It is that time of year again at CHS. Trivia enthusiasts and brainiacs will assemble on three person teams to battle it out in the trivia arena that is The Quizbowl. Matches will begin Thursday morning February the 28th. The teams will duke it out in a March Madness style bracket, three matches will take place each day involving four teams. The winners of the first match will play in a second; one team will advance from each day. A team will be awarded a point for a correctly answered question, and the first to five wins as long as the team is up by two points. I expect to see some close matches that reach 8 to 10 questions.
In the past teachers played in a bracket as well, and faced off against the best student teams, but last year marked the end of that tradition. The Mighty Wombats composed of then juniors Jessi Mysyk, Joey Casavecchia, and Sebastian Diaz Rodriguez faced off against juniors Rachel Teuscher, Kelly Bergensein, and senior Rebecca Moser under the team name of Destiny’s Child in the finals. The Mighty Wombats emerged victorious. This year there have been rumors of reentering teachers into the competition. CHS senior and NHS officer Jessi Mysyk said “We’re trying to get the teachers back in the competition, but there’s a mixed response from the faculty.” CHS calculus teacher Mr. Brown commented, “It’s a no win situation. The teachers are supposed to win, so it’s no big deal when they do; there’s no meaning in it anymore. I think it should be student oriented.”
The Quizbowl’s ultimate goal is as a fundraiser for Saint Jude’s hospital. The fundraising side of the event will see a complete makeover, in an attempt to raise more money. Mysyk said, “We created a new fundraiser, we will do a Jeremy’s Kids style collection for a week and half before the finals. The class that donates the most money will win a pizza party.”
Returning this year will be Quizbowl commercials. The semi-finals and finals are held during school, and can be seen on the school TV’s, or watched live in the Library. The semi-finals are matches to ten, and the finals are a match to thirty with an intermission. Commercials are used to fill the time gap between games and during intermission. CHS senior and unofficial NHS filmmaker Matthew Chauby commented on a possible add campaign saying, “You know it’s under talks at the NHS studios and were talking to the EP about busting something out to get the word out to young film makers in the Chardon filmmaker scene.” Chauby also commented on a commercial he will be making saying, “It isn’t produced yet, but there is a rough script. It’s defiantly influenced by 1970s cinema in general especially black exploitation Ku-fu and police dramas. I’d have to admit it is very Tarantino esque. The two biggest influences were Dirty Harry and Enter the Dragon.”
Competition this year is looking fierce. The Mighty Wombats are returning in full form, and Destiny’s Child will also return with senior Donna Grau taking seat left by Rebecca Moser. Donna Grau commented on her addition to the team, “I think we’ll go very far.” Casavecchia remains confident, saying, “I feel like we have a better chance than last year.”
Some new competitive teams have also emerged, however. CHS seniors Johnathan Kadowaki, Shane Jablonski, and Steffen Shumaker make up TKO Practice Squad. Kadowaki said “I think we have a good chance of winning because we’re only competing against one person.” Another solid team holds Seniors Adam Benjamin, Kristen Novotney, and Ian Taylor. Benjamin said “I definitely like our prospects, we are all seniors and we bring a lot of different aspects of knowledge to the table. I think the Mighty Wombats better watch out.” Possible team drama may cause the Wombats to crumble, Mysyk said “This year brings more competition to the table, the dethroning of the Mighty Wombats might occur.” Casavecchia responded “That comment was obscene and is disturbing to the chemistry of our team.” With all these stacked teams, only time will tell who will be crowned QuizBowl champion.