KHS scholastic team
readies for new season
Intelligence, speed, and teamwork are a winning combination for the Kewanee High School Scholastic Bowl team, coached by Marie and Kirk Watson.
Scholastic Bowl is a type of quiz or trivia competition, where two teams of five students face off to answer questions. First, the match’s moderator reads a toss-up question. Anyone on either team can answer by ringing in on a handheld buzzer. Whichever side correctly answers the toss-up receives three bonus questions. The team members can confer before giving their answers, and then the opposing team can “steal” any parts that were answered incorrectly. A full match has twenty toss-up questions.
“Scholastic Bowl is a competitive activity that celebrates academic achievement,” said Kirk Watson.
The questions fall under a wide range of topics, from literature, science, and math to history, geography, and art.
“Scholastic Bowl is quite a challenge because the questions come from every subject area imaginable,” said freshman team member Connor Bryan.
Successful teams must be able to pivot from, “Who wrote ‘The Color Purple?’” to “Name the capital of El Salvador.” The key to preparing for such mental gymnastics is practice.
“We practice two days a week,” said Marie Watson. “We typically scrimmage, with kids divided into teams, using buzzers like in a traditional match.”
Using the buzzers helps the students build confidence as well as speed.
“There are lots of kids involved in Scholastic Bowl who are afraid to answer, for fear of getting it wrong,” said Watson. “We just want them to guess. You won’t lose points for a wrong answer, so it’s in your best interest to try.”
Watson added that during practice, they target subject areas that come up frequently in competition as well as areas that the team finds especially challenging. They also do “lightning rounds” to work on speed.
The students thrive on the constant stream of questions.
“I like learning new things and challenging my thought processes,” said Jack Watson, captain of the varsity team (and Marie and Kirk’s son).
“It’s fun to test your knowledge,” freshman Kaylin Scott agreed.
What makes Scholastic Bowl even more enjoyable for these students is that they gel as a group.
“They really enjoy each other’s company,” said Kirk Watson. “They have fun when they’re together practicing and competing.” Their camaraderie helps them function together as a team, whose members trust and encourage each other.
The KHS Scholastic Bowl team is part of the Three Rivers Athletic Conference. Their regular season began in January and will run through February, with Regionals in early March, and—hopefully—Sectionals and State after that. Already, the students have grown both as individuals and as a team. “It’s so rewarding to see quiet kids come alive during matches,” said Marie Watson. “When they realize that they can contribute to the team in a positive manner—that’s a wonderful thing to experience as a coach.”
The team includes Zachary Shadden, Alex Toutant, Jack Watson, Jasper Brokaw, Connor Bryan, Richard Goddard, Gabe Johnson, Joshua Larrabee, Kris Rayner, Delaney Reynolds, and Kaylin Scott. “I know I’m biased,” said Marie Watson, “but these kids are pretty special!”