Ashland High School offers their students Brain Bowl, a competition in which students, armed with knowledge, compete in a battle of wits to answer questions from many different categories on teams in the Varsity or Junior Varsity division.
So far, both teams at Ashland High have done exceptionally well. As of February 23rd, the Varsity team remains undefeated and the JV team has only suffered two losses. Last year, the Varsity team was runner-up for the Championship and this year they hope to bring home the big trophy.
On the day of a Brain Bowl match, students arrive for an opening ceremony, where the director of the event gives a speech. Then the matches begin. There are fifty questions in a match, five matches in a game and the day usually lasts about eight hours.
Like many sports, Brain bowl has complex rules and regulations. Each team has to remain silent during the other team’s question and during rebound time. Rebound time is the time period in which the other team can choose to “buzz in” an answer if the first team was incorrect with their response. Each team of five has ten seconds of discussion time before the captain has to buzz in with their answer. T Each answer must be clear and detailed; using units for mathematical questions and first and last names for people. A team can challenge the answer the moderator has if they have a respectful and complete reason to believe it is incorrect.
Obviously some questions will be more difficult than others, but the students participating in Brain Bowl are some of the most intelligent and well-informed members of the Ashland High community. When speaking of his experience with Brain Bowl, a member of the AHS team stated that even though there is no real end game for participating in the activity, it helps to improve students’ teamwork and leadership skills.
Currently, coaches Matt McKinnon and Scott Gausen are gearing up for the next match in the third week of April and hope to keep both the JV and Varsity teams in the high rankings.
Brain Bowl is a wonderful opportunity for the students of Ashland High School to show off their knowledge of the world, compete in teams and earn points towards a championship trophy. This event teaches a variety of skills to the participating students and is enjoyable fun for participants and spectators alike.
Here is a taste of questions Brain Bowl competitors have to answer:
Science: The Sun’s layers are the interior, the photosphere, the chromosphere and the _____?
Literature: Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” was published in 1884. It details adventures on the Mississippi River with his friend named_____?
General Knowledge: Who was Adolf Hitler’s favorite composer?
