Scholastic Bowl is one of the most intense (and only) trivia opportunities for high schoolers, but last week,TFS staff members Caroline Gerber, Lindsey Kozel, Ian Fickes-Wagaw, Saige Joseph, and Mary Plotner competed head to head against Scholastic Bowl members. 

Scholastic Bowl is a place where students can showcase their knowledge of all kinds of topics. There is both a Varsity and JV team that competes in tournaments against other schools in the area.

“It’s an IHSA sanctioned activity, so we have a conference just like most sports do. We compete against seven other schools in the area. We even compete in the IHSA State series in March,” varsity coach Mrs. Laura Grigg said. 

A meet starts with a toss up question where either team can buzz in to answer at any point. If that question is answered correctly that same team then gets three bonus questions on the same topic. This process then repeats 16 times in a typical meet. 

“Everyone has their own strengths in terms of what they know and what subject they know. I prefer the history and the social studies related questions,” junior Brady Gamrath said. 

Not all team members have to be good at every category. Ranging from Science to Fine Arts questions cater to different people. 

“You don’t have to be really smart in all the subjects to be in Scholastic Bowl–you can be a subject specialist,” Grigg said. 

As a team sport, it requires working together to get the most questions right. 

“If there’s something you specialize in, you make a good team,” Grigg said. 

Senior MG King is the captain of Scholastic Bowl, and said being on the team has “broadened my mind in many other subjects” when it comes to the takeaways.

“It totally reframed the way I think about learning stuff. When I learn new things, my mind starts formatting them in terms of scholastic bowl questions,” King said. “I learn a fact, and I’m like, ‘How would they ask about this in scholastic bowl?’” 

Even though the team’s season ended right before spring break, they get together every week to practice during the season. 

“The practices are fun, just answering questions and getting into random discussions and little tangents afterwards,” Gamrath said. 

Scholastic Bowl is an environment where you can put your knowledge to the test, said King.

“You don’t know how little you know about the things you love until you do Scholastic Bowl,” King said.