The Scholar Bowl team is heading to nationals in the spring.
Scholar Bowl is competitive trivia with different categories and genres where participants try to answer questions faster than the other teams. Assistant coach Manabu Takahashi said Scholar Bowl encourages students to apply knowledge and work as a team under pressure.
The team saw success recently at the MCC-Maple Woods Community College tournament win.
“At the Maple Woods tournament, we finished first, so that was great,” assistant coach Manabu Takahashi said. “We’re doing quite well. We’ve been doing really well for the past three to four years. Two years ago we won conference, and this year we’ve finished in the top five or earned trophies at several tournaments.”
Senior Rory Freyermuth said the competition at the MCC-Maple Woods Community College tournament was especially challenging.
“Maple Woods is normally pretty tough because the questions are written by college professors,” Freyermuth said. “It’s very much if you know it, you know it, if you don’t, good luck.”
Even though they were faced with tough competition, the team decided not to back down.
“In the first round of the championship we were like, ‘Yeah, we’re not winning this,’” Freyermuth said. “But then the next round we got every question right, and we were just like, “Alright, let’s do this. We’re back. We can definitely win this.”
A typical Scholar Bowl tournament lasts all day. There are matches, toss-up questions and bonus questions for the scholars to attempt during the tournament.
“In the morning you play several schools, and depending on your record you get placed into brackets for the finals. There are about 20 toss-ups each game, and they have their own bonus questions,” Mendenhall said. “After a few games you usually go to lunch, then come back for the championships.”
For some students, the impact of Scholar Bowl extended beyond the tournaments.
“I’d say I know more stuff because of it,” Mendenhall said. “That helps me in classes.”
Freyermuth said the team environment has made her high-school experience more positive.
“It’s just a really welcoming community,” Freyermuth said. “Even if you mess up, your team’s still going to be there like, ‘Hey, it’s OK.’ It’s helped me find a really positive community that I never really had before, especially in a sport.”
Takahashi also believed the team was different this year.
“We have some amazing individuals,” Takahashi said. “Rory Freyermuth has been rocking it, Ryan Mendenhall is an incredible geography genius, and Katelyn Alexander is an amazing math person.”
Freyermuth agreed that the team stands out this year. They also get to compete in the national tournament which will take place in Atlanta in May.
“We’ve got a really good team,” she said. “And we’re going to nationals this year, which we’ve never done before. All the best teams from all over the nation will come and compete, it’s going to be an incredible opportunity.”
Even though the competition will be tough, the scholars are excited.
“I’m kind of excited about it,” sophomore Ryan Mendenhall said. “I’m pretty confident for it.”
Fryermuth is thankful her last tournament will be at nationals.
“If that’s going to be my last tournament, that’s what I would want it to be,” Freyermuth said. “Something that’s actually going to test how good we are.”
As nationals drew nearer, Takahashi shared that above all, he wanted the students to feel supported.
“We’re not the other type of sports where you guys can spectate and such, but even retrospectively, after a match, or if we know a competition’s coming up, please cheer the scholars and let them know that, you know, they’re doing a great job,” Takahashi said.
