Knowledge Bowl members prepare for meet, reflect on experience

Every Tuesday and Wednesday during lunch a handful of students can be found in Michael Thompson’s (staff) classroom. But they aren’t being lectured at — they’re practicing trivia.

These students are a part of the school’s Knowledge Bowl team. Knowledge Bowl is a team-based trivia competition. “Think of Jeopardy, but with a team,” Thompson said. “And instead of the subject matter being everything, it’s mostly over academic subjects that you would cover in school.”

Teams have to be prepared for any type of question. “You got your math, science, social studies, English,” Thompson said. “And then different degrees of difficulty. You have some calculus and geometry. You have government and geography, kind of everything.”

Adam Kirkpatrick (12), who joined his sophomore year when an upperclassman convinced him to join, said, “It’s fun because it’s like a casual thing, you know, like robotics, track, cross country. Those are things where you’re there and you’re like, kind of stressed out, but for Knowledge Bowl you don’t because it feels more light.”

Allison Ayotte (10) began to get interested in Knowledge Bowl when she was in middle school and her brother participated in the club. She feels most confident in “the arts, just because that’s what I’m most involved in, and history, because that’s always been my favorite subject,” Ayotte said.

Delaney Kintz (12) enjoys the social side of the club. “I joined Knowledge Bowl last year for the first time, mostly because I had a bunch of friends in it and they said it was a good time,” Kintz said. “And then this year I did it again because I just had fun and connecting with the people”

Throughout the year the team competes in four to six normal meets, as well as regionals and state. This state meet is an opportunity to “see all the best teams in Colorado,” Kintz said. “The most memorable thing was probably just getting to go to state (last year) just because it was my first year and I was not expecting to be on the state team.”

The barrier to entry is low. Kirkpatrick said, “Just try it …. The time commitment is so low. It’s two lunches. It’s an occasional Saturday for like four hours.”

Many people think they have to be very intelligent to join. Kintz explained, “Most people think that you have to, like, be super smart, but as long as you have a little bit of random knowledge, you’ll be totally fine.”