Quiz Bowl Attends National Competition
Truman's quiz bowl team attended the Academic Competition Federation Nationals at Duke University in North Carolina, April 20-21.
This is the first time the team has qualified for nationals in more than 10 years. The quiz bowl team disbanded sometime after COVID, but was revived last year and has since attended several tournaments. This year’s team was comprised of: junior Donal Ryan, environmental science major with museum studies minor; junior Fred Garvey, math major; and freshman AJ Adwell, biology major. Ryan and Garvey were the only two that attended nationals. Aside from nationals, the team aims to attend two competitions in the fall and three in the spring.
“We had some good games this year that ended with victories, but we also had our fair share of losses as some of these teams are pretty tough,” said Ryan. “Despite the losses I do say 'good buzz' or 'nice' when opponents get stuff that is impressive. Something I enjoy is that many teams also do the same for us. Most teams are friendly, and that is one of the reasons I enjoy playing.”
Most quiz bowl tournaments are comprised of 20 tossups and bonuses each game. A tossup is a longer question. Bonuses are available to whomever gets the tossup and are collaborative, unlike the tossup. The bonus has three parts, each worth 10 points. The standard length for a tournament is 10 games. National’s tournaments are usually longer with ACF nationals having a guaranteed 17 games in a span of two days.
“I think quiz bowl is beneficial because it encourages learning,” said Ryan. “Many topics come up from things learned in class, but I also gain knowledge from other quiz bowl questions I have read in the past and stuff I have looked into on my own time. It feels pretty good to get a question on something I have researched or read about.”
Students interested in joining quiz bowl or learning more about it can contact Ryan at dpr7246@truman.edu.
