The school’s Quiz Bowl team, founded one year ago by co-captains Cooper Roh ’22, Jack McGlinn ’22, and Yihan Ding ’22, recently earned second place trophies at the Vermont State Championships and the National History Bowl.
On Saturday, December 7, the four-member team – consisting of the three captains and Sachin Umashankar ’21 – and coach Mr. Eric Stone, instructor in mathematics, set off on a four-hour journey to the University of Pennsylvania to compete against dozens of other top teams from across the East Coast.
Three practices a week leading up to the tournament required a significant commitment from the competitors. Roh said, “Studying for Quiz Bowl demands a lot. For example, studying to prepare for literature questions can entail reading an entire book.”
The team came 6th out of 9 teams, garnering a record of three wins and five losses. Roh came in 3rd place for top-scoring individuals. Questions, which were at the college novice level, were drawn from topics including history, literature, science, religion, and math. Roh said, “Buzzing in on a question on its first line, especially at a college-level tournament, is incredibly risky, but also incredibly rewarding. There is always the fear of getting questions wrong, since points are deducted for incorrect answers. All it takes is one wrong buzz to lose a game, in many cases.”
Last week, the team hosted an Olympian vs. Pythian trivia competition on Wednesday, December 4 in the Student Center. Ten different teams competed for Olympians vs. Pythians points as well as food prizes.
The team will hold more pub-style trivia competitions on January 8, January 22, and February 5. It also holds weekly open practices for anyone interested in joining, on Sunday afternoons in the SACR.