What team at Northtown won first at their Savannah MO Invitational, first at their Districts March 28, and is going to Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia May 28?

If you guessed the Northtown Scholar Bowl team, then you are correct!

“We’ve done really well so far but we hope to beat our scores from last year and go even further,” said senior Joel Roney.

In Scholar Bowl, teams compete in academic trivia competitions either individually or in teams. Participants have to ‘buzz in’ for answers and get points based on those answers. The Northtown Scholar Bowl team often travels to other schools and towns to be involved in these competitions.

“My favorite part of Scholar Bowl is the traveling. I like to meet the kids from other towns who are competing,” said sophomore Matthew Gutierrez.

The scholar bowl team is comprised of a Varsity ‘A Team’ that includes Roney, senior Jacob Gutierrez, junior Forrest Walker, and junior Selena Montes; and a ‘B Team’ that is made up of sophomores and freshmen who are new to the team.

When competing, the A Team generally comes in the top five, and the B Team comes in the top 15. Recently the Varsity team won in all categories at their Districts competition and the JV team has brought home two first place trophies and qualified for a separate Nationals competition than the one occurring in Atlanta later this year.

“The people in the A team will all be gone in the next two years so we are trying to prepare the B team for when we are all gone,” said Roney.

Randy Jackson is the coach for this year’s team. He started to mentor Scholar Bowl after the previous coach Larry Allen.

“None of the other staff could be the coach so I decided to do it. I usually work with the Theater and Leadership kids so it was interesting to be involved in another group,” said Jackson.

The Scholar Bowl team has tripled in size this year. Last year there were only five regular members and now there are fifteen. Some new members were adopted, like Matthew Gutierrez.

“I had time during musical practice so I would hang out in Jackson’s room while the team was holding practice. I just got adopted. When I placed in my first tournament I got hooked,” said Gutierrez.

Other members joined because of suggestions by teachers.

“Mrs. Mason suggested I do it and I had a lot of time on my hands. I decided it might be fun so I joined,”said freshman Alex Niederberger.

Even if they don’t win the final competition, the team knows they have each other’s backs.

“We’re all really good friends in here. It’s my favorite part,” said Jacob Gutierrez.