Will Boyce ’15 | Staff Writer

South’s quiz bowl team, an academic team that competes against other schools in math, science, history, and general knowledge trivia, held its first meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 10.

The quiz bowl team is in its second year under Mr. Rennell, who became the coach/adviser after he transferred from North High School. Rennell was the coach of the North quiz bowl team, and during his tenure, he earned a state title and captured two second place finishes at state level. He then went to the national competition five years in a row.

There are two types of competitions in quiz bowl: league play and the National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT). In league play, there are five competitors and the questions are not as  tough as in the NAQT, where there are four competitors.

As far as competitions go, the team competes against 16 other schools in league play, and play in numerous tournaments, which can include anywhere from 20 to 30 teams from Michigan or even other states, Rennell said.

After league play and tournaments, the team competes in the state competition if they qualify. The meet is usually held in East Lansing, hosted by the Michigan State Honors College.

The team practices Mondays before school, Tuesdays after school and competes on Wednesday.

“I’m looking forward to getting a competitive team together and seeing how far we can make it this season,” said Mathew Millenbach ’15.

At North, the quiz bowl team was a prominent program, with over 30 students in some years, Rennell said. Last year at South, the team had eight students, four of which graduated. Five students joined this year bringing the team total to nine, Millenbach said.

“You don’t necessarily have to be gifted in all fields,” said Rennell. “You can be a specialist, so if you’re really good in math, or really good in science, or really good in history, or even really good in trivia (you can contribute in that specific category).”

“I’d love to get to nationals this year,” said Rennell. “It would pretty great for us to get to nationals. I’d like to make sure we qualify for states, and get to nationals.”

Example League play questions:

Though written in 1906 to highlight the plight of new immigrants of workers falling into heavy machinery and being turned into lard led instead to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.  Its family of Lithuanians, led by Jurgis Rudkus, find a difficult life in the stockyards of Chicago. Name this novel by Upton Sinclair.

It now has about 100,000 black bears, far more than its population of moose and caribou can support. Thus, for the first time since it achieved statehood more that 50 years ago, it now plans to sell licenses that allow black bears of all sizes to be legally trapped. Name this U.S. state, sometimes called “The Last Frontier” or “Land of the Midnight Sun,” that was once governed by Sarah Palin.

If carpet costs $5 per square yard, how much does it cost to carpet a rectangular room that is 12 feet by 21 feet?

Led by Mick Jagger, this group’s boxed set includes its albums “Sticky Fingers,” “Tattoo You,” and “Steel Wheels.”

The asteroid belt is located between which two planets.

Click here  for anwers.