On January 29th after a season spanning 5 months, the Glenbard South Scholastic Bowl team became the school’s newest Upstate 8 conference champions. 

     Throughout this past season, the team has worked hard to get to where they are. 

Every Friday, the team’s members meet in the AP Cafe to practice answering questions regarding science, math, history and more. According to senior Noah Salins, who joined Scholastic bowl in his senior year, the vibe of a typical practice is “very laid back”. The team “like[s] to joke around and have fun. But when we need to really practice we get down to business.”  

     Salins and Zach Henry, a senior who joined scholastic bowl in his sophomore year, agreed to provide a brief rundown of a typical scholastic bowl competition. 

On competition days, the team usually takes a bus to the host school. After they arrive, the team divides into varsity and junior varsity levels and prepares to compete. 

A scholastic bowl competition is done in the style of a tournament, meaning that it consists of several separate matches between different combinations of teams. The winner of each match advances to the next round to play another winning team. 

     An individual match is held between two opposing teams of five players. A buzzer system is in place so that each team member has the ability to answer a question. When the competition moderator reads a question, also called a toss-up, any competitor in the room can press their buzzer to answer. The first person to press their buzzer answers first. However, if they get the answer wrong, the person who pressed their buzzer first on the opposing team gets to answer that same question. Every time a wrong answer is given, the opposing team has the opportunity to answer the question. Whenever the correct answer is stated, the team that provided that answer receives 10 points and is given three bonus questions regarding a single topic. A match ends after 24 questions/ toss-ups and the team that has won the most points wins. 

    The January 29th conference tournament for Scholastic Bowl was held here at Glenbard South. Six high school teams participated, battling it out for the top spot using only their wit and prior knowledge. Eventually, the competition narrowed down to two teams: Glenbard South and Bartlett. South came out victorious with a final score of 280 compared to Bartlett’s 210. Salins’ favorite moment from the tournament occured when he correctly answered a question regarding a topic “he had just reviewed 20 minutes before.” 

So, what’s next for our resident champions? 

“We will be competing in IHSA regionals”, shares Henry. Regionals will take place in March and more details are to come nearer to the day of the event. 

Best of luck to Glenbard south Scholastic Bowl team during regionals and congratulations on an already impressive and historic season!