For the first time in history, Winthrop Middle School has won the annual Quiz Bowl, besting 11 other private and charter schools. The six-person team included: Alex Daigneault, Ben Prew, Chris Rainey, Kate Dickinson, John Tracy, and Christian Buonopane, all of who spent countless hours preparing for the five different categories of the challenge; Mental Math, North American Geography including Central America, Chemistry, Greek Mythology, and General Knowledge.
“Interested students had to take a test at the end of January, and these were the final six selected,†said science teacher and Quiz Bowl Coordinator, Chris Farnsworth. “We won the final round and it was pretty close, but they worked hard and deserved the win.â€
For each category, one student was sent to represent the team and the student who raised his/her pencil first, was given the opportunity to answer first. Winthrop won four out of five rounds, and received further points during the wildcard round, ultimately winning a plaque and making it to the final round.
To prepare for the bowl, the team came to school at 7:00 am, Tuesday through Friday, to practice for an hour before classes started. Practice classrooms were set up the same way that the final round was, complete with light up buzzers similar to Jeopardy. In addition, each of the six students were assigned nightly questions geared toward their specific category.
“I’m thrilled that the hard work of these six students paid off, they represented WMS and made us so proud,†said Amy Gallagher, Educational Support Personnel (ESP) and Quick Bowl Coordinator. “All those early mornings were worth it!â€