User:Academic Challenger
My name is Skylar Covich. I have been totally blind since birth, and began editing Wikipedia at the age of 16 in 2003. My user name comes from the name of a high school TV game show I was on. I have been an administrator since 2004, and was very active until starting graduate school in 2009. Throughout that time, I created about 1000 articles, on subjects including American and world politics and political history, religion, literature, music, and blindness organizations/companies. I also improved the content of many other articles on those subjects. As an administrator, I was at one time among the most active New Page patrollers, speedily deleting thousands of pages which were indisputably inappropriate. I additionally reverted vandalism, and disciplined problematic users while mentoring new good contributors.
I have sporadically edited since 2009, and renewed my commitment to the free knowledge movement in 2019 when WikiBlind was founded. I and another prolific blind editor now seek to recruit new blind editors to Wikipedia and also improve the content of articles around blindness.
I have always exclusively used the Job Access With Speech software for editing.
I earned my BA from Saint Mary's College of California in 2009 and my Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2017. I taught college political science courses for nearly 10 years. Currently I work in the field of access technology, for the Braille Institute.
I live with my wife Theresa and sons Peter and Andrew in Santa Barbara, California. I enjoy playing and listening to music, having played piano since an early age, clarinet throughout middle and high school, and later singing in my Catholic church choir.
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My Awards
For your many contributions on political figures world-wide, I award you this barnstar. Isomorphic
For fighting vandals above and beyond the call of duty, I hereby award you this Barnstar.--FWDixon 13:19, 23 August 2005 (UTC)
I, V. Molotov, hereby give you this Working Man's Barnstar for taking out the garbage in Wikipedia.
File:Working Man's Barnstar.png
Take care, Molotov (talk) File:Flag of California.svg 18:58, 20 September 2005 (UTC)
For fighting vandals above and beyond the call of duty, I hereby award you this Barnstar.-- Vufors 07:38, 5 February 2006 (UTC)
For fighting vandals above and beyond the call of duty, I hereby award you this Barnstar.-- Arhain 08:37, 5 February 2006 (UTC)
For fighting vandals above and beyond the call of duty, I hereby award you this Barnstar.-- Doobi18 07:38, 5 February 2006 (UTC)
For fighting vandals above and beyond the call of duty, I hereby award you this Barnstar.--
Howdyhody 10:27, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
For being self-important and conceited, I award you this barnstar.--68.4.58.77 00:22, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
| File:Barnstar of Reversion2.png | The RickK Anti-Vandalism Barnstar | |
| I award you this barnstar for all the reasons everyone else did Earth KING 23:15, 16 May 2006 (UTC) |
| File:Editors Barnstar.png | The Editor's Barnstar | |
| For removing 9000+ unencyclopedically unworthy pages from Wikipedia and helping to keep the encyclopedia in a healthy state - As a new admin, I can certainly attest to the unappetizing nature of this hard work (clearing CSD). Regards, Blnguyen |
| File:Barnstar of Reversion2.png | The RickK Anti-Vandalism Barnstar | |
| I award you this barnstar for your tireless ongoing efforts in countering vandalism on Wikipedia - every time I seem to go to revert something, you always seem to beat me! Keep up the great work in keeping Wikipedia in pristine condition. Daniel.Bryant (aka Killfest2) 05:18, 12 July 2006 (UTC) |
| File:Barnstar of Reversion2.png | The RickK Anti-Vandalism Barnstar | |
| For leaving your personal thoughts and opinions at the door and working against vandalism of the Prussian Blue (duo) article by a vandal with whom others may have sympathized. Regards, Nick—Contact/Contribs 03:28, 26 September 2006 (UTC) |
| File:Surreal Barnstar.png | The Surreal Barnstar | |
| For helping me with editing when I was first introduced to Wikipedia. Thank you. Sharkface217 00:46, 31 October 2006 (UTC) |
by Pedia-I Project Jesus
(Explanation and Disclaimer)
| File:Barnstar of Reversion2.png | The RickK Anti-Vandalism Barnstar | |
| I Kevin Kahle 03:38, 4 February 2007 (UTC)Kevin Kahle give you this banstar for helping stop vandalism on Wikipedia! |
Thanks for the rv on my user page, mate! 〈REDVEЯS〉 21:32, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
| File:Barnstar of Reversion2.png | The RickK Anti-Vandalism Barnstar | |
| For continuing your sterling efforts fighting vandals, I hereby award you this barnstar. Colds7ream 09:21, 28 March 2007 (UTC) |
| File:Barnstar of Reversion2.png | The RickK Anti-Vandalism Barnstar | |
| Everywhere I go, especially WP:AIV, Academic Challenger is always there, helping out and blocking vandals. He does an amazing job, and I don't know what AIV would do without him! Thanks for reverting vandalism and making Wikipedia even better then it already is! Chickyfuzz14(user talk) 05:28, 7 June 2007 (UTC) |
| File:SpecialBarnstar.png | The Special Barnstar | |
| Jackrm is awarding Academic Challenger a Special Barnstar for being a great admin at times when there is a low ammount of active admins due to the time, and for deleting those darn nonsense pages! → jacĸrм ( talk | sign ) 07:56, 30 August 2007 (UTC) |
| File:Original Barnstar.png | The Original Barnstar | |
| Good job.The4532 (talk) 17:04, 11 December 2007 (UTC) |
| Thank you for participating in my RfA! It was closed as successful with 58 supporting, 0 opposing, and 2 neutral. I hope to demonstrate that your trust in me is rightly placed and am always open to critiques and suggestions. Cheers. MBisanz talk 04:33, 16 February 2008 (UTC) |
| File:WikiDefender Barnstar.png | The Mighty Defender of the Wiki Barnstar | |
| In recognition & thanks for your heroic efforts in fighting vandals, improving all Wikipedia articles and adding to our sum of knowledge! Dreadstar † 16:14, 27 April 2008 (UTC) |
| File:Working Man's Barnstar.png | The Working Man's Barnstar | |
| I am awarding this because you are an administrator. Thank you for all that you do. LAAFansign review 23:26, 21 September 2008 (UTC) |
| File:SombreroBarnstar.png | El Sombrero Barnstar Award | |
| You deserve this award for contributing to content of interest to the Latinos WikiProject. Outstanding contributions are generally about articles pertaining to Latinos and/or Hispanics in the United States as well as articles about Latin America. LatinoMuslim 02:13, 2 November 2008 (UTC) |
| File:SpecialBarnstar.png | The Special Barnstar | |
| You're a really good general contributer to Wikipedia! Keep up the good work! Advanceforward (talk) 12:44, 3 May 2009 (UTC) |
| File:Admin Barnstar.png | The Administrator's Barnstar | |
| For dealing with my reports to AIV so efficiently. Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 22:15, 16 August 2009 (UTC) |
| File:Original Barnstar Hires.png | The Original Barnstar |
| I dont understand why you are saying that my wikipedia post is an advert. Its not an advert.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_architectural_plan_local_authority_approval A4architect (talk) 09:31, 18 February 2012 (UTC) |
| File:WikiDefender Barnstar Hires.png | The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar |
| learn to tolerate the need for the world to get information in a fair manner. Refrain from selective wikipedia publishing of info. A4architect (talk) 09:40, 18 February 2012 (UTC) |
