Academic bowl: undercover winners
A peek into Northview's national quiz bowl runner-ups
Photo: Anand Banka
Claire Wang, Managing Editor & Prisha Jain, Staff Writer
Northview High School has 85 different clubs, not including the multitude of sports offered. With these numbers, it’s easy to overlook some of the smaller clubs at the crowded club fair. The Artificial Intelligence Club and the Table Tennis Club are relatively unknown, and most students will go through their entire high school careers without knowing that the Percy Jackson Club exists. Among these less common clubs, however, lies a national-level team: Academic Bowl.
Academic bowl, or quiz bowl, is a team activity consisting of teams of four to five players. These teams compete against each other to answer questions with topics ranging from academic subjects like literature, history, and science to pop culture.
“Last year, the Northview team finished second in the nation. It was the highest finish of any Georgia team in history,” Coach Scott Fowler said.
The team has consistently made it to Nationals in the past few years, and the junior varsity team has won the state championship. However, members of the club value quiz bowl for more than just winning the competitions.
“[Quiz bowl] helps with school a lot. It just gives you a lot of motivation and confidence with your studying, and you can apply that in other aspects of your life,” Club President Ray Claret said.
Quiz bowl players must develop quick recall and analyze questions in split seconds, enhancing their critical thinking abilities along with teaching them sportsmanship, camaraderie, and other team skills. Quiz bowl also allows like-minded students to gather, pursue their passions together, and cheer each other on.
“I think the biggest thing I gained [from quiz bowl] was my first friend group, especially in middle and high school. Things are often very hard mentally for people in that time of their life, and I think it’s really good to just have that support system,” Claret said. “[Quiz bowl] is one of the most supportive communities I’ve ever been a part of.”
This welcoming community extends to competitions as well, with competitors even cheering each other on at times. Although the culture and energy are uplifting and supportive, competitions can still be incredibly stressful.
“It is gut-wrenching and very scary, especially as you get deeper and deeper into the tournament… As it got into the top 30, top 20, and eventually to the top seven, you could see me shaking on stage,” competitor Alex Steppe said. “But the satisfaction you get when winning is unexplainable. I was there with my dad, and when he saw me on the stage, the crowd full of people, he was tearing up… So yes, it's very scary, but also the best experience in my quiz bowl career.”
For players like Steppe and Claret, quiz bowl has gifted them with new knowledge, exhilarating experiences, and a tight-knit community that’ll be there for them throughout their high school years.
“[I’d] just like to say good job to all the other people on the national team… Ray, Sheehan, Kaiden, and Anoop are all amazing players… We’re Georgia State Champions and, hopefully, National Champions next year,” Steppe said.
So, the next time you peruse the gym during club fair, keep an eye out for Northview's Academic Bowl: a tight-knit community full of some of the best players in the nation with a top-tier coach.
