k-1-o~ RACfNG FOR • • I~S.I the buzzer Comprised of a small group of students with a strong intellectual drive and a passion for learning, the Academic Quiz Team was a means for students to participate in intra and intercollegiate competitions, exercising the minds of some of the brightest students on campus. "I did Academic Team in middle school and loved it, but they didn't have it in high school," junior Lauren Kumler said. "I thought, since I had some spare time on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I'd give it a try in college. I've reallyjust enjoyed getting familiar with all the little-known facts again." This year, the team participated in regional competitions in order to qualify for national level competitions. With subjects ranging from art to history to religion and even the sciences, quiz bowl competition gave participants like seniorjeff Young the chance to apply information learned in the classroom Some of the members' best memories involved traveling to these tournaments and bonding with each other on the way. "We went to a tournament in Columbia, Mo., and the entire trip was a blast," Young said. "We drove up there on a Friday, competed on Saturday and then had some down time just to relax and hang out with everyone." In addition to intracollegiate competitions, the team hosted a series of competitions on campus, including many high school quiz bowl competitions. "Hosting the tournaments is both challenging and rewarding," senior Caleb Robbins said. "Our tournaments promote student-initiated learning, which makes Arkansas teams better quiz bowl teams at a national level." During every tournament, each team played nine rounds with cumulative points in a fast-paced, round robin style competition. This format allowed participants to use an array of knowledge from different subjects, awarding points based on the complexity of the question. "Better questions are ones that do not reward buzzer races, but rather actual, deeper knowledge," Robbins said. "This allows points to be awarded to those who know more about a particular subject. [Academic Team gives students] an increase in academic curiosity, which means students want to learn more, and an increase in national competitiveness." Young agreed this academic curiosity was what made the team so unique. "Seeing the levels of competitiveness from all the teams and their depths of knowledge is exciting and awakens that competitive spirit deep inside that everyone has," Young said. Russ Gray f Q 8 Literature & Academics AUJ\tlQ,Mic, ~iz T CUM\ Row 1:]. Duggins, C. Robbins, M. O'Briant. Row 2: A. Mauldin,]. Young, Z. White, E. Samuelson.
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