Scholars Bowl Students Compete for Academic Expertise
Scholars Bowl students seek academic knowledge through testing their trivia skills.
Discussing amongst one another during a game of trivia, members of Scholars Bowl practice for upcoming tournaments. So far Free State has produced a successful season. “This is my eighteenth year coaching Scholars Bowl here at Free State and I’ve been the only coach that we’ve had here,” Strawderman said.
Every Monday from October until the end of February, students meet for an hour after school in Coach Oather Strawderman’s room to test their academic knowledge and trivia skills in preparation for their next competition.
Scholars Bowl is a competition where teams of students from different schools answer various trivia questions. The questions can cover anything from the answer of a quadratic equation to plot structure in “Romeo & Juliet.”
“You actually do learn about some of the topics that are covered and you gain new information in addition to the information that you’re kind of putting forth,” senior Kenneth Palmer said.
Strawderman has been coaching the team for the last 18 years and in his opinion, it is one of the most successful, competitive teams at Free State.
Writing the number of points earned by each team, sophomore Sayuz Thapa keeps track of the scores during a Scholars Bowl meeting. The group of students are coached by Oather Strawderman, one of Free State’s science teachers. “I really enjoy going to different Scholars Bowl tournaments and meeting new people,” Thapa said.
Strawderman is not the only person who feels passionately about Scholars Bowl. Students raved about the environment and experience of being on the team as well.
“It’s fun, and it’s a good experience,” sophomore Cailyn Zicker said. “You get to know more people and learn new things.”
Anyone is welcome to join. Although many of the questions are at a high academic level, the environment is relatively relaxed.
“It’s fun, casual or intense based on your own choosing,” sophomore Ja-ja Wang said. “It’s great for a wide selection of students.”
The team is constantly succeeding in tournaments including a first place showing at Bishop-Miege a few weeks ago. With each question, Scholars Bowl students strive to represent Free State’s academic expertise.
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