Team Kelleher wins Scholar Quiz Finals

Greta Nerad

Staff Writer

Mira Costa Scholar Quiz finals took place March 21 in the auditorium where Thomas Kelleher, Kevin Chen, Noah Geller and Joseph Cohn defeated Peter Lu, Jake Gordon, Malia Yuhl and Nick Darrow with a score of 250 to 105.

Scholar Quiz is a six day single-elimination tournament which began on Mar. 13. Teams of four compete, answering questions on topics such as history and pop culture. When the reader asks the question, the first person to raise their hand-held flag to indicate they are ready to answer is called on.

“[My team] knew we were up against a Scholar Quiz dream team so we decided to have fun, go for a bunch of questions, and just relax,” Scholar Quiz runner-up and senior Jake Gordon said. “We wanted to win, but in the end it’s the experience we’re going to remember forever.”

The Parent Teacher Student Association, an organization of Mira Costa parents that funds events to benefit students, granted a $50 prize to each of the four winners. The PTSA also arranged the online sign-ups for the event, brackets and locations of each round of the tournament.

“The PTSA chooses to put on the scholar quiz because it is one of the most anticipated academic events of the year,” Mira Costa Scholar Quiz Co-Chair Elizabeth Riley said. “The hard work we do really pays off when we see the excitement of the students surrounding the competition.”

This year, 29 teachers volunteered their classrooms to be used during lunch on the days of the tournament. These teachers could choose whether they wanted to read the Scholar Quiz questions or have a parent volunteer take their place.

“I like to be part of the competition by reading the questions because [Scholar Quiz] is one of our most exciting traditions,” Mira Costa English teacher Jonathan Westerberg said. “Scholar Quiz is incredibly entertaining and I’m always really impressed by the students.”

Approximately 100 parents volunteered to read off the questions, tally points and determine who raised their flag first. They donated their own time, arriving 15 minutes prior to the matches to prepare, and staying after to accurately calculate each teams’ score.

“I love volunteering for Scholar Quiz because it’s so amazing to watch these students answer the nearly impossible questions,” parent volunteer Robyn St. Germain said. “Their intellect is astounding [and] I would volunteer for scholar quiz every year.”

Each question is worth five points and whichever team finishes with the highest score wins. Answering incorrectly does not result in point deduction, however, the other team gets the chance to give a different answer.

“[Answering Scholar Quiz questions] all comes down to forgetting about the score and the stakes and just being in the moment to make it fun instead of stressful” Scholar Quiz champion and senior Noah Geller said. “I love Scholar Quiz and I’m really sad that this is my last year, but we finished off strong and left behind a great legacy.”