HOPE – Engaged in mental combat through a field of 16 teams, the Beryl Henry Elementary School Quiz Bowl team won third place in the recent Southwest Arkansas Quiz Bowl Tournament in Murfreesboro.
Team sponsor Kenneth Stewart said the team spent many hours in practice sessions for the competition.
“Students try out for the team every year,” Stewart said.
He currently has three team members who began Quiz Bowl competition in the third grade at Clinton Primary School and five who started in the fifth grade, under CPS GT teacher Alvis Conway.
Stewart is the districtwide coordinator for the Gifted-Talented Program, but Quiz Bowl is not exclusive to that program, he said.
“Any student that would like to try out may do so,” Stewart noted.
He said the BHE team, like the CPS team, is limited in the number of contests it can enter each year, with most of the competition confined to Southwest Arkansas. Students advance to regional or state competition at the high school level.
Quiz Bowl team members must be adept in a variety of studies at grade level and beyond, including math, sciences, history, literature and the arts. And, a teamwork discipline is required which often relies upon the team utilizing the knowledge of each member.
Stewart said the team won first place in the Southwest Arkansas Educational Cooperative Tournament in 2015, in part because of the depth of knowledge of an experienced team.
Team members competing at Murfreesboro included Victor Santamaria, Allen Thomason, Jaxson Adams, Calvin Haynes, Camron Elkins, Anthony Hall, Cody Clayton, and Jake Brinkman.
