Essex High School opens early for some dedicated students, offering a variety of extracurricular activities. One such club, Scholars’ Bowl, provides students the opportunity to test their abilities against other schools’ teams in every possible field, from subjects taught in school, to real life experiences.

Scholars’ Bowl is similar to the show Jeopardy, where students get to buzz in to answer tossup questions, which are worth ten points each; there are also multiple-answer bonus questions worth twenty points each. A toss up-bonus cycle, or gameplay, concludes when either both teams fail to answer the tossup or after the bonuses are answered. 

“Before a competition, I bring all of my packets with the information I need to know and we all study those,” Senior Tekla Holm-Brown said. She also stated that during practice they, “Split into two random teams and read questions in the same kind of format as a competition.” 

This year, Mr Burnett is joining Mr. Rome as co-coach, replacing Ms. Davidson after she went on maternity leave. Mr Burnett stated he “felt a sense of responsibility” towards the school and the students.

“I remind them that they know a lot of things, maybe not everything, but they mustn’t let what they don’t know get in the way of what they do know,” Mr. Burnett said. “So, be brave, be confident and let your knowledge shine.” 

Mr. Burnett also talked about how every competition feels different from one another and how every team has its own approach to the game. 

“There are schools that are super competitive, but there are also matches where it’s just very friendly and laid back,” he said. “It mostly feels positive, inclusive, celebratory, it’s not quite as harshly competitive as other environments that students might find themselves in.”

“I feel like an issue is that people think they’re not smart enough for it,” Senior Jack Austin, who achieved the highest score in the last competition, said. “But, honestly, anybody can really do it.”

One of the things that EHS teaches students is to not hesitate to get involved, or you’ll never know the opportunity you might have missed. 

Scholars’ Bowl is always open to welcome new members. If you’re interested, show up to one of the meetings in room C202 on Fridays at 7:15 am, or email Mr. Rome ([email protected]) or Mr. Burnett ([email protected]).