Ridgefield High School’s Knowledge Bowl team won first place at the Southwest Washington Regional Knowledge Bowl tournament and is headed to state competition on March 19. After last year’s team impressed by placing third at the National Knowledge Bowl, the team is poised for another strong season.
Knowledge Bowl is similar to Jeopardy, with rapid-fire trivia questions covering a broad range of subjects. Flip through a list of sample questions, and you might be surprised at how challenging they are. For example, what is the largest island between Sumatra and Mindanao? What regular solid is bounded by twenty equilateral triangles? What is the only surviving order of oviparous mammals? What is the last syllable of a word called?
For those keeping score at home, the answers are Borneo, an icosahedron, monotremata, and ultima. Did you manage to get any of the answers? The bright young minds that make up Ridgefield’s team are able tackle these questions and many more, and they are always eager to practice for competitions every chance they get.
Competing in the Columbia River League, the varsity team secured a decisive first-place win at regionals. Team captain Micah Ross and team members Olivia DesRochers and Adam Ford all competed in last year’s National Knowledge Bowl, so they bring a great deal of experience to the state competition Saturday in Wenatchee. This year’s state-bound team also includes new members Emiliana Newell and James Haddix from the junior varsity team.
The junior varsity team also turned in an impressive performance at regionals, placing third overall in their division. The junior varsity team is composed of team captain Asher Anderson and team members Stuart Swingruber, Trenton Stevens, and Nathan Walker.
With Ridgefield teams claiming both first and third place overall at the regional competition, coach David Jacobson is very proud of his students. But for Jacobson and the Knowledge Bowl teams, it’s less about the competition and more about continuing to learn new things together and grow as a team.