Harvard Students Test Their Knowledge at Quiz Bowl
Rodrigo Gonzalez
On the 4,5 and 6th of January Harvard students competed with other schools in a Quiz Bowl competition that took place at North Shore Church, hosted by the ESU9 in Hastings. Everyone was very excited to demonstrate their knowledge and have fun.
Elementary school participated on the 4th. This year two teams, a 4th/5th grade team and a 5th/6th grade team took part in the competition. Their coaches, Mrs. Stacey Hofaker and Mrs. Brooke DeFrain, were just as excited as the kids.
“This is my first year coaching Quiz Bowl, and it was a blast,” said DeFrain. She talked about how usually we watch elementary and middle school students compete in athletics, and how great it was to see them compete in academics.
On the 5th the high school Quiz Bowl team competed. There were four teams, each one formed by six high school students. This were Cardinal White, Cardinal Red, Cardinal Black and Harvard Cardinals.
“It’s really fun and interesting because there are a lot of random facts,” said junior Ashley Nierman who has been in Quiz Bowl since elementary school.
She was a little disappointed with the results of the first competition, but she also thinks they have a great chance on the next one.
I’m talking about the TVC Quiz Bowl, which will take place on April 8 at Harvard.
The middle school’s turn came on the 6th. As in the past days, students learned and had a lot of fun during and in between matches with activities played in the gym. The middle school Quiz Bowl had a great day by finishing in fourth place out of 27 teams at the ESU9 competition.
Definitely this event was very well organized, and it gave students from different schools an opportunity to have fun, learn and make new friends.
Quiz Bowl is a great activity, as Mrs. DeFrain said, “The toss up questions give kids an opportunity to shine individually, and the bonus questions teach them how to discuss topics intellectually, to work as a team, and to listen and value their teammates’ input.”
From my perspective Quiz Bowl is a great activity for students. In my home country, Spain, we don’t have it, but I think we should definitely add it. This was my first time, but I had a lot of fun and learned some crazy facts. I would do it again without of doubt.
Finally, I would just like to recommend Quiz Bowl to everyone who has the possibility of joining a team. You will learn, have fun, make new friends, a lot more things. You will not regret it.