- Tempe Union High School District
- TUHSD Newsroom
Corona del Sol named national quiz bowl team of the week
Corona Del Sol High School was selected as the National Academic Quiz Tournaments High School Team of the Week for the week of February 4, 2017. The team finished undefeated at the recent Arizona Quiz Bowl Association February Tournament held at Arizona State University.
Tournament Director and Arizona Quiz Bowl Association founder Bunnie Hadsall wrote the following based on her observations and interviews with the team:
“The Corona del Sol A team is comprised of four young men with a passion for knowledge. Since they started playing quiz bowl they have all improved as players, but they don’t play just for the statistics—they each express a vociferous passion for knowledge both in and outside the classroom.
‘I thought that quiz bowl could be an opportunity to expand my own knowledge across a wide range of subjects, and I was exactly right,’ says Daniel Farr, Corona A’s most novice member. He joined the team at the beginning of this school year, and has helped it quickly become a powerhouse in the Arizona circuit. Sameer Vij shares, ‘Quiz bowl interested me due to the wide range of academic topics that it covered. I came to the first tournament and had a great experience, as my team came in first place for the novice division.’ Sameer and his team are now competing in the varsity division, vying for the top spot at each tournament.
Harrison Bradley shared similar affection toward the game: ‘Quiz bowl ties into both what was being learned in high school and outside. You’re surrounded by other people in the club who share your enjoyment for intellectual pursuits and learning.’
Vinay Pattalachinti had a rough start in quiz bowl, but he stuck with his team and improved drastically: “In the beginning I was awed by how good some of the seniors in the club were, but the main turning point was when the team composed of me, Sameer, and Harrison won the novice division my freshman year. This victory made me feel like I belonged in quiz bowl, and I might be able to achieve something.” Vinay also gives a shout-out to his coach, Sarah Blechacz, ‘who supports us along every step, despite how much of a pain we are.’ Vinay’s involvement in quiz bowl since his freshman year has helped him develop his skills, and he says he’s ‘able to reinforce the knowledge and get a better grasp of the information that I will likely use in my life.’”
By finishing with a record of ten wins and no losses, the Corona Del Sol team qualified for the High School National Championship Tournament, to be held in Atlanta in May.
Congratulations and good luck to Corona Del Sol at Nationals!
ABOUT QUIZ BOWL
Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students. Quiz
bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology,
geography, social science, current events, sports, and popular culture. The matches feature a
blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be
an expert in all subject areas. Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the
classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.
ABOUT NAQT
National Academic Quiz Tournaments, founded in 1996, organizes the premier middle school,
high school, and college quiz bowl championships in North America. In addition to its national
championships, NAQT provides questions to invitational tournaments, league championships,
and television shows throughout the year. NAQT operates out of the Twin Cities and Kansas
City, but its members mentor coaches, host tournaments, volunteer their services, and share
their expertise across the United States.
Submitted by: Jeff Hoppes, NAQT Communications
February 14, 2017
February 14, 2017