Most 8th grade students play video games or watch T.V. during their spare time, while Enzo Cunanan reads history books.

  Enzo Cunanan, an 8th grader who attends Trinity and has all A’s in school, but after school, Enzo participates on the middle school history bee and bowl team. Enzo has also won the last two History Bee competitions he competed in which took place over the last two years.

  After Enzo was born, he was diagnosed with autism but it never seemed as a challenge to him. In fact, he see’s it as an advantage and not an obstacle.

  “You know when in LMS class, Coach Sukup’s slides go by really fast, I seem understand it. It’s kind of like “jibber jabber” and that’s why I speak so fast,” Enzo said. “It’s not because of fear or nervousness, it’s just because my autism let’s me understand think in a faster frequency than normal kids. To my peers it may seem as a disability, but to me I look at it as a blessing in disguise.”  

   Before Enzo came to Trinity, he felt alone. Everything changed for Enzo when he came to Trinity in the 6th grade. “I finally felt normal and that is something I haven’t ever felt in my life,” Enzo said.

  Enzo was living a normal life for himself until one day at middle school assembly, Mr. Keith announced a middle school History Bowl team and he also asked for people to compete in the History Bee.

   The History Bee competition is an individual history competition while the History Bowl competition is a team-based history competition divided into 4 rounds, but only the 3rd round is timed. The way it works is that each round is a series of questions that can be answered by the team, but in the 3rd round you are introduced with a topic and you only have 1 minute to answer 8 questions and write the answers on a piece of paper which involves the whole team.

  Enzo became interested in joining and he wanted to try it out. All Enzo wanted out of the experience was to just see how he would do and to just have fun, but he got much more than he expected.

  Enzo then went on to win two National History Bee’s in the middle school division and one International History Bee. For Trinity Prep’s first 2 years of having a History Bee and Bowl team, it was a major success for Mr. Keith and Enzo.

  However for Trinity, their success was becoming a one man show ran by Enzo Cunanan. In the two years of Trinity participating in the National History Bowl, the closest they came to winning the whole competition was coming in 3rd place in 2015.

  In Enzo’s experience of competing in the History Bowl, it can get very nerve racking at times.

  “Overall when competing, it’s been ok”,  Enzo said. “When someone get’s a point, I get very anxious, and fear comes into place”

  “It almost feels like all the pressure is on me to get the question right and I get really nervous. That’s when my autism kicks in and brings anxiety,” Enzo said. “I remember a time that happened when I was competing, and that’s when Mr. Keith saved me. All he did was give me a brief talk, comfort me, and I was ready to compete again.”

  Well according to Enzo he doesn’t think the History Bowl is his thing but in Mr. Keith’s mind, Enzo is something else.

  “In any history competition, Enzo is a force to be reckoned with”, Mr Keith said. When Mr. Keith watches Enzo compete, he described it as an inspiring experience and that’s one of the reason’s why Mr. Keith loves coaching Enzo.

   Mr. Keith thinks of Enzo as one of his own and he believes as a bright future in for the years to come whether it’s related to History or something else.

  In the meantime, Enzo is currently playing for the J.V., Varsity, and Middle School history teams and so far Mr. Stewart loves coaching Enzo.

“ For Enzo his future is bright and I hope he does something with it,” Mr. Stewart said.

   Enzo still has a lifetime of history competitions and at this rate it seems that he set an inspirational mark on everyone in Trinity Prep.