Worcester’s South High advances on ‘Quiz Show’
Quarterfinal match will air on April 7
WORCESTER — South High Community School secured its spot in the quarterfinals last month for GBH TV’s “High School Quiz Show” after defeating Commonwealth School.
Next, they face off against Buckingham Browne & Nichols School. It airs April 7 on the “High School Quiz Show” YouTube channel. Members of the team say they are proud of what they accomplished. During the annual event, GBH TV invites public and private schools across the state to compete beginning on Super Sunday in November. Students completed a timed quiz and the top 16 teams were invited to participate in this year’s competition.
South High’s team has four students: Senior Laura Coderre, senior Benedict Morrow, junior Phoebe McDermott and sophomore Muriel Gibbons, with alternate William Giannopoulos, a junior. Kitren Farrell and Kayla Avellino coach the Colonels.
This is South High’s fifth appearance in the 15 seasons of the show.
“We were confident enough in our trivia abilities and obviously thrilled about making the show,” Coderre said. “It was making it to the second round that was really our pride and joy this year because last year we didn’t make it that far.” Tryouts are at the beginning of the school year and the team spends months before the November start preparing for the competition. The team went to a couple of competitions around New England in the months leading up to and after Super Sunday, something they haven’t done in the past. “I think (those competitions) helped a lot. I think it has helped them as a team because now they’re spending eight hours working together at these tournaments,” Farrell said. “But I also think it’s been really nice to meet other teams. The camaraderie between
is really lovely.” Team bonding is just one of the bonuses of attending outside competitions. Questions are never the same at different competitions, so they help the teams speedily answer a number of randomized questions.
Coderre said the extra competitions allowed the team to get to know each other better and play to each team member’s strength. “We have to try and figure out what each person knows and what we can count on them for,” Coderre said. “It’s interesting how much of a team sport it really is. As much as we do study new material and try to learn new things, some of it is just the teamwork aspect of figuring out what you can count on other people for.” Once they qualified to compete, the practice moved from once a week to twice a week. Students also studied on their own to build up knowledge of specific subjects like geography or literature.
South High Community School and St. John’s High School are the only schools from Central Massachusetts to qualify. Many of the schools in this competition are private. Farrell said some schools have advantages South High does not, like a buzzer system similar to one from the show. “I think it’s amazing, and it shows what our kids are capable of,” Farrell said.
Regardless of what happens in the competition, Farrell said the team is thankful for the support they’ve received. At their most recent competition, Farrell said the audience was a “sea of red.” The superintendent, students and other administrators attended.
“It’s really surprising how much you can learn about someone by what they know about the world,” Coderre said. “With every answer we have, there’s a story behind it. I know a lot of things about my teammates because of a fact they know and I think that’s the most interesting part. I found myself growing to know these people very well because of what they know about the world.”