The team mascot shoots a rolled T-shirt from a special T-shirt cannon to a section of people in the stands at a basketball game. The T-shirt starts at a height of 8 feet when it leaves the cannon and 1 second later reaches a maximum height of 24 feet before coming back down to a lucky winner.

The T-shirt reaches its maximum height of 24 feet at 1 second, so the vertex form is f(t) = a(t − 1)² + 24. Since it is launched and then comes back down, the parabola opens downward; using gravity in feet per second gives a = −16. This makes f(t) = −16(t − 1)² + 24, which is choice A. It also gives f(0) = 8 feet, matching the starting height.

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.