Geography, and pop culture, and fine arts, oh my! This year, Scholastic Bowl has been tearing up the buzzers when participating in trivia competitions. Both the freshman/sophomore and the Varsity team are having a very successful season.

Scholastic Bowl is a club that studies and competes in multiple categories of trivia. They compete against other high schools across Illinois.

“We answer trivia questions about things that you usually wouldn’t know,” said freshman and new member AJ Morrissey.

A competition consists of 24 toss-up trivia questions related to a specific category. Either team can buzz in with the correct answer. The team that answers correct first will receive a bonus question.

“There’s a question for everybody, and if there’s not a toss-up for you, there’s a bonus that you’re going to know,” said Morrissey.

To get ready for competitions, the teams will have a group meeting before to pump everyone up and get themselves ready to compete.

“Erik [Robertson] always gives us a pep talks. He always tells us jokes and gives us pep talks and gets us ready to go,” said Morrissey.

Scholastic Bowl is sponsored by biology and earth science teacher Melissa Carmona. Acting as the team’s ‘manager,’ she organizes the practices and competitions, owns the buzzers, and drives the mini bus.

Most members are in other activities together, such as band, so they know each other very well and are very close. Members come from all types of competitive backgrounds.

“I originally decided to join it because it looks really good on college applications, but I really like doing it. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a super positive atmosphere,” said Morrissey.

Scholastic Bowl won their latest game at RB against Aurora Central Catholic High School on November 14. They will be competing in conference on December 9 at Aurora Central Catholic High School.

Scholastic Bowl practices on Mondays from 3:15 to 4:15 in Room 117.