CONTRIBUTED TO THE OBSERVER
LEE COUNTY — The College Quiz Bowl team of Southern Union State Community College (SUSCC) is slated to make its second straight appearance in the NAQT Community College Championship Tournament in Chicago, Illinois, Feb. 22 through 24.
The team, captained by Will Hughes, includes members Josh Kroll, Lane Aldridge, Macey Slick and Abbie Harden and is coached by SUSCC social science instructors Brent Catchings and Jackson Bonner. The team is one of the top seeds in the country among all community colleges after bringing home a third-place overall finish in last year’s tournament and boasted the highest individual scorer in Hughes.
The SUSCC College Bowl team has continued its winning ways this season, going undefeated to win the Northwest Shoals Welcome Tournament in October. They then went 4-0 to win the December Invitational hosted by Jefferson State Community College, where Hughes’ performance ranks third all-time in average points per game.
The team secured an invitation to the National Championship Tournament by winning 10-0 in the Sectional Tournament hosted by Wallace State. In addition, the team has earned an invitation to the Undergraduate National Championship at Columbia University in New York City, where they would face powerhouses such as Duke, Princeton, Harvard and Yale. On the road to qualifying for this tournament, the SUSCC team outscored teams from Boston University, Alabama, Ole Miss, Arkansas and South Carolina.
Quiz Bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students. Teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports and popular culture. The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas. Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.
Follow Southern Union’s social media accounts during the national tournament to check the team’s progress as it competes for the national championship.
