The OHS Knowledge Bowl team competed for over 7 grueling hours and had to answer hundreds of trivia questions about many different topics.
The competition at Gig Harbor High School consisted of four rounds of trivia. The first round was a written round. Junior Calder Jennings Mapp, Captain of the Oly Ulcers, explained that the written round, “Starts out with basic trivia and you fill out a sheet of questions. There is no speed element and there are six people working. This sheet is then graded for accuracy. This round lasts 35 minutes.
The rest of the competition is oral rounds where “You buzz in and you have 15 seconds to answer,” said Jennings Mapp. “Oral rounds are more engaging and they also require more strategy.” Each oral round is 50 minutes.
The Ravi Oly team placed third in the competition, Junior Abigail Sumner, captain of the Ravi Oly team, proudly explained that third place qualified them for state. Admittedly, Sumner had a moment of doubt when “We thought that one team behind us had enough points to take our state spot.”
While being at a 7-hour 30-minute competition may seem daunting, it doesn’t help that the teams are tasked with answering hundreds of trivia questions. These questions range from literary questions to questions regarding science, religion, history and complex math problems. Each team member tends to have a topic they perform best in. For Jennings Mapp, it’s, “Geography, Greek History and Math.” while Sumner prefers, “Science and English.”
It comes as no surprise that such skills must be practiced regularly. Sumner’s favorite way to practice is to “attend Knowledge Bowls meetings on Thursdays after school.” This takes place in room 214 and is supervised and run by the advisors.
The OHS Knowledge Bowl team has worked all year to make it to state with the help of their advisors, Mr French and Ms. Bach.
