Scholarbowl: Spring Cleaning

Out with the old and in with the new! Every year our school goes through a spring cleaning and that applies to our sports as well. This year the 2022 Scholarbowl team received not only new members but a new assistant coach. However, the most important upgrade is how the new Scholarbowl games are played.

Mr. Daniels, the biology, chemistry, and physics teacher, is this year’s junior varsity coach. His interest in coaching stems from his experience in debate and volunteer reading for Scholarbowl meets. Many of the Scholarbowl members are students that take his classes, so you can often find them discussing game plans and faults from past meets.

One of the members that have a class with Mr. Daniels is Cooper Durr (11). Even though this is his first year doing the sport, Cooper is one of the highest-scoring members of the team and often plays as captain. Cooper declares himself a jack-of-all-trades and the “sports” specialist. “Scholarbowl is really fun. People had asked me to do it last year but I didn’t really listen. But when I came in this year I found out that I’m not too bad at it. It’s really fun and even when I don’t get a question right, I feel smarter for the future (Cooper Durr).” Another reigning first-year member is Faith Smothers (12). Like Cooper, she is also one of the top scorers of the season. She specializes in literature and pop culture, specifically those relating to music and theater. Her talents came in handy this year as many of the game questions were towards her field.

The new NAQT (National Academic Quiz Tournament) questions are a subject of controversy for the Scholarbowl team. Some love it while others find it difficult. Questions from the previous years have been mainly math and literature related, but now the questions are predominantly culture, world history, and literature. This has stumped many of the members due to some finding their specialty isn’t as relevant as it used to be. However, this change is quite welcomed for many, because who actually likes doing math?

Sadly, like many spring cleanings, we must part with memorable things. This year 4 seniors are graduating from the team. Clayton Martin, Lucy Pham, Faith Smothers, and Curtis Lewis. “I feel as if we are almost losing an entire team full of people since we only have 6 members on varsity, we’re definitely entering the rebuilding process, but I don’t think it’s going to be too bad because our JV is decent and can improve (Cooper Durr).” This 2022 Scholarbowl season has been a rough one. A new type of game coupled with wintery weather conditions throughout the season has made it spread out and tough. Nevertheless, it’s coming to an end, so make sure to catch them at their last two matches on March 8th and 10th!