The question: what is quiz bowl?

The answer: the newest academic organization on campus that tests the knowledge of students via trivia questions.

Just weeks after its start, the quiz bowl team made the finals of its first event at Greenhill, losing to the host school by ten points.

“The team had a great performance,” quiz bowl coach Jason Taylor said. “Especially for the first ever tournament with not knowing the rules, how to work together as a team, or any practice. It was excellent.”

Such strong results in the team’s first meet may not have been expected, but fortunately quiz bowl is a competition with simple rules.

“There are teams of four people and they ask trivia questions on all topics – English, history, sports, pop culture, literature, anything,” Taylor said. “When a student then knows the answer they buzz in by pressing a button on a buzzer system and they get a chance to answer. It’s kind of like Jeopardy but with teams.”

Making it to the finals of the first meet wasn’t anticipated, but now the team has high hopes for future tournaments.

“I was surprised we advanced as far as we did considering it was our first tournament,” junior Matthew Norwood said. “I definitely like it though, seeing how it proves we have a strong chance at being very good with practice. At the rate we’re going I expect nothing less than winning nationals this year.”

Although the team is still in its infancy and growing, it’s getting a positive review.

“Even though there aren’t too many people on the team I’m still excited,” junior John Haynes said. “So far it’s a lot of fun.”

Sample Questions
Q: What was the term for the peaceful German annexation of Austria?
A: Anschluss

Q: What is the political branch of the Irish Republican Army?
A: Sinn Fein

Q: What is the exponent denoted on a natural logarithm equation?
A: E

Q: What artist formed the cubist movement and painted the famed work “Guernica”?
A: Pablo Picasso