Quiz Bowl gives local college 
students a big buzz 

This is not Jeopardy. But it’s just as much fun and you still have to be pretty smart to buzz in. What I’m referring to is Quiz Bowl, a game in which two teams of four players compete in a contest of knowledge and quick recall. Questions span in subject matter from Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Mathematics, and Current Events. 

Tony Bush, Media Service Coordinator for Georgia Perimeter College and coach of their Quiz Bowl team has nothing but praise for the program and the teams he has coached there for six years.

“There are four players on a team and they can each specialize in a field like science or literature,”said Bush, “but as they acquire knowledge in their own field, they also learn how to use each other’s strengths to the team’s advantage. You need to know what you know and know what your teammates know.” 

Holly Tinkey started competing in Quiz Bowl when she was a student at Central High School and then competed at GPC. Now a junior at Georgia Tech, she continues to volunteer as a moderator for the tournaments.

Of her competition days she said, “I usually attended anywhere from 3 to 5 tournaments per semester, many of which are several days long. That aside, I usually spent a few hours studying old questions or just looking through web articles on various subjects.”

Though the competition alone provides both fun and fulfillment, Tinkey said, “The best part about the Quiz Bow circuit is the rare brand of people you meet and spend time with: intelligent, educated people who also know how to have a good time.”

Bush said his students have met lots of people who have played on Jeopardy. “They say the questions aren’t that hard. The hard part is having to wait until Alex Trebek finishes talking before you can buzz in. It’s a matter of timing, like playing a video game. In Quiz Bowl, you can buzz in as soon as you know the answer, so it’s actually more about showing what you know.” 

This weekend, GPC is hosting the regional Quiz Bowl Tournament. The winning team will go on to compete in the national meet in Orlando, Florida.

Half of GPC’s 2009 team consists of Gwinnett high school graduates, Sidney Hixon from South Gwinnett, and Robert Slade from Central Gwinnett. Slade won honors as top individual scorer at the NAQT Division II Intercollegiate Championship Tournament held at Washington University of St. Louis in 2008. In January 2009 he earned MVP honors as the top scorer at the Seaside Invitational Tournament at Northwest Florida State College.

If Slade really knows what he knows and his teammates really know what he knows, then by the time you read this, GPC should be abuzz with excitement!

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