It’s Academic Quiz Bowl Club practices for success

Joshua Singer, Special to the Pitch • December 1, 2021

The It’s Academic Quiz Bowl team won two of three games in their first competition on Oct. 14, stacking up their confidence for the rest of the season. It’s Academic Quiz Bowl is a club that competes in trivia competitions and meets every Tuesday and Thursday during lunch.

“We are part of the Montgomery County Beltway League (MABL). Every three weeks we have competitions against other high schools in the county and then we also appear on ‘It’s Academic’ the tv show,” club sponsor Amy Chen said.

The Oct. 14 quiz bowl was their first in-person competition since the pandemic began, as last year, they were initiated virtually. While the adjustment back to in-person competitions has been mostly smooth and exciting, it can be difficult at times.

“It makes it weird that we don’t have people who have done in-person competitions before because we had a lot of people who joined last year or they joined two years ago but didn’t compete,” senior vice president Dylan Dembo said.

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One exciting event for the team is their participation in the “It’s Academic” TV show. They will be competing on the show, which is one of the most appealing parts of the club.

“Stay tuned for December 25 for when we go live,” senior President Tara Sandman-Long said.

This year’s Quiz Bowl team is very confident, but they have some things to work on. During recent competitions, the team did well answering questions, but they still believe that they can get better in other aspects.

“[We] definitely need to practice buzzing more. Before the first game, we kinda didn’t and then people weren’t confident in their answers and [we have to] study more,” Dembo said.

Although there is still room for improvement, the Quiz Bowl team is working tediously to win this year’s competitions, as demonstrated in their first event. The team is studying often and having fun in the process. Chen believes that last year and this year’s teams are the best teams that she has sponsored.

“I think we have a good team. I feel like we all need to work on what we are focusing on, and I feel like once we all put in our skills we’re going to be a good team,” Sandman-Long said.

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About the Contributor

Joshua Singer, Print Editor-in-Chief

Senior Joshua Singer is elated to be returning as Print Editor-in-Chief in his fourth year on The Pitch. Josh began his career with The Pitch during the second semester of his freshman year as a staff writer before becoming Print Sports Editor his sophomore year and Print Editor-in-Chief his junior year. Josh generally writes for the sports and news sections and has covered topics ranging from WJ's gender distribution in AP classes to school safety issues to profiles on athletes and coaches. As a junior, Josh co-created The Pitch Radio Network, which broadcasts WJ sports live at wjpitch.mixlr.com. This past summer, Josh attended the Medill-Northwestern Journalism Institute where he enhanced his journalistic skills with the goals of making his senior year his best yet and furthering his career aspirations in journalism. During his free time, Josh enjoys running, playing guitar and announcing sports.