Staff photos/Rhonda Silence The junior varsity Knowledge Bowl team took first place at the competition at Mountain Iron on Tuesday, October 13. The knowledgeable Cook County high school students are (L-R, front) Kieran Scannell, Ben Seaton, Mara MacDonell, and Sarah Larsen. (L-R, back) Collin Berglund, Hayden Goettl, Bjorn Johnson, Chris Hoglund.
Two teams of students have been doing a great job representing Cook County in the challenging Knowledge Bowl competition. Cook County has fielded a junior high and junior varsity team for the academic tournament.
Twenty students in seventh and eighth grades took a 45-question test to determine who would represent the school. Congratulations to the team members: Joey Chmelik, Daniel Ahrendt, Megan Lehto, Audrey Summers, Lars Scannell, and Zack Sturm.
“The test was really hard,” said Lars Scannell.
The students began meeting once or twice a week at the end of September and participated in their first competition in October. History Teacher and Knowledge Bowl Coach Dorie Carlson was pleased with the results. “They tied for fifth place out of 23 teams!” she said.
Audrey Summers was the team spokesperson at the last competition. Joey Chmelik will lead the team in the next match. Coach Carlson said all of the students have strength in different academic areas.
The Cook County junior high Knowledge Bowl team does a little bit of research in preparation for its October 19 competition. (L-R, front) Audrey Summers, Lars Scannell, Joey Chmelik. (L-R, back) Megan Lehto, Daniel Ahrendt, and Zack Sturm.
Asked what their areas of knowledge encompassed, students affirmed Carlson’s statement. Megan said science; Lars, math; Joey, geography; and Zack, history. Only Audrey and Daniel weren’t sure, with Audrey grinning, “I’m kind of the random knowledge person.”
The junior varsity Knowledge Bowl team members seemed much more serious about the competition, perhaps because they were heading to Mountain Iron for a tournament the day after this interview. The ninth and tenth grade JV team members are Kieran Scannell, Ben Seaton, Mara MacDonell, Sarah Larsen, Collin Berglund, Hayden Goettl, Bjorn Johnson, and Chris Hoglund.
The JV coaches are Social Studies Teacher T.J. Super and Special Ed. Teacher April Graves.
At press time, Carlson was delighted to share the news that the team had taken first place at the October 14 competition, defeating teams from 23 other schools. “They just called,” said Carlson. “They were really excited.”
TheJV team will compete again on November 11 and 18.
The Grand Marais PTA is donating money (about $400) to purchase buzzers like those used in the actual Knowledge Bowl competition to help students prepare for the fastpaced competition.
How would you do? Here are a few sample
Knowledge Bowl questions from the junior
high competition. Answers below.
1. The Barbary States are situated along the
southern shore of what body of water?
2. Where is the fulcrum on a bottle opener?
3. What is the nearest substantial trans-Neptunian
body?
4. What adjective meaning “striped” applies to
skeletal muscle tissue?
5. What is the simple subject of this sentence?
These are her prize dahlias.
Answers
1. Mediterranean Sea. 2. On the top of the bottle cap.
3. Pluto. 4. Striated. 5. Dahlias
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