The RM varsity quiz bowl team made the long, multihour drive to John Hopkins University April 4 for the national qualifying tournament. The top two teams of the day would be eligible to compete at Nationals. 

The expectations this year were set high last year. The RM quiz bowl team has qualified for nationals every year since social studies teacher Nathaniel Mason became the sponsor. “Historically we’ve done well [at nationals]. We’ve been top 5 before,” Mr. Mason said.

In the first stage of the tournament, RM went 7-0 and was undefeated. Over the course of 11 total rounds, RM came tied in second in points and qualified for nationals. Highlights included a score of  440 to 90 against Gunston High school and a tiebreaking match for second against Poolsville, which RM unfortunately lost.

Nationals was held on May 23 in Atlanta, Ga. The RM team placed 33rd out of more than 300 teams, matching their record from last year. 

Sophomore Michael Chen, a member of the RM quizbowl team, was very confident that his team would qualify. “The seniors left, so this year we had a slightly different team, but overall it was the same,” he said. 

According to Senecio Morales, the president of the John Hopkins quiz bowl team and organizer of the tournament, question sets were modeled after college questions to prepare teams for the harder questions of the national championships. 

In the tournament, teams competed head to head in a round robin format. In a round of quizbowl, moderators present a question and the first team to buzz in with a response gains points. Questions are in a wide range of categories. “One can be African American art history, and then the next question could be about the Seattle Seahawks,” Teddy Burger, a Gunston High School quiz bowl competitor, said. 

Because of its wide range of questions, quiz bowl may seem like random trivia. However, John Lewis, Gunston High School’s coach, had a different view. “Quiz bowl is much more focused on foundational knowledge and concepts across a range of intellectual disciplines,” Lewis said. 

Chen agreed with this perspective. “In a way, [it’s]like trivia and Jeopardy, but it’s more academic,” Chen said. “If you only know random trivia about video games, you will get one question per tournament maybe.”

But why are participants choosing this to spend their Saturday afternoons in the basement of a John Hopkins building? For many, one of quiz bowl’s main appeals is learning about topics covered in quiz bowl. “It’s a good way to reinforce stuff you already know and, by osmosis, get exposure to a lot of cool things that I wouldn’t have otherwise known about,” Eric Morshed, a moderator at the tournament, said. “People who are curious in general tend to gravitate towards quiz bowl.” 

For Michael Chen, quiz bowl has had a practical impact. “It really helped me learn a lot of APUSH… because I knew about the stuff I learned from quiz bowl,” Chen said. “I didn’t study for the exam at all, and because I knew about the stuff I learned from quiz bowl, it was really easy.” 

For others, quiz bowl provides a community that is accepting and fun to be in. “It’s a very good social event, because, shocking everyone, quiz bowl students don’t tend to be the most social animals.” Mr. Mason said. “You get to hang out with people that … like doing this weird thing with you.” Student participants in quiz bowl affirmed Mr. Mason’s statement. “Really, the best part is, you get to meet a lot of new people,” Morales said. 

Parents of student competitors from St. Anselm’s recalled a memorable story of buying a bag of chips for their child, who began to share them with the rest of his team when they got questions correct. “And then, when the other team started getting questions right, he’d give them a chip. By the end of the round, we were cracking up, like having a really good time,” the parent said. 

Quiz bowl’s competitiveness is also a drawing factor. “I think quiz bowl is a great way to measure yourself [against other competitors],” Lewis said. 

Within the quizbowl community, opinions on its helpfulness in college applications differ. 

“It’s definitely going to be part of my application,” one Gunston student said. 

“It is really good for college applications,” Chen said. “I’m pretty sure every senior last year, other than one of them, got into an Ivy.” 

When asked about quiz bowl’s helpfulness in getting into college, Mr. Mason had a very firm stance. “I don’t know and I don’t care. That’s not the most important,” he said.