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Half the schools that won VHSL Scholastic Bowl titles are from Southwest Virginia [1]
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Date: 2024-03-18
Seventeen-year-old Lucas Addison walked through the large doors at Jamestown High School a few weeks ago, perhaps a little intimidated, but mostly eager to compete at a statewide tournament that would challenge even the fittest scholarly brains.
More than 400 miles from his rural high school in Norton, the student could feel the energy radiating at the event as he absorbed the excitement from other students who were ready to flex their mental muscles.
Welcome to the 2024 Virginia High School League Scholastic Bowl, a much sought-after honor that many schools strive for, but even fewer actually attain.
Scholastic Bowl is a competitive academic club, consisting of teams that compete against other schools in head-to-head matches involving answering questions in a variety of areas. Students are asked questions that demand quick recall of facts from all academic areas, including everything from reciting the first lines of a novel to which president signed a treaty.
“After a seven-hour car ride from Norton to Williamsburg, we were pretty jittery,” said Lucas Addison. “But I was ready to start competing. We went up against very good teams and even when I felt a little bit off my game, my team members helped to pick up the slack.”
Preparation for the event started months before the state tournament, and required hours on end of studying.
“We often studied in groups. Not only did it help me perform well in the competition, but there were a lot of fun moments that happened while studying. It allowed us to bond more as a team.”
During the three-round competition, students could be faced with a question about the novel “The Tale of Two Cities” followed by a question about pop star Taylor Swift.
A senior at John I. Burton High School in Norton, Lucas is among several Southwest Virginia students who walked away with some of the highest honors at the annual state tournament held in February in Williamsburg. The winning schools will be invited to participate in national competitions this year.
John I. Burton, Ridgeview High School in Clintwood and Blacksburg High School each won the title of state champion, representing half of the six size classifications participating in the statewide competition.
A fourth school, George Wythe High School in Wytheville, finished second, also qualifying for the national tournament, meaning four of the seven Virginia schools to qualify for the national tournament were from Southwest Virginia.
In addition, Lucas placed fourth-highest in points out of all of the classifications from 1A to 6A at the state competition. His scores also ranked highest in his individual school’s 1A classification. The high school senior received a framed certificate designating him a new member of the 2024 VHSL All-State Academic Team. The Ridgeview High School Scholastic Bowl team: Sophie Greear, Alex Smith, Landon Couch, David Farmer, Daniel Greear, Connor Kiser, Tyger Moore, Jewelia Casterlin. Courtesy of Ridgeview.
Ridgeview High School
Adrian White, an environmental science teacher and head Scholastic Bowl coach at Ridgeview High School, just cannot say enough about the exceptional quality of his students who returned home with big winnings, a much-deserved award after spending months preparing for a test of knowledge.
He’s been a coach for the Scholastic Bowl for 19 years, nine of those years for Ridgeview High School, and this is the first time his student team members qualified to compete at the state level. His assistant coach is Holden Dingus, a math teacher at the school.
“It was a dream come true. We played very well and are fortunate to come out champions in our 2A classification,” said White. The school won the state title in its classification after competing in head-to-head competitions against students at Poquoson High School, Liberty High School in Bedford and Clarke County High School.
“We got an overwhelming amount of support from coaches inside and outside of our district, as well as former and current players, to help our team get ready for state competition. It’s really a big brotherhood of Scholastic teams around here,” White said.
David Farmer, a senior at Ridgeview and captain of the team, has participated in Scholastic Bowl competitions since he was in seventh grade. “We have competed at district and regional levels for the past years, but we said going into this year that this is the year we’re going to state. And we made it,” he said.
Representing the Mountain 7 District, the students at Ridgeview also have enjoyed an undefeated regular season record of 12-0. With a 63-5 overall record, they were winners of several invitational tournaments, including the 2023 Stateline, 2024 Tornado, Academon and the 2024 University of Washington Winter Classic.
The Scholastic team at Ridgeview is David Farmer, captain; Landon Couch; Connor Kiser; Daniel Greear; Sophie Greear; Tyger Moore; Alexis Stallard; Jewelia Casterline; and Alex Smith. The J.I. Burton High School Scholastic Bowl team. From left: Emma Addington, Ava Green, Kaylee Hoffman, Kylah Parsons, Emily Campbell, Lucas Addison, Ian McCarroll, Landon Rakes, Michael Taylor, William Brownsberger, Addison McCarroll, Alexander Mullikin, Keegan Williams, Coach Ashley Addison. Courtesy of J.I. Burton.
John I. Burton High School
It’s the third year Ashley Addison has coached the Scholastic Bowl at John I. Burton High School, and the first time her 14 students competed in the state tournament, representing the Cumberland District in a 1A classification. Six of her 14 students are in eighth grade, just starting out new in the club.
In addition to coaching the Scholastic Bowl, Addison is the library media specialist and teacher for the Teacher Cadet Program.
Among their many accolades, the team members are champions in an undefeated VHSL regular season with a 19-0 record, qualifying them to compete in the state competition.
The team at John I. Burton won the Class 1A State Championship after winning all three matches against teams from Rappahannock County, George Wythe and Rappahannock high schools.
The Scholastic Bowl Team at John I. Burton is Emma Addington, Lucas Addison, William Brownsberger, Emily Campbell, Ava Green, Kaylee Hoffman, Addison McCarroll, Ian McCarroll, Alexander Mullikin, Kylah Parsons, Landon Rakes, Ava Stough, Michael Taylor, and Keegan Williams. The Blacksburg High School Scholastic Bowl team. From left: Mateja Grove, Luke West, Milo Tao-Lin, Coach Mary-Louise Maas, Ethan Ririe, Jingxuan You, Brandon Hu, Collin Holt, Rithik Avinash, Rishi Nair, Brayden Nichols. Courtesy of Blacksburg.
Blacksburg High School
The Scholastic Bowl team at Blacksburg High School won the state championship in its 4A classification, River Ridge district. However, Mary-Louise Maas, a science teacher and Scholastic Bowl coach at the school, said getting to the state competition wasn’t easy.
“My students’ goals at the beginning of the year were to win the state tournament, but we had a rough road getting there,” Maas said.
Regional and super-regional competitions were tougher than expected. “We had to beat 10 teams in the VHSL play before we could get to the state tournament,” she said.
“But I had a really good feeling at the start of the year that we could make a run to the state tournament because we had all the right pieces between them to get every question. Some students specialize in history while others know their sciences and math. They complement each other really well.”
The Scholastic Bowl team members at Blacksburg High School are seniors Collin Holt, Ethan Ririe, Luke West and Brayden Nichols. Other members are Hendrick Amelink, Rithik Avinash, Xavier Gitre, Mateja Grove, Zephyr Heflin, Brandon Hu, Rishi Nair, Alexandra Ni, Darsh Patel, Winston Reany, Cory Rodgers, Salma Seyam, Eli Simundza, Milo Tao-Lin and Jingxuan You.
How the process works
What does it take to get to the state tournament?
Practice, practice and more practice.
That’s why students and their coaches meet for several hours after school each week for months before the state tournament.
“We started seven months ago with lots of practice, doing buzzer work with older questions and researching topics to study,” White said.
Addison agreed that teamwork is just as important.
“It’s not all about individual brilliance. The students are part of a team that thrives on preparation — they have dedicated themselves to vigorous practice sessions after school during the week. They challenge each other with mock questions and they really foster a love for learning,” she said.
While the Scholastic Bowl may not get the same attention as other school sports, students invest just as much time and practice as those students on the athletic fields.
“You don’t have to buy a lot of supplies for the club. You don’t have to have anything other than your brain,” David Farmer said.
“There are a lot of great things about the Scholastic Bowl,” he said. “You have to study to get good and in the course of studying you find what you like learning about. I’ve found myself reading a lot and studying different subjects.”
He plans to continue with the program even after he graduates. Farmer hopes to start a Scholastic Bowl team once he enrolls at University of Virginia’s College at Wise, where he will pursue becoming an attorney.
According to the students, the Scholastic Bowl provides students with opportunities for networking with other people across the state. “It’s allowed me to foster relationships between other schools,” Lucas Addison said.
Preparation for the Scholastic Bowl is a commitment they willingly accept. The students juggle many interests in addition to preparing for the competitions. Most of the participants divide their time among other extracurricular activities at school, including band, athletics, FFA and robotics.
“It’s amazing how smart they are,” White said.
“Test scores from our Southwest Virginia region sometimes out-perform schools in Northern Virginia. We’re always in first or second places in the state overall in test scoring. We have really smart kids in this area,” he said. More stories on education Eighth graders across Roanoke build their own community in gun-violence prevention program Virginia public colleges, universities, asked to verify that investments aren’t politically motivated Former dean sues Southside Virginia Community College over claims of discrimination
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[1] Url:
https://cardinalnews.org/2024/03/18/half-the-schools-what-won-vhsl-scholastic-bowl-titles-are-from-southwest-virginia/
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