rounds and ultimately wound up in a pitched final-round battle against Wheeler High School. The North Atlanta victory was a historic event and marked a return to form of sorts for the Buckhead-bases school. A Warrior team won the championship crown in 1990. This year’s team members will split the $5,000 prize money as a scholarship toward future college studies.  

Team faculty adviser Nan Hunter, a math teacher, has been counseling the group for a lengthy period of time. She’s been able to watch them grow together as a unit since they were all freshmen. “They’ve actually been working together since the eighth grade and they’ve won just about every award that there is,” said math instructor Nan Hunter, the team’s longtime faculty adviser. “Their success really points toward what happens when you bring together a lot of really smart kids and focused determination to win.”

Will the group continue on? Will they all hang their collective trivia-seeking hats up? Not a chance said Gates. ““Winning is a pretty good incentive,” she said. “But the cool thing about this is that’s a whole lot of fun. It’s exciting and it’s basically a sport. And we all like each other and that really helps.”

The group’s next challenge is a formidable one. They will now advance to the “High Q” national competition that will be held in Atlanta at the Marriott Marquis from May 25 to 27.

And there’s no reason to think they won’t perform strong against even stiffer competition. After all, when it comes to high-level academic based trivia, the answer that always comes to mind is: “North Atlanta High School.”