LITTLE ROCK — Quiz Bowl competition is in full swing in schools across the state of Arkansas, and Bald Knob is leading the pack.
The Bald Knob Junior High Quiz Bowl team recently swept the regional competition, defeating Heber Springs 260-210 in the championship match at Central Arkansas Christian Academy in North Little Rock and finishing the day 6-0. The team, made up of Hannah Cloyes, James Blanton, Chord Cantrell, Caleb Mason, Chance Cash, Bryce Crabb and Cordell Crisp, will compete Saturday at the state competition in Clinton.
Cash, who serves as captain of the team, Cordell and Crisp were named to the All-Tournament Team during the regional contest. Cash and Crabb are ninth-grade students; the rest of the team members are seventh-graders.
Debbie Roberts, gifted and talented coordinator for the Bald Knob School District, serves as sponsor of the Quiz Bowl team. She said the seventh-graders have been competing as a team since they were in fifth grade. Their record was 17 and 1. They added thetwo ninth-graders to the team this year and are headed to the state finals.
The students meet on Tuesday of each week to practice.
"We go to (invitational) tournaments and answer random trivia questions," Cash explained. The format for the competition includes toss up, bonus and lightning rounds. "You get two toss-up questions, with five seconds to answer each question, unless it's math, and then you get 15 seconds," Cash said. "When you get to the bonus round, it's like toss up but with four questions. Then the lightning rounds has 10 questions and you have 60 seconds." Team members "buzz in" when they know the answers.
"It's not Jeopardy," Crabb added.
Each member has a strong suit. Blanton and Cantrell score well in geography. Mason said his expertise is "hodgepodge." Cash describes his strength as "all-round," while Crabb excels in math and biblical facts and Crisp at sports, geography and math.
"There are no try-outs for the team," Blanton said. "We just said we would like to do Quiz Bowl."
In preparing for competitions, Mason said,"We go over last year's questions." Roberts, who has been the Quiz Bowl sponsor for 10 years, said she gives the students packets of information containing sample questions.
"We also use facts that we learn in class," Mason added.
"We go over and over stuff we don't know," Cash said. "We go over our weakest subjects."
"They love it," Roberts said. "They want to practice every day."
"It's in our blood," one team member said. "We have a ball."
Roberts explained the process for selecting students for the Quiz Bowl team.
"I start looking at the students when they are in the fourth grade," she said. "They all work hard and still find time to be involved in other things at school. Most of the seventhgraders play ball and are in band or choir, and the two ninth-graders are on the basketball team and most play football."
Roberts said the quiz bowl teams are part of the Arkansas Governor's Quiz Bowl Association, which "was started by Bill Clinton when he was governor." Quiz bowl competition is governed by the Arkansas Activities Association.
at a glance Grades: K-4, elementary school; 5-8, middle school; 9-12, high school.
State-licensed daycare center located on campus.
Enrollment: 1,330 Number of teachers: Approximately 100 professional staff members.
Mascot: Bulldogs Superintendent: James Staggs Principals: Steve Landers, high school; David Clark, middle school;
Tammy Long, elementary.
Address: 103 W. Park St., Bald Knob AR 72010 Phone Number: (501) 724-3273 Web Site: http://bkps.k12.ar.us
Three Rivers, Pages 53 on 02/21/2008