From bones to geography, optics to archeology, the quiz bowl team at Penn Manor knows it all.
Mark Twain once said, “It is wiser to find out than to suppose.”
That is exactly what Penn Manor’s first-place quiz bowl team is doing.
This Penn Manor team is first in the league, out of a total of 24 teams. With a record of six wins and zero losses, and a total cumulative score of 1110. They average about 185 points per match.
The team gets their practice questions out of quiz books in the library. They practice every Monday 3-4:30 unless they have a competition.
Captain Grant Elledge, a senior said, “I’m a firm believer that quiz bowl should be a combination of questions and dodge ball.”
Though their practices are laid back and fun, they can get competitive when need be.
“Other teams get really frustrated, and you can see that. We’re not like that. That’s our strength,” said junior Lars Andersen.
At their latest practice on Monday, they had a lot of inside jokes and everyone got along and laughed together.
Hmm, what is the term for the study of light, the team fell silent.
The answer: optics.
A synchronized “DUH!” filled the library.
The most entertaining event at practice was when a senior reprimanded his buzzer because it would not work.
The best part about quiz bowl, senior Christine Sharp, said, “It’s cool to see how much useless trivia I have stuffed in my brain over the years.”
The rest of the team includes Brendan Stoekyl, Henry Stewart, Morgan Flood, Corey Delmonto, Georgina Waldman and Helen Hutchins, though the practices include others.
The greatest part of the whole quiz bowl experience said Elledge, “I like traveling, we went to the capital, had a competition inside the capital building, D.C., and even went to Chicago.”
They continue to work toward a state competition this year.
By: Alyssa Funk