Students test their knowledge in the 2018 Quiz Bowl
By Nick Bainbridge // News Editor
Every year, several private liberal arts institutions from North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia come together to test the general knowledge of their students in a tournament called the Big South Quiz Bowl.
On Feb. 17, the High Point University Honors Scholars Program hosted the 2018 Big South Quiz Bowl Tournament.
Big South is a division of the National Academic Quiz Tournaments organization that was founded in 1996 to facilitate fast-paced trivia competitions between university students.
This year’s Big South competition included groups representing HPU, Liberty University, Gardner-Webb University, Radford University and Presbyterian College.
During the competition, teams of students competed to answer the most trivia questions they could about a multitude of different subjects. Judges tested students’ knowledge in topics ranging from politics, literature, science and even internet memes.
The competitive nature of Quiz Bowl gave students an opportunity to show off the information they have accrued throughout their lives and demonstrate their understanding of topics in an exciting way.
The competitors were not the only ones hard at work during the competition. Team coaches, like the HPU student success coach Bradley G. Taylor, helped support the students from their corresponding University and organized the event.
“The biggest value to me of Quiz Bowl is being able to see the connection of the knowledge gained from your liberal arts education and having fun while doing so,” explained Taylor, coach for the HPU Quiz Bowl team and co-organizer of the 2018 Big South Tournament.
There were also moderators, such as HPU professor Dr. Erin Trauth, who oversaw the competition as impartial judges and read questions to the teams.
Several HPU students even volunteered to fill other roles in the competition by serving as timekeepers and scorekeepers. Some of these students were thoroughly impressed with the Big South Tournament and how good natured the competitors were.
“I think that it’s really awesome seeing people be competitive, but you can tell that everyone stays friends,” said Nicholas Kirby, a student who volunteered to track the scores of the teams during their matches.
The HPU team won its first match against Gardner-Webb University, giving them a morale boost for when they faced their next opponents.
“I’ve done a whole lot of Quiz Bowl, so it was just another competition, but it was nice to come out of the gate strong with a win in our first match-up,” said Nolan Roth, one of the members of the High Point University team.
Despite their early victory, the HPU team was less successful in the match-ups that followed. However, they were undeterred and continued to enjoy the tournament, as it was the debut for many of the team’s new members like Yasmene Dergham.
Dergham noted, “I think that as our first experience, we did a respectable job and that we all had a good time.”
In fact, several of the team members plan to use this competition as a driving force to work harder and improve their abilities as they prepare for the next Big South Quiz Bowl Tournament where they will show off their knowledge once again.
After all of the matches were completed, the representatives of Liberty University were the undefeated victors of the tournament. This is Liberty University’s fourth consecutive victory in the annual Big South Quiz Bowl Tournament since 2015 when they beat the 2014 champions of the HPU team.
“I think we did a really good job,” said Leah Depiro, a member of the Liberty University Quiz Bowl team. “We always have a great time with the other teams in the Big South competitions.”
Several other accolades were also given to participating students. Will Hobson of Presbyterian College was recognized as the highest individual scorer in the entire competition, and Nathan Grinalds was the highest individual scorer on the HPU team.
The top scorers on each of the teams received a book of their choice from a selection of classic works such as Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” or Henry Gray’s “Gray’s Anatomy.”
The Big South Tournament was an exciting event for HPU students and the visitors from other colleges. Members of all the teams will be diligently preparing for next year’s competition.
“I believe it was very good for our first competition,” said Addie Singleton, another Quiz Bowl participant representing HPU. “I’m sure it will encourage more team growth in the future.”