Rescued this from his email; edited it to remove some names and identifying places…. I note that he gives no credit to the parent-coach for that year’s quiz bowl (ME!). The first paragraph is his teachers’ comment and grade, everything after that is all Kevin……
“Congratulations, Kevin! What an accomplishment. I bet you still miss it; sounds like it was fun. Just a couple of things to watch: Make sure you are using the right words (you’ve used “there” instead of “their” and “Are” instead of “Our). Also, look out for run-on sentences. Two or more complete thoughts must be separated by a semicolon, a comma and coordinating conjunction (and, but, so, etc.) or a period. Thanks for sharing! Enjoy your summer! 58/60 = A”
Literature and Composition Nine
16 May 2011
Personal Narrative Rough Draft
We had all left the room with our heads down. Daniel and I at least knew that there was still next year. For M and John, however, they would leave with a fourth place finish. No better, no less. We had been doing so well, too. After the first two rounds, we had accumulated the highest amount of total points among the sixteen teams, and had been the one seed going in to the eight tournament. We beat the eight seed with ease, but had lost a closely contested match against the four seed. There wasn’t too much shame in that. After all, the four seed did go on to win in the final. We just wanted to place. But in order to do that we would have to beat the team from Utica. We got off to a slow start against them, but we worked our way back. We could’ve won. But every time a question with a lot of points came around, or any time that we had the chance to take the lead, Utica would answer first. We lost. Mrs. S our coach and my 4th grade teacher that year, told us that we did great and that we should keep our heads up. We received an honorable mention (the nice way to say 4th place) and a purple ribbon, but we were still disappointed. It’s never fun to exit a tournament on a loss, but that’s what happened to us.
I thought about last year as I went to the first Social Studies Olympiad meeting of the year. Mrs. S told everyone that you had to do either the poster or the essay contest, and that students had the option to try out for the Quiz Bowl team. I was going to do the essay contest, but the Quiz Bowl was much more important to me. As soon as Mrs. S finished explaining the rules, she set out a sheet for those who wanted to sign up for Quiz Bowl. I signed my name. Seven or eight others had signed up as well. At the next meeting, some students had begun their posters and essays. Quiz Bowl try outs were today as well. A few other people had already had their try outs, but I was still waiting. But soon enough, it was my turn, and Mrs. S called me over from across the hall. .
Mrs. S used a sheet of Quiz Bowl questions forms a few years ago and used that for the try out. There were twenty questions total. I was nervous at first, but after getting the first few questions right, I had nothing but confidence. I was twelve questions in before I finally got one wrong. I left the try out happy; I had gotten fifteen out of twenty questions correct, and had floored Mrs. S by answering a question that she had not even known the answer to before reading it. Mrs. S came back to her room after the last person had come back. We were all anxious to hear the results, and she was quick in telling us. Daniel and I had made the team, with Daniel being the captain. J and Zach, two 4th graders, had also made the team. Ian, a 5th grader in my class, was the alternate.
Daniel, Zach, J, and I began to practice for Quiz Bowl. The competition was two months away. The format for the Quiz Bowl was kind of like Jeopardy. There were four categories: History, Michigan, Geography, and Current Events, with category containing five questions. The five questions were worth 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 points. One round, twenty questions, 6,000 available points. Practices didn’t go too well at first, J and Zach had to learn how everything worked and it took some time before they got used to the system, but they eventually adapted. We also eventually learned what each other’s strengths were: Daniel’s were Current Events and History, mine were Geography and Michigan, Zach’s were Current Events and Michigan, and J’s were Geography and Current Events. At first, I thought that there was no way we would do well in the tournament, our team was much worse than the team from the year before. But towards the end of the two months of practice, I felt as if the team was just as good, maybe better than the team the year before. Mrs. S had gone even further and had said that our team was definitely better than the one from the year before.
Somehow, when November had ended, February had begun. And before I knew it, it was time to drive down to Romulus High School for the Social Studies Olympiad. The people making the trip to Romulus included the Quiz Bowl Team, Mrs. S, anyone who had placed in either the poster or the essay contest, and parents. Everyone had met at the McDonald’s in Haslett on Marsh Rd. in the morning before going to the Olympiad so that we could all carpool. I thought only about the Quiz Bowl during the hour long drive to Romulus. It was the only thing on my mind. I wanted better than fourth.
When we arrived at Romulus High School, we grabbed a map of the school, and found the cafeteria. The cafeteria was crowded with people and tables. Each table had about three or four signs with different school names on them. We probably spent five minutes searching for our sign before we realized that it was just to our left. After finally finding our spot, the adults put down their bags or their purses before recollecting and discussing what to do next. Mrs. S decided that we find the schedule and figure out when our first competition was. Most of the parents stayed back at the table, but all of the kids and a few parents followed Mrs. S down a hallway where a long poster read the times and rooms of matches. Our first round-robin match was in twenty minutes.
Fifteen minutes later, we were at out designated room and preparing for competition. Since only one person was allowed to join each team in the room when they competed, Mrs. S was the only one to follow us in as we took our places at the table. The other team was already there, their coach leaning against a wall in the back of the room. They were all talking to each other, they didn’t seem too nervous. Observing the other members of my team, I say Daniel composed and calm and Zach slouching back in his chair, relaxed. Only J showed any sign of nervousness, and he showed a lot of it. He was breathing heavier than normal and looking down at the table, clutching the buzzer. “At least someone other than me is nervous,” I thought. I couldn’t fathom how Daniel and Zach could remain so calm, especially Zach since this was his first time. “Maybe there just nervous on the inside,” I thought. I must’ve been just nervous on the inside as well, because J leaned over and asked me how I could be so calm. The question shocked me. “I’m not calm at all,” I told him.
When the judge finally entered the room, I knew that he had to have been late. We had been in the room for twenty minutes. However, looking at the clock, I found that he was exactly on time. The judge closed the door behind him and sat down in the middle of the room in between our team and theirs. He quickly read us the rules and then asked us if we were ready. After we all responded with anxious nods, we checked our buzzers and flipped a coin to see which team would pick the first question. They won the toss, and they picked. The judge read the question slowly and carefully, but not in a stereotypical, Alex Trebek-y, game-show host voice. He read the question as if he asking the question to himself. I knew the answer, but Daniel buzzed in first. He got it right. We swept all of the 100 point questions before the other team finally got a 200 point question right. The next question was a 200 point Michigan question, a fairly routine one that had come up a lot during practices. “What is the largest waterfall in the state of Michigan?” the judge asked. I was quick to buzz in, “Tahquamenon Falls.” “Correct.” I picked a 200 point Geography question and got that one right as well. Since all the 200 point questions were gone, I moved to the 300 point questions and picked the one from the Geography category. It was easy, and got it right again. Seeing that I had been doing well in this category, and that no one else had come close to beating me to the buzzer, I broke from routine and stuck with the Geography category instead of staying with 300 point questions. I swept the Geography category by myself. We kept answering questions until finally, the last question was answered and the round ended. It was only then that I looked up at the scoreboard and saw how badly we had trounced the other team. They had only answered four questions; we had gotten all of the others.
It was no surprise for us to see later, when the first set of standings were out, that we had accumulated the most points in the first round. Immediately after looking at the standings though, Mrs. S rushed us to the next room for our second round-robin match. We didn’t do as well as we did in the first round, but we still beat the other team comfortably and racked up a fair amount of points. We hadn’t gotten the most points that round, as we did in the first, but the combined total was still the most out of any other team. We had gotten the 1 seed. The tournament bracket was created and posted on the wall. Out of the sixteen teams originally competing, the eight teams with the highest point totals from the first two matches advanced and were seeded accordingly. After analyzing the bracket, we were happy to find that our opponent in the first round of the bracket had lost to the team we versed in the second round-robin match. We also found Utica, our team’s unofficial sworn enemy, on the other side of the bracket.
We beat the number eight seed easily, bolstering our confidence. But then, a setback came in the semifinals. The team we versed next was very quick on the buzzer, whether they knew the answer or not. This could’ve been beneficial to us, if the time limit that they had to answer a question ran out; we were allowed to discuss the question as a team and have the captain answer. However, the judge was very lenient on the time limit the other team had to answer the question. I began to think that the judge forgot that a time limit even existed. At one point, when a person on the other team spent a lengthy amount of time thinking of the answer to a question, I turned around to see Mrs. S biting her lip angrily and glaring at the judge. She and I both knew what was going to happen; the other team was going to win unfairly. And that they did.
We weren’t going to finish first or second that year, but that was okay. Are goal was only to place, and we still had that opportunity in the consolation match. And besides, it wasn’t our fault that we lost. It was the judge’s. But from our previous domination in the competition, we were all rather hopeful that we would place third. That hope vanished when we saw the updated bracket. Our opponent was Utica.
Our spirits were low on the way to the final room. Zach and J hadn’t been on the team the year before, but they still knew what had happened, and had learned to hate Utica too, despite having no personal quarrel with them themselves. However, we all gave ourselves a pep talk before going into the room. “We’re going to beat them this time,” we told ourselves, “We can win, just play like we did in the first round.”
The start of the match did not go well; Utica had adopted a similar strategy to the team we had lost to previously. We were behind quickly. I decided that maybe we adopt the strategy as well. On the next question, I buzzed in early, cutting the judge off, “Who was the first female secret—.” I panicked, quickly trying to figure out what the rest of the question was. “Madeline Albright.” I said, hoping I had guessed correctly. “That’s right,” said the judge. A few more quick buzzes and we had pulled even with Utica. The draw remained unbroken until there were only seven questions left, when Utica answered the next two and took a 900 point lead. Five questions left. A Current Events question was next, “Who is the attor—.” “Gonzalez,” said Daniel. “Correct.” “We need to buzz in quicker,” whispered the Utica captain just audibly enough for me to here. Four questions left and there lead was 400, but it soon became 900 again when they got the next one right. Three questions left. The last 400 point question was taken off the board next, but it should’ve been 500 points, it was so hard that nobody on either team was able to answer the question. Two 500 point questions left; a History question and a Geography question. Utica picked the Geography question first. “Which state is known as the Show M—.” I buzzed in, “Missouri,” I said, unsure. “I shouldn’t have buzzed in.” I thought. “Correct,” said the judge, a huge sigh of relief swept through me. One 500 point question left, and Utica had a 400 point lead. “Buzz in faster,” said the Utica captain again. The judge read the History question, “Name two presidents who died—.” A Utica player buzzed in first, “William Harrison and John F. Kennedy.” I finished the question in my head, “‘Name two presidents who died in office,’ that’s it, we lost”. “Incorrect,” said the judge. I quickly raised my head in shock. The Utica team seemed equally surprised. I heard suppressed gasps, though I’m not sure who made them. The judge turned to us, “I’ll repeat the question, ‘Name two presidents who died on the 4th of July.’ You have 10 seconds to deliberate before I’ll need an answer.” I knew the answer. We all huddled, and I said, “Daniel, it’s John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.” “Are you sure?” asked Daniel. “Yes, I’m sure.” I recalled how I read that they had both died on America’s 50th anniversary. Daniel told the judge the answer. “That is correct. Congratulations, Bennett Woods.” Utica left the room, sullen. We stayed in the room so the judge could present us with bronze metals, suppressing our joy for the moment.
Our joy erupted when we got outside. We cheered with our parents and with Mrs. S, who both congratulated us. We beat Utica. “Redemption,” I thought.
On the car ride home, I reflected on Social Studies Olympiad. I was going to miss it next year. But I wasn’t focusing on the sadness of the occasion; I was focusing on the happiness. A banner streaming, “WE BEAT UTICA!” was stuck in my brain. I was glad it was there, it was a reminder of what I and the rest of the team had accomplished. Even though I had lost the essay contest, even though we lost the semifinal round, and even though we had lost to Utica the year before, we had rebounded and won. This victory is something I always remember to make me smile and reminds me how our determination paid of big time at the end. I still miss Social Studies Olympiad.
