SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Blue Mountain students showed their smarts Friday, claiming first place at the 24th annual Schuylkill County Academic Competition.
“You buzz in and you go for it,” Micah Boyer, Blue Mountain team captain and senior member, said of attacking the questions presented. “Wasting time gives the other team a chance to get the answer.”
While the Eagles’ Quiz Bowl team grabbed the gold among an 11-team field, Pine Grove Area students earned second place silver medals, followed by Schuylkill Haven Area in third place.
Sponsored by Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29, the event was held at the Health and Wellness Building at Penn State Schuylkill. Jack Shandor, Chuck Grabusky and Cindy Stasulli served as moderators.
Students were asked questions in a quiz bowl fashion, needing to “buzz” in with the correct answer within a time limit. Questions ranged from a variety of topics including history, science, math, politics, geography, literature, current events and pop culture. Most participants polled after the competition agreed the caliber of the questions was tough yet appropriate for high school students.
Boyer has been a member of the Blue Mountain team for four years and attributed the team’s success to the daily practices.
“I’m more of a history and science person, but I’ll take on any category,” said Boyer, who intends to major in physics at Kutztown University and pursue a career in astronomy. “I enjoy being smart and learning new things during the competition.”
Fellow Eagle teammate Matthew Blair is also a senior and plans to seek a masters degree in anthropology. He said his specialty is Roman history.
“We do have a good program and do practice. We have a wide pool of people to choose from,” he said. As far as the team’s strategy during competition, Blair said because he has problems pronouncing some words, he often confers with others to supply the verbal answer.
In addition to Boyer and Blair, other Blue Mountain teammates appearing in Friday’s contest were Travis Barrow, Andrew Chawluk, Quentin Jurista, Dan Kelley, Alex Snitzer and Dillon Wertman. Steve Zimmerman, Blue Mountain High School social studies teacher and gifted coordinator, serves as team coach.
“They all want to play and they’re competitive and like answering questions,” Zimmerman said. He said the team plays different versions of the game, not just relying on a question-and-answer session, which makes it more competitive and interesting. There are approximately 30 students who actively participate, he said.
Pine Grove Area’s team also came prepared for the flood of competition-level questions.
“I thought it was a good mix that I knew off the top of my head and some that were brain busters,” John Fisher, a senior member of the team, said. Fisher said he prefers math questions but also likes to answer questions involving history and sports.
“I’ll be back next year,” added Alex Koontz, a junior, who served as this year’s team captain.
Other Pine Grove Area team members attending the competition were Samantha LePre, David Krammes, Kristin Bichteman, Julia Harwi, Bailey Miko and Rebecca Shenk. There are a total of 18 students from Pine Grove Area who participate in Quiz Bowl Club, which meets Mondays and Wednesdays after school, according to head coach Gerald Salen.
Salen had been on a Quiz Bowl team as a student, served as an assistant coach for eight years and has also been head coach of the Cardinals’ team for eight years.
Koontz said while the team trains on all topics, several of his teammates have their specialties where they excel.
“John’s good with sports, Sam with art and music and David with politics. I prefer science and history questions,” Koontz said.
LePre, a senior, has been a varsity starter for Pine Grove Area for the past four seasons.
“I like the idea of being a part of a team that isn’t just sports. They’re a great group of friends,” said LePre, who plans to attend Penn State Schuylkill to major in psychology.
Krammes, meanwhile, participated in his first competition for the Cardinals.
“We have a fantastic team. They work with you and see that your opinion is heard,” he said.
Although her team didn’t make it into the semifinal round, Emily Kimmel from Tri-Valley also appeared to be having fun.
“We went over some current event topics, sports and random facts from our subjects in school,” she said. “This time, we had a lot of science questions. On some questions, we had no clue but we did the best we could,” Kimmel, Hegins, said.
The team scores going into the semifinal and final rounds were as follows: Blue Mountain, 230 points; Pottsville Area and Pine Grove Area both had 175 points; and Schuylkill Haven Area had 170 points.
Top-seed Blue Mountain beat Schuylkill Haven Area in the semifinals, while Pine Grove defeated Pottsville Area to advance to the finals. Blue Mountain defeated Pine Grove to claim the championship, while Schuylkill Haven Area beat Pottsville Area for the third-place title.
Other team scores were Minersville Area, 165; Nativity BVM, 160; Williams Valley, 145; Tri-Valley, 95; Mahanoy Area, 85; and Shenandoah Valley, 80.
Blue Mountain advanced to the Pennsylvania Academic State Competition to be held at the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate Chambers, Harrisburg, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., April 29. About two years ago, a Blue Mountain team finished in 10th place at the state level, Zimmerman said.
Each of the 29 intermediate units in Pennsylvania is permitted to send one high school academic team to participate in the state competition. The championship team will receive a $2,000 scholarship for their high school. Finalists will each receive $500 for their school.
Throughout the school year, beginning in October, the quiz bowl teams compete in the Schuylkill League among other local districts. They have approximately 10 matches each season, which help the teams practice for the county event, like the one held Friday. The schools take turns hosting the matches and, at the end of the season, league champions are also selected. This year, Blue Mountain won the top league title and Schuylkill Haven Area took second.
Event coordinator Vincent Hoover, who serves as Supervisor of Mathematics for IU-29, presented the teams with their league plaques.
The Schuylkill Academic League was established in September 2010 with the purpose of promoting competition among the academic teams in county high schools.
The league provides an opportunity for students to compete in a “college-bowl” format where they answer challenging questions from a variety of categories. Each team plays two matches and the combined points are totaled for the final score for each school.