World Quest at Marian

The Annual Academic World Quest Competition of 2012, sponsored by the World Affairs Council was hosted by Marian University on Feb 25. This year marks the 10th annual competition for the World Affairs Council, and Marian University has hosted this event for the past several years.


Excitement and nervousness flared as the teams prepared to display their genius on world issues. Teams from Arsenal Tech High School, East Chicago Central High School, MTI School of Knowledge, and Warren Central High School took their places with determined faces. The teams were tested on ten different topics with ten questions per topic.

The topics included focused on the top six national security issues facing the USA in the run off to the 2012 presidential election. High school students debated on US Education, US Energy Policy, US Economic Competitiveness, Middle East Affairs, Afghanistan/Pakistan, China, NATO, and Millennium Goal topics: Child Health, Azerbaijan, and Current Events.

The room remained silent as the audience watched the contestants answer tough and specific questions. With questions ranging from names of Presidents of specific countries to the percentage and ratio of certain developments in other countries, it was anybody’s game. As the judges convened to declare a winner, participants and the audience anxiously chatted as they awaited the ruling.

MTI School of Knowledge came out on top of the 2012 Academic World Quest competition. They will represent Indiana in the National Competition in Washington D.C. in April. MTI School of Knowledge, Marian’s neighboring school located at 2850 Cold Spring Rd, is a private Islamic school for students K-12th grade. MTI enjoyed its second year as regional World Quest champions as well as Indiana representatives in the national competition. They represented Indiana at Nationals in 2010 where they ranked as one of the top ten teams in the nation.

The relief, astonishment, and joy on the Muslim student’s faces were obvious for everyone to see. Sana, an 11th -grader said, “It’s a great experience because it teaches you a lot about global issues.” Other MTI contestants said they were nervous but had a great time and look forward to participating again.