Catching up with LAHS’s ‘quiz kids’ by Andrew McDermott, Staff Writer
(Denise Cechvala photo)
Unless they happened to glance into the auditorium and notice teens sitting at tables attempting to answer obscure questions, not many students know that Leechburg hosted the first Quiz Bowl match of the year in early December.
When most students hear the phrase “Quiz Bowl” around the school, they automatically think that the team is for smart people only. As it turns out, that is not the case. Potential team members “try out” by taking a general knowledge trivia test administered by the team’s coach Jolynn Young.
The types of questions asked during both the test and the matches fall into no specific category. All questions are random. Young said that ideal candidates for the Quiz Bowl team are people with useless knowledge and people who are intelligent. Candidates don’t have to be exceedingly smart, but if they excel in a certain type of section, such as science, literature or social studies, they can become valuable team members.
Matches work as follows. Each school brings two teams, a junior varsity and a varsity team. Schools play two matches each at the host school. The junior varsity team has the opportunity to answer 10 questions per round, while varsity has 20 questions. When questions are read and team members think they have the answer, they buzz in and wait to be recognized. Blurting the answer before recognized, even if the answer is correct, costs the team the chance to answer and gives the other team the opportunity to get the question.
Quiz Bowl teams play at three schools per year. Until this year, the winner of Quiz Bowl season was the team that answered the most questions right. But this year, the winner will be the team with the most wins.
The teams that compete in this year’s academic Quiz Bowl are as follows: Apollo-Ridge, Burrell, Ford City, Freeport, Kiski Area, Leechburg and Valley.
Quiz Bowl started 16 years ago in 1993. Its main sponsor is the Strongland Chamber of Commerce. Other sponsors are the Bazzone Family Foundation, Comcast, Burrell Area Rotary Club, Byers Taxing and Busing Service, Westmoreland County Community College and Five Starr Catering.
