"We had a question one time: 'Who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo?' and the young fellow answered, 'Duke Ellington.' Another time, we had a question of 'Who along with Frederick Engel wrote the Communist Manifesto?' 'Groucho Marx,'" recalled McGarry.

The correct answers, of course, are the Duke of Wellington and Karl Marx.

Kelly Reeder knows that. She captained the Rockville High School

It's Academic

team last year. The suburban Washington-area school has won the show's championship several times.

"Me and all the other people on the team. We've put in a lot of effort over the years and a lot of time to be where we are. It's a really huge honor to end up on the A team," said Reeder. She admits, it's a little nerdy. "My friends who are on

It's Academic

think it's cool that I'm the captain of the A Team, but my friends who are not on

It's Academic

think it's kind of funny."

Reeder and her teammates reflected the diversity now common on

It's Academic

. That wasn't the case in show's early years.

"It's a reflection of the great diversity of our country. When we first started, the young people from various countries were not evident so much. Now, each program presents young people from all over the world, at least descendents from people all over the world. So this is a microcosm of the way America is today," added McGarry.

Several well-known Americans, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former astronaut Timothy Creamer, appeared on the show when they were teenagers. Perhaps one of these students from