Trisha Schmunk dropped her head into her hands.
The junior high math teacher from Bridgeport had just watched one of her Quiz Bowl students answer “Fort McKinley” to a question about U.S. gold reserves stored in Kentucky.
“That just breaks my heart,” she said of moments when students fumble something they know. “But,” she added, “when they get some of the toughest questions, it’s like ‘wow.’”
Kimball 8th grader Ali Hunsaker knows the surprise and elation of the latter. In her team’s final contest during Friday’s eight team tournament, she blurted the correct response to reader Aaron Delhay’s question about the meaning of “p” and “q” in the old “mind your p’s and q’s” line.
The answer? Pints and quarts, of course.
“It just came to my mind,” Hunsaker admitted.
Getting it right helped Kimball’s 8th grade team finish third in the event—behind Gering and Sidney—with a score of 220. In head to head competition, they beat Creek Valley, Banner County and Bridgeport. But overall points determined the final standings.
“I think we did pretty well,” said the team’s captain, Danika Daum.
Quiz Bowl is like a mental fourth down and two yards to go, over and over. Teams of up to 12 students face four rounds of questioning in each game, with four questions per team per round. They operate under strict rules and time limits, and each member of the team must stand and deliver at some point. And in some rounds they are called upon before knowing the question or topic.
“There are some hard questions,” reported Kimball 7th grader Kyle Spicer.
The 7th grader team did not fare as well in competition, tallying 100 points over three games—though they all appeared to enjoy the experience.
“We were nervous,” said Raelynn Hinton. “It was our first Quiz Bowl.”
Students practiced one morning a week in advance of the tournament, but preparation is difficult. The questions challenge understanding of a range of subjects, including current events. One, for example, asked for the name of the race car driver who died recently, the prestigious event he won last May and the location of the track where the tragedy occurred. The next called for the student to name the triangle with three distinctly different sides. Participants charged with completing math equations were limited to one minute of thinking time, with no calculators allowed.
“It’s nothing they can study for,” explained Kathleen O’Brien, Kimball’s junior high social studies teacher. “Sometimes kids that get the best grades aren’t the best Quiz Bowl players.”
The set up rewards well-rounded students and those capable of thinking on their feet, added Carolyn Montgomery, junior high language arts teacher at Kimball. “Kids with varied interests do well.”
For team captains, the format creates additional challenges. They must keep track of participation, hoping to match student to their academic strength while making certain each team member answers the required number of inquiries per game. In some rounds, communication is limited to hand signals or scrunched faces. There are tactics involved, but those can be erased by the whim of question order.
Daum allowed familiarity to guide her—and her team—to a podium finish.
“They are my friends and I know what they’re into,” she said.
Garden County, Bridgeport, Creek Valley, Sidney, Mitchell, Gering and Banner County joined Kimball at the school year’s first Quiz Bowl. Sidney won the 7th grade event, ahead of Creek Valley and Gering, with second place decided by tiebreaker.
There may have been moments of stress and answers that drove advisors to despair. But, said Hanna Klosterman of Kimball’s 7th grade team, “I think we all had fun.”
