Berthoud High School hosted a Knowledge Bowl competition November 10, during which three teams from Fossil Ridge High School competed. Other nearby schools such as Rocky Mountain High School, Roosevelt High School, Liberty Common High School, and more were in attendance, with a total of 26 teams. As a part of the road to the state competition, students gave the event their best shot through every round. Although starting off roughly, Fossil’s A team scored first place with a total score of 130.

The event began with a written test to determine placement, so teams with similar scores would be grouped together to compete. Each room contained three teams, with four members each, as they answered a variety of questions. There were several oral and written rounds, and scores were based off performance in each round. Even though there were only three teams in each room, all teams answered the same questions. “The questions would range from authors to geography to anatomy to baseball statistics,” said Fossil competitor Kevin Wong. Students were quizzed on a variety of topics, containing mostly “what” questions, such as “What rock is characterized by these features?” or “These lines are a parody of what author?”  to keep the competition at a fast pace.

Fossil’s A team placed in the top room on the written test, and had high hopes going into the competition. Although their score for the first round was lower than expected, the team did not give up. Wong recalls, “As the tournament progressed, we picked it up, shook off the rust and started winning each round.” The A team took home first place, while University High School got second with a score of 104 and Loveland High School got third with a score of 101.

Although the A team consisted of the most experienced students, many others competed on Fossil’s B and C teams. The C team, which scored a 59, contains freshmen and sophomores who are new to Knowledge Bowl and are using this year to learn how everything works. The B team includes sophomores and juniors who have one more year of experience, and they scored an 84 in the game.

Knowledge Bowl plans to attend more competitions throughout the year. They are going to continue to practice the game more often in between competitions to gain experience, as well as learn new things to help them answer more questions correctly. All this is preparation for the state competition, where the teams hope to achieve their biggest goal for the year: first place. The teams will compete at state during spring break, and have already begun preparations.