Scholars’ What?

Every school year, dozen of students join the Scholars’ Bowl team to flex their trivia knowledge. However, not many students even realize what goes on. Scholars’ Bowl is a trivia competition where schools compete with their most random-fact infused students. The trivia, however, can be over just about anything. Categories can vary from a variety of subjects such as math, history, English and even foreign languages, according to member Bella Price, 11, who decided to see what Scholars’ Bowl was all about after meeting with a few members on Links Day her freshman year.

“You don’t really have to know everything about everything. You can be specifically good at English or specifically good at science,” she explained. “On the team you have kids that are going to be ‘the math kids’ and the kids who are like ‘I’ve read every single book known to man.’”

On Wednesday, Oct. 25, Spring Hill hosted a Scholars’ Bowl tournament. The competition for Scholars’ Bowl are called meets and are held in classrooms. Each school participating school is then split up into two pools. For each pool there were six classrooms set aside and two teams competed in a heated battle of knowledge facing 16 question. With rounds lasting no longer than five minutes, competition moves quickly. Each team has five players, each equipped with their own buzzers. After a question is asked, the team who buzzes in first and answers correctly gets 10 points. However, if a player buzzes in before the question was finished and they get it wrong, the team loses five points.

For an outsider looking in, one must wonder where the competition lies in such a mentally focused activity. For Price, she likes the idea that one can be competitive in their own category and for her, that’s where all of the fun lies in an overlooked but highly enjoyable sport.