RB’s Scholastic Bowl Team, known amongst the team members as SchoBo, will be attending a national tournament in Atlanta, Georgia in May. This will mark the second time that SchoBo has attended this national competition.
“The team is excited to go this year. We’ve gone to this tournament once before when it was held in Chicago in 2010,” said Gibbons.
Scholastic Bowl has been a popular club at RB since the 1990s. The group was originally founded by Social Studies teacher Laura Nickelson, but was taken over by Adam Gibbons, also of the Social Studies department, in 2000.
Over the years, club enrollment has fluctuated, though it has usually stayed within a range of 12-25 members.
“We have a good enrollment this year. In a general practice, we’ll have about 20 people,” said Gibbons.
In order to attend this national competition, a team must compete using National Academic Quiz Tournament questions. They also must win at least 65% of their competitions or be one of the top two teams within their conference. Only a certain amount of teams are allowed to attend each year; about three hundred teams will compete in the national competition this year.
In their conference games, RB finished with 20 wins and 10 losses. They finished second in conference, behind Fenton High School. In addition, several SchoBo members were named to the All-Conference Team.
In order to prepare, SchoBo holds weekly practices after school. They have been practicing with NAQT questions from previous years, and have focused on Bonus Questions and Toss-up Questions.
“We also plan on meeting a few more days a week for supplementary practice,” said Gibbons.
The team will be leaving for Atlanta on May 24. However, because this is the same day as graduation, seniors Gina Watylyk, Sam Romo and David Monreal will be joining the team in Atlanta the next day. A total of twelve students will be attending, including students from each grade level. In addition to competing, the team also plans to sightsee within the city of Atlanta. The team will return to Chicago on May 27.
Gibbons says that he is very happy to work with the students on Scholastic Bowl.
“I enjoy the students, their enthusiasm. They always like to learn new things and enjoy some friendly competition. It’s one of my favorite activities at RB and I hope I can continue to sponsor it for another thirteen years at least,” said Gibbons.
