Loveland, Ohio – Academic team, also known as Quizbowl, is comparable to a more intense and team-based jeopardy for high school students. It involves high-level trivia, close teamwork and fierce competition. This season, Loveland has seen more success than in recent years, holding #1 in the ECC for several weeks before slipping to #3.
The sport is fairly complicated and involved. Two students operate buzzers, and a moderator asks questions and oversees the four players on each team.
“Each game has four sections. The first two are standard question rounds in which teams collaborate, the third is an alphabet round (in which all the answers must start with the same letter), and the last is a “lightning” round — more of a free for all,” explained JV academic team member and junior, Radu Vasilescu.
In round one, students compete to answer questions covering American literature, math, life science, fine arts and world history. Four students are given trivia questions, and are allowed to answer by buzzing in, as soon as they are confident in their answer .
In the first two rounds, there is an overarching topic (think jeopardy categories, but a little more broad). For example, English world literature may be Shakespearean works.
In round two, participants answer trivia involving English/world literature, government, physical science, world geography and US history. In round one and two, there are two team questions and one tossup.
For the alphabet round, players are given twenty questions, each with answers starting with the same letter. Each correct answer is worth two points. Incorrect or blank answers do not result in penalties.
“On a team question, it is designated to a certain team. They have two guesses. If they are wrong both times, the other team can steal, but they only get one guess. The toss up is a free-for-all. Either team can guess at anytime, but they only have one guess,” explained Varsity academic team player and junior, Riley Owens.
“It’s been great. The most thrilling moment was with Kings. They had a really good guy who was virtually their entire team. We got really intimidated the first game, but we brought it back together the second game,” explained academic team member, Riley Owens.
“The best moment was probably rallying against Kings. We were losing quite a bit in the first match, but then they pulled it together in the second match and did an outstanding job. I was really proud to see them come back from a loss, and not be defeated,” explained coach and chemistry teacher, Jennifer Chast.
“In my opinion, the best part of the season has been the great convivial mood in the room after a smashing victory, when the whole team comes together. Seeing effort pay off is more important than any reward,” explained Vasilescu.
Varsity academic team will compete in the AQT tournament on Wednesday the 22nd at 4 PM at Turpin.
