By Lauren Jackson/reporter
Love of trivia and lightning fast buzzer skills brought students to the College Bowl tryouts.
Tryouts for the College Bowl practice team were held Nov. 9 on NE Campus, led by Bonnie Creel, professor of speech.
“When I was in high school, College Bowl was televised every Saturday,” she said.
“ It was sponsored by General Electric, and I almost always watched it.”
At the end of auditions, eight students were named to the practice team: Vlora Bojku, Terry Barriere, Danien Kim, Rory Lehmann, James Kern, John Anglin, Lance Newman and Lori Dunham.
These students will begin weekly practices that will run for the next three months in hopes of becoming part of the NE College Bowl competition team.
“The students who participate enjoy the chance to work with a team and be involved in a campus activity,” Creel said.
The five students who make the final cut will travel to Houston in February to compete in the College Bowl regional tournament.
“If we were to win in Houston, we would go to the national tournament,” she said.
Many of the students on the practice team are returning competitors.
“ I competed last year and had a really good time,” Barriere said. “It’s a fun mental exercise.”
Bojku said, “I just really wanted to push the buzzer.”
In addition to the personal satisfaction achieved by those who compete in the college bowl, winning teams and high-scoring individual players at the regional tournament get trophies, Creel said.
“[Winning] really isn’t anything I have focused on much, to tell you the truth,” she said.
“I just enjoy that we give students who excel in academic pursuits a chance to participate in this activity.”
The students will spend part of their semester break studying for the next round of competition to select the final team.
The Collegian will announce the winners and alternates in an edition in late January or early February.
