'Trivia' Pursuits
Trevor Walker/Staff reporter
Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: News
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The 23rd Annual High School Scholastic Bowl Tournament was a big event for both the Honors College and Eastern on Saturday.
Students, coaches and parents from 22 central Illinois schools had to be silenced in Lumpkin Auditorium at risk of interrupting LSAT testing in the same building.
The goal of each team is to answer the most trivia questions and take home the championship title.
Paul Wiberg, junior management major, helped coordinate the event.
He said the event is a good way of promoting Eastern to prospective students.
"A lot of academic kids love playing this (game), so usually it's a nice way to highlight what the school can offer and provide a fun event for the community," Wiberg said.
Bonnie Irwin, dean of the Honors College, said Eastern has been hosting this competition for about 23 years.
She said the event is a great way for the Honors College to reach into the community.
"We like to keep in contact with local schools, and this is one way we can provide a service to some of our schools in the region," Irwin said.
Irwin spoke to the audience before the competition began.
"What makes a good scholastic bowl team?" she asked.
Teamwork, communication, intelligence and persistence were shouted out.
Irwin said those exact same qualities are used for success in college.
"You have to think about what you are passionate about," Irwin said.
Among the requirements to succeed is having a good coach.
Meridith Reddick, coach for the Tri-County Titans - comprising Oakland and Kansas High Schools - has taught Spanish for four years at both schools and has advised the team for three years.
"I was afraid it was going to be a program that wasn't offered to students anymore and didn't want to see it go away and wanted to keep kids involved in it," Reddick said.
Students participate in the event to have fun but also to compete.
Eric Ahasic founded the team at the High School of St. Thomas Moore in Champaign and is also the captain.
He has participated in scholastic bowl all four years of high school, and two years in middle school, starting in the seventh grade. He took an online test with other students in the sixth grade, in which they got first in the state.
"In seventh grade, there was a team and I just went with it," Ahasic said. "I've always liked answering questions and learning stuff and I figured I might as well do it competitively."
He does it because he loves the competitive aspect of it, he added.
Alex Weaver is also the captain of his team at Glenwood High School in Chatham. The senior got involved with scholastic bowl because of his sister.
"I like the academic competition ... of scholastic bowl," he said.
But Weaver said being a captain is a difficult job.
"The responsibilities of a captain are to get all the answers organized and balance the ideas of the team for each question."
Trevor Walker can be reached at 581-7945 or at tjwalker@eiu.edu.
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