Forsyth County Middle School Team Wins Back-to-Back State Academic Bowl Title

Three Riverwatch Middle School students have now done something no other Forsyth County middle schoolers have accomplished in consecutive years: stood in an auditorium at Georgia College and State University holding a state Academic Bowl championship trophy. David Bai, Cameron Vance, and Suchet Kuturu, who helped Riverwatch claim the 2025 PAGE Academic Bowl for Middle Grades State Championship, returned to Milledgeville on March 28 and did it again. They were joined this year by six new competitors: Doris Bai, Shreyas Devagupthapu, Vihan Devagupthapu, Nathan Li, Pranav Sivakumar, and Presley Vance. Coaches Ann Hicks and Laura Jopling directed the nine-member squad.

Forsyth County owned two spots on the podium. South Forsyth Middle School finished third, with Howard Middle School from Atlanta Public Schools taking runner-up between them. Forsyth schools claimed both the top and bronze positions at a statewide field.

The Milledgeville competition runs in two phases: a morning round-robin against multiple opponents, followed by a high-stakes double-elimination bracket in the afternoon. Academic Bowl tests students across science, geography, history, literature, math, art, music, current events, and sports, meaning the roster carries no specialists. Every player must cover everything.

Riverwatch's team builds that breadth through weekly practices. Defending a state title is a distinctly harder task than winning one for the first time. Of the nine students who competed March 28, only Bai, Vance, and Kuturu were also on last year's championship roster, which means Hicks and Jopling rebuilt the majority of the lineup while keeping that core intact. The three returners bring an edge that cannot be replicated in practice: they know what winning feels like.

That experience will matter at the National Academic Quiz Tournaments Middle School National Championship Tournament, scheduled for May 8-10 at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont, Illinois. Last year's field drew 160 teams from across the country competing across 21 rounds. Riverwatch will face that national field as defending Georgia state champions.

Getting a nine-student, two-coach squad from Suwanee to the Chicago area for a three-day tournament involves real costs: registration fees, flights or ground transport, and three nights at a Chicago-area hotel. Families and community members who want to support the team's national run can contact Riverwatch Middle School directly through riverwatchms.forsyth.k12.ga.us. Community support helped make the trip possible last year; the school is preparing to do it again.

Riverwatch ranks first among all 11 ranked middle schools in the Forsyth County School District and in the top 1% of Georgia middle schools overall. Back-to-back state championships, with a largely rebuilt roster, are the clearest possible measure of what that ranking actually means on the floor.