Each week, the Scholastic Bowl team meets to practice their skills of trivia on the topics of history, literature, arts, and music. This process includes studying flashcards, reviewing match rules, and practicing buzzing in.

Scholastic Bowl is a VHSL-sponsored team activity where students compete against other high school’s teams in a Jeopardy!-style competition.

Amrutha Obbineni (‘19) has been involved with Scholastic Bowl since freshman year. She has been the team captain for the past two years.

This activity meets after school every Thursday during the nine week season.

“We set up the buzzers, and then someone will read the questions, either myself or Mr. Mariana,” Obbineni said. “We practice buzzing in and proper match etiquette.”

This season, Obbineni spends a lot of her time reviewing the history and literature questions.

“In the last couple years, we have had people who are stronger in history and literature, so I would focus more on arts and music,” Obbineni said. “This year, we have several people who are really good with arts and music, but not as many who are well versed in history and literature.”

Scholastic Bowl competes against two schools every Thursday, in two three-round matches.

“The first and third round are the same. There are 15 toss-up and anyone on the team can buzz in and answer, but you cannot speak to other members on your team,” Obbineni said. “The second round is a collaborative round when you can check answers with each other.”

Obbineni says she only experiences a limited amount of stress during this activity.

“There is always some form of stress knowing that we’re going against someone,” Obbineni said. “I just sit there and make sure I don’t accidentally hit the buzzer. Most of us are friends, and even know people from the other schools.”