Riverview High students headed to National History Bowl April 22-24

Teams brought home their third district title in late January

Members of the Riverview High History Bowl teams are (front row, from left) Kaitlin Viera, Jaime Velez, coach/teacher Don Baeszler, Talon DiPiazza, Fahim Chowdhury, Stephanie Peak, Cullen Bolkey, Paige Levanti and Mike Feltovic; (back row, from left) Joseph Klens, Thomas Childers, Joseph Bratcher, Alessandro Gianinni, Jarek Maleszka, Trey Buckman, Brendan O'Donnell and Sanket Manjesh. Contributed photo
Members of the Riverview High History Bowl teams are (front row, from left) Kaitlin Viera, Jaime Velez, coach/teacher Don Baeszler, Talon DiPiazza, Fahim Chowdhury, Stephanie Peak, Cullen Bolkey, Paige Levanti and Mike Feltovic; (back row, from left) Joseph Klens, Thomas Childers, Joseph Bratcher, Alessandro Gianinni, Jarek Maleszka, Trey Buckman, Brendan O’Donnell and Sanket Manjesh. Contributed photo

The Riverview High School (RHS) History Bowl teams are headed to the National History Bee & Bowl in Washington, D.C. April 22-24, pending School Board approval of the trip, the Sarasota County School District has announced.

In late January, RHS teams competed in the 2016 Central Florida Winter National History Bee at Largo High School in Largo, winning their third district title and qualifying them to compete in the national contest, a news release says.

Riverview students vied against teams from the private schools Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa, Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park and St. James Cathedral School in Orlando; charter school Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School in Tampa; “and traditional public schools with a strong record of competition, including Tampa’s Hillsborough High and Freedom High,” the release adds.

The Freshman Junior Varsity team, led by Trey Buckman, compiled a 3-2 record in the competition and went into the playoffs, losing to Riverview’s own Sophomore JV team, the release notes. The sophomore team of Jaime Velez (captain), Cullen Bolkey, Sanket Manjesh and Paul Steven Hutchinson Maltaghati went 4-1 and swept through the playoffs, winning its third consecutive District History Bowl title, the release adds.

The overall team coach is teacher Don Baeszler; the overall student captain is Paige Levanti.

Riverview High School is located at 1 Ram Way in Sarasota.