They may be beginners, and they may not have gone to many competitions (thanks, Iowa winter weather), but they had fun and learned a lot! Thus, was the story of the Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Quiz Bowl team this past year.
While quiz bowl is a pretty popular school activity nationwide and even in some bigger Iowa school, many people may not be familiar with it in this area. An explanation of the activity is likely required. The Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence describes quiz bowl as follows: “Quiz bowl is a competition where teams of players use a buzzer system to score points for their team by answering questions on a wide range of academic topics.”
So quiz bowl sounds a bit like Jeopardy! Team advisor Trish Hamski, who teaches chemistry, physics, and STEM at CGD High School, also adds a little to the explanation of quiz bowl. “It involves two teams of up to four students going head to head. There are twenty questions in each game with bonus questions as follow-ups.” She adds that subjects her students have encountered in competitions include literature, art, history, geography, science, and math among others.
Quiz bowl in Iowa may not be as well-known as other extra-curriculars, but it is something that many schools participate in. Schools like Dubuque, Waukee, and Ankeny field teams. CGD senior Briar Boll, who was on the team this year, said that some schools have multiple teams, with A, B, and C squads. Hamski added that the state finals are even aired on Iowa Public Television.
The advisor said that CGD’s history with quiz bowl originated with the science club that she also advices and a group that is fondly referred to as the “Nerd Herd.” Several students transitioned from participating in Science Bowl activities to trying quiz bowl. Hamski said there were seven students who got in on the quiz bowl action this season.
Over the last several months, the local team was only able to participate in a couple competitions, attending one held at Bishop Garrigan in Algona and another, the Iowa Quiz Bowl Winter Open, in Clive last month. While wins at those competitions were hard to come, the local team said they were learning experiences. Senior Courtney Harle who attended the earlier competition said, “It was a combination of stress and fun. It was stressful to try and beat the other teams to answering the questions.” Boll added that the bigger schools have been competing for years and are fierce competition.
Both Harle and Boll said that they were also fun to participate in. “I really enjoyed. The other teams were really respectful and nice,” Boll affirmed. Harle stated, “My favorite part was working with my teammates and realizing how diverse our knowledge was. For instance, we answered questions about chemistry, biology, U.S. state abbreviations, Spanish, literature, and many other areas.”
In the end, all the parties involved said that quiz bowl is a great activity and hope to see it continue at CGD. Even though they will graduate this year and thus won’t be participating next year, both seniors said they found their quiz bowl time to be fun and valuable. Boll suggested, “It was an interesting experience. I recommend it because, although not everyone is good at a sport, everyone does know a little trivia.” Harle agreed, noting, “I would definitely recommend other students try quiz bowl! It is super fun to show-off random information that you know, and it's great opportunity to learn new facts.”
