By: Staff Writer Lillian Zhao
Phillip Cai, 12 and Krishna Bharathala, 12 stand at the podium while Kelvin Lu, 11 answers a question.
MSJ recently competed in Bay Area Quiz Kids, a series of competitions aired on channel KRON 4 and PenTV Channel 26. The actual competitions were taped in Peninsula TV’s studios in San Carlos, CA. The MSJ team consists of Captain Senior Krishna Bharathala, Senior Philip Cai, and Junior Kelvin Lu.
The Bay Area Quiz Kids competition is similar to Quiz Bowl run by Academic Challenge, with the exception of having three, instead of four, team members. The competition features the lockout buzzer system between two competing school teams. If anyone buzzes in, they lock out their teammates, as well as opponents, from buzzing. The questions cover a wide breadth of knowledge including core subjects such as history, literature, math, and science as well as geography, fine/performing arts, sports, and current news events. Occasionally, pop culture content will also make an appearance.
An example quiz bowl question, courtesy of the National Academic Quiz Tournaments: “This artist depicted one god informing another of Vulcan. One of this artist’s paintings shows a key exchange between Justin of Nassau and Ambrogio Spinola. Pablo (*) Picasso painted 58 re-creations of a painting by this man that focuses on maids surrounding the Infanta Margarita. For 10 points-name this Spanish painter of The Surrender of Breda and Las Meninas. Answer: Diego Valázquez” Generally questions are not read to completion before a competitor buzzes in, and in Quiz Bowl, if buzzed in before the portion after the asterisk, extra points will be rewarded.
The MSJ Quiz Kids team advisor is Math Teacher Charlie Brucker, who accompanies the team at their competitions. “Whether it’s history, literature, politics, geography, science or math, these Quiz Kids are remarkably deep in their knowledge, remarkably” said Brucker.
The MSJ Quiz Kids team was chosen based on the top three individual scores from the regular Quiz Bowl season, which started in September and runs throughout the school year. The MSJ Quiz Kids team has won three of four matches this year. They had one loss followed by three wins against Bellarmine, Crystal Springs, Sacred Heart, and Harker respectively. The most recent school matches were aired on KRON 4 on March 22 and March 29 at 2 PM. The MSJ student body can look forward to the team competing again in the Quarterfinals, which will be aired either at the end of May or at the beginning of June.
Photos: Peninsula TV
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