‘Minds’ set on national event
Troy High School’s undefeated quiz bowl squad seeking donations for cost of trip to championship event in Atlanta
TROY, N.Y. » For the past two years a group of students from Troy High School’s MasterMinds team have qualified for the National High School Quiz bowl Championships held in Atlanta, Georgia.
They didn’t compete last year, however, because they weren’t able to raise enough funds for the trip.
School officials said f lights from Albany to Atlanta will cost each of the 7 team members $400 and the hotel for the 3-night event is expected to cost around $900, along with registration costs. The group does have nine members. However, school officials said only six or seven would go to the national competition because of other commitments.
The group of students, along with club advisor Nancy Smith, a math teacher at the high school, set up a GoFundfMe page to try
to raise funds for the trip. Since creating the fundraising page roughly a month ago, the group has already received more than $3,000 with a goal of reaching $5,000 before the competition on Memorial Day weekend
“This year we qualified [for the quiz bowl] in November at the fall Brain Busters competition held in Ithaca,” Smith said. “The kids see that the information is not just math, it’s everything, history, current events, music, sports, its all trivia and we really have a great group of kids.”
If the students are able to raise enough money to go to the national competition, it would actually be the first time the high school competed in it.
“[I joined this team because of] the thrill of answering questions and getting it right,” said Alexander BorcaTasciuc, a 10th-grader on the MasterMinds team.
The students on the team are hopeful people in the community will want to support them so that they can prove themselves on a national level.
“It’s good to see people funding an academic endeavor and from a maybe more selfish view, it’s very nice to have the opportunity to do it,” MasterMinds team member Rufus Nguyen- McDowell said.
CYPRAS, a non- profit company which established the MasterMinds program, organizes and administers the program.
CYPRAS started MasterMinds in 1993 in the Rochester area with 25 schools. In 1995, MasterMinds became a BOCES offering and the program expanded into the Buffalo region. Forty- eight schools participated in 199596. Fifty-two schools participated in the 1996-97 sea-
son. A junior varsity option was made available in 199798 with 13 of the 61 schools fielding both varsity and JV teams.
In 1999-2000, MasterMinds expanded into the Albany/Capital District area and participation topped 70 schools. In 2003-2004, MasterMinds was introduced into the Syracuse area and total participation crested 100 schools for the first time.
MasterMinds uses a form of the NAQT™ Quiz Bowl format for match play.
Matches are played in eight-minute halves with each school playing four students at a time. Students must ring-in and be recognized before answering. Correct answers earn that player’s team 10 or 15 points and the opportunity for the team to answer a 30-point bonus question.
In each region, schools are arranged into different leagues at the start of the school year, playing a 12-match regular season with the top schools advancing to double elimination playoffs.
MasterMinds has divided the state into eight regions: Buffalo (Section VI), Rochester/Genesee Valley (Section V), Syracuse/ Watertown/ Utica/Rome (Section III), Binghamton/Southern Tier (Section IV), Albany/Capital District (Section II), Adirondacks/North Country (Section VII and X), Catskills/ Westchester (Sections 1 and IX), and Long Island (Sections VIII and XI).
State tournament play be-
ganwith the 2005-06season.
Meets are held after school with each league gathering once every few weeks. They are held over the course of the school year with the regular season running from approximately mid- to late October through to early April, followed by playoffs. Each meet is normally designed so that each school competes in two matches.
Meets are held in high schools with the location rotating among the participants with the actual days, starting times and places scheduled at the start of the year. Each meet consists of four to eight matches, generally beginning between 3:15 and 3:30 with the final match ending between 5:30 and 6:30, possibly later on select occasions.
If all participants agree, meets can be held in neutral locations and scheduled at
other times.
Team members said they prep for these competitions by studying old questionnaire packets and anything else that they think will help prepare them. This year’s varsity MasterMinds team is 9-0 with more than 4,000 total points.
“For studying, there are a bunch of packets that you can just find online for free and I also just have. some that have been provided and we just go through lots and lots of packets whenever we can just to get as much things in as possible and just to see if things come up again,” said team member Alexander Pyle.
If you would like to donate to the Troy HighSchool MasterMinds team’s fundraising efforts, visit its GoFundMe account at https://www.gofundme.com/quiz-bowl-national-bound