2018-2019
Regular Season (Quizbowl)
2018 Penn Bowl (University of Pennsylvania, PA) on 10/21/2018 Set: Penn Bowl 2018 A Team: 8-4 (12th place) B Team: 1-11 (32nd place) 2018 SCOP Novice (Hunter College HS, NY) on 10/27/2018 Set: 2018 SCOP Novice 9 A Team: 7-4 (8th place) B Team: 3-7 (28th place) C Team: 3-7 (26th place) Sun God Invitational (Rutgers University, NJ) on 11/10/2018 Set: Sun God Invitational A Team: 5-5 (4th place) B Team: 6-4 (7th place) BHSAT XXVIII (Yale University, CT) on 2/16/2019
Set: BHSAT XXVIII A Team: 10-3 (2nd place) B Team: 7-4 (11th place) 2019 Columbia Spring Tournament (Columbia University, NY) on 2/23/2019 Set: NAQT SSNCT 2018 A Team: 5-4 (5th place) B Team: 3-6 (6th place) C Team: 6-2 (9th place) 2019 Livingston March Madness (Livingston HS, NJ) on 3/16/2019 Set: NAQT Invitational Series #183 A Team: 8-3 (6th place) B Team: 7-3 (11th place) |
Scarlet Knight Fall (Rutgers University, NJ) on 9/22/2018
Set: NAQT Invitational Series #176A A Team (Standard): 8-1 (3rd place) B Team (Standard): 9-1 (1st place) C Team (Novice): 9-0 (1st place) PHSAT XXVI (Princeton University, NJ) on 9/29/2018 Set: NAQT Invitational Series #177 A Team (Competitive): 8-3 (3rd place) B Team (Competitive): 7-5 (5th place) C Team (Standard): 9-1 (1st place) 2018 Columbia Fall Tournament (Columbia University, NY) on 10/6/2018 Set: 2018 WHAQ III: Miami Vice A Team (Nationals): 5-3 (4th place) B Team (Nationals): 6-2 (7th place) C Team (Standard) 8-1 (2nd place) LIFT XVIII (Kellenberg Memorial HS, NY) on 11/17/2018
Set: NAQT Invitational Series #179 A Team: 9-2 (2nd place) B Team: 6-4 (10th place) Bardbowl II (Bard High School Early College Manhattan, NY) on 1/5/2019 Set: NAQT Invitational Series #181 A Team: 9-1 (T-3 place) B Team: 7-3 (13th place) C Team: 4-6 (T-12th place) RMBAT (Richard Montgomery HS, MD) on 1/26/2019 Set: RMBAT A Team: 10-2 (2nd place)
Blair Invitational (Montgomery Blair HS, MD) on 3/16/2019 Set: 2019 CAST A Team: 10-1 (1st place) Prison Bowl XII (Hunter College HS, NY) on 3/23/2019 Set: Prison Bowl XII A Team: 11-0 (1st place) B Team: 4-7 (11th place) C Team: 5-5 (T-20th place) D Team: 3-7 (T-30th place) HSNCT 2019 (Atlanta Marriott Marquis, GA) on 5/25/19 - 5/26/19) Set: 2019 HSNCT A Team: 10-5 (T-12th place) B Team: 6-5 (T-97th place) PACE NSC 2019 (Hyatt Regency Reston, DC) on 6/8/19 - 6/9/19) Set: 2019 PACE NSC A Team: 13-5 (5th place) B Team: 6-9 (55th place) |
Senior Reflections
Michael:
For the past few years, whenever anyone would ask me why I'm most glad I decided to go to High Tech, my answer has been the same: quizbowl. I owe so much to the game and to the academic team. For so long, every week would feel like a struggle, with the almost-weekly weekend quizbowl tournament as the light at the end of the tunnel. That may seem like a gross exaggeration, but it truly is how I felt; tournaments were not only places where I would test all that I had learned up to that point, but were also great experiences where I would bond with my teammates and meet new people from different states ranging from Philadelphia to Maryland to Illinois. Quizbowl has been more than just a competition to me; through it, I've been introduced to so many new topics that I know I will love forever, including music, art, literature, and mythology. If it weren't for quizbowl, I would likely not even be planning on studying music in college next year! To me, this is the best part about the game—it introduces you to new works and ideas that might just become something you end up loving your whole life. From what I've learned, to the friends I've made across the country, I have to thank quizbowl, Dr. Eng, and my friends and teammates for all they have done for me.
Steven:
It’s really sad, having to leave the High Tech Academic Team behind. Some of my greatest memories and my closest friends were formed through quizbowl, and never did I regret becoming a part of the club. From practice every week to the many, many tournaments we played, every moment with the team was a bright spot in my time here.
I did some quizbowl in middle school, but high school quizbowl was something else. It was weird being a small fry again, but seeing how good the upperclassmen were, particularly Sam and Doug, really motivated me to work hard, study, and become as good as they were. It took a lot of time and a lot of effort; after all, no one becomes a master overnight. One way or another, though, I had so much fun along the way, and it truly ended on a high watermark. Being a part of the community was also incredible. If it weren’t for quizbowl, I never would have been as close as I am with many of my friends now. Preparing for tournaments, studying, getting High Tech Bowl and QuBIT ready, and just generally having fun really brought us all together. Genuinely, it was a totally irreplaceable experience.
Thank you to Dr. Eng for guiding us through four years of quizbowl and supporting us all the way to fifth place. Thank you to everyone, from the class of 2016 to the class of 2022, who came to practice and went to tournaments for making the experience worth every second. Thank you for everyone in the High Tech community for supporting us through the year. Thank you to all of the volunteer parents for bringing us all over for quizbowl. Without all of you, none of this would have been possible.
Darren:
Going to a STEM high school, there was never a special interest invested in literature. I started quizbowl in middle school, but never really took off. I only went to two buzzer tournaments in eighth grade, and at one of them, we got T-29th at HSNCT. My main teammate? Well, it was Steven.
In high school, I started to find my niche as a literature player, but I wasn't really a lit player yet. I never found myself doing much more beyond looking for Protobowl clues to come up at tournaments, all while not appreciating the context that made those clues important. Towards the end of sophomore year, I had to really hone in on my skills to make the A team, and I studied harder than I ever studied on anything. I got onto the A team in 11th grade, and from there, I had to be able to jostle with the best of the best lit players regionwide.
But there was something else that happened as I extended past my Yonville roots. I was starting to find lit I enjoyed. Sometimes I was reading for pleasure, knowing full well that it wasn’t gonna come up at a high school set. This culminated in RULFO, a set I had the privilege to write along with Michael and some of those same lit players I competed against. I had extra inspiration to read works that interested me, because at that difficulty, nothing was off limits.
When we got 5th at PACE NSC, it felt like an appropriate cap to a phenomenal quizbowl career. I made my deepest friends here, friends who made quizbowl fun. Really, I owe it to the people on my team. Without the drive to join them on the A team, I might have just dropped out of High Tech, gone back to another high school to see if I could bring my grades up. But I knew that I could bring those grades up, and I did. Soon enough, I was playing next to the same player who carried me in middle school. Now, I was being carried in high school.
Thanks for the memories, guys. Rutgers is gonna have a real good team soon.
Cole:
At the beginning of my sophomore year, after hearing good words about the academic team from my friends who had played during the year prior, I decided to dip my toes into the world of quizbowl. Being a major WWII buff at a STEM school with few related humanities activities, the presence of a history category drew me in. I only buzzed correctly once during my first practice session (I got my WWII question), but it was enough to kindle my interest.
I soon spent some time practicing online with protobowl before I was thrust into my first tournament, the NHBB C Set. Playing on the C team with some freshmen and having no idea of what to expect, our first game was against Hunter D. As it turns out, I ended up sweeping the lightning round on “Countries of WWII” and leading the team through the other quarters. Unfortunately, despite a hard fought match, things ultimately ended in a narrow defeat. But this game had piqued my interest as never before, and convinced me to stay with the club and improve, so that the next battle would be a victory.
Jumping forward to the end of senior year, through dedication and lots of studying, I had become the B team’s top scorer and an alternate for the A team, with my performance culminating in two semifinalist places in history bees, and with the A team, two top 5 nationals finishes. I would never have imagined that I could have come so far, especially considering I had been a late entrant into quizbowl. I have seen firsthand that with motivation and hard work, anything is possible.
I have spent many hours of my high school life, more than for any other extracurricular, involved with High Tech’s quizbowl team, and I do not believe I could have spent a single minute of that time in a better way. For years I had been interested in WWII and military history, but the things I learned in quizbowl sparked my interest in entire new domains of learning that I would never have been introduced to otherwise. It has provided me with a fun, academic activity related to my passion for history and has motivated me to study and learn new things about our past. It has allowed me to travel the world and form global connections (in Berlin for the 2018 International History Olympiad). And the many great memories and strong bonds that I have made with my fellow players on the High Tech academic team (as well as on those of our opponents!) are ones that I will always cherish. I plan to continue my quizbowl career at Yale, though I will certainly miss my time on the High Tech team with great emotion. The ride has been more amazing that I could have ever imagined!
Thank you to all my teammates, who have made this experience an unforgettable one; to Dr. Eng, for being such a dedicated and admirable advisor; to the chaperones, who have helped immensely with logistics; and to the High Tech community as a whole, for all your support. I hope future generations of High Tech quizbowlers will follow in our footsteps and enjoy the journey as much as we have!
For the past few years, whenever anyone would ask me why I'm most glad I decided to go to High Tech, my answer has been the same: quizbowl. I owe so much to the game and to the academic team. For so long, every week would feel like a struggle, with the almost-weekly weekend quizbowl tournament as the light at the end of the tunnel. That may seem like a gross exaggeration, but it truly is how I felt; tournaments were not only places where I would test all that I had learned up to that point, but were also great experiences where I would bond with my teammates and meet new people from different states ranging from Philadelphia to Maryland to Illinois. Quizbowl has been more than just a competition to me; through it, I've been introduced to so many new topics that I know I will love forever, including music, art, literature, and mythology. If it weren't for quizbowl, I would likely not even be planning on studying music in college next year! To me, this is the best part about the game—it introduces you to new works and ideas that might just become something you end up loving your whole life. From what I've learned, to the friends I've made across the country, I have to thank quizbowl, Dr. Eng, and my friends and teammates for all they have done for me.
Steven:
It’s really sad, having to leave the High Tech Academic Team behind. Some of my greatest memories and my closest friends were formed through quizbowl, and never did I regret becoming a part of the club. From practice every week to the many, many tournaments we played, every moment with the team was a bright spot in my time here.
I did some quizbowl in middle school, but high school quizbowl was something else. It was weird being a small fry again, but seeing how good the upperclassmen were, particularly Sam and Doug, really motivated me to work hard, study, and become as good as they were. It took a lot of time and a lot of effort; after all, no one becomes a master overnight. One way or another, though, I had so much fun along the way, and it truly ended on a high watermark. Being a part of the community was also incredible. If it weren’t for quizbowl, I never would have been as close as I am with many of my friends now. Preparing for tournaments, studying, getting High Tech Bowl and QuBIT ready, and just generally having fun really brought us all together. Genuinely, it was a totally irreplaceable experience.
Thank you to Dr. Eng for guiding us through four years of quizbowl and supporting us all the way to fifth place. Thank you to everyone, from the class of 2016 to the class of 2022, who came to practice and went to tournaments for making the experience worth every second. Thank you for everyone in the High Tech community for supporting us through the year. Thank you to all of the volunteer parents for bringing us all over for quizbowl. Without all of you, none of this would have been possible.
Darren:
Going to a STEM high school, there was never a special interest invested in literature. I started quizbowl in middle school, but never really took off. I only went to two buzzer tournaments in eighth grade, and at one of them, we got T-29th at HSNCT. My main teammate? Well, it was Steven.
In high school, I started to find my niche as a literature player, but I wasn't really a lit player yet. I never found myself doing much more beyond looking for Protobowl clues to come up at tournaments, all while not appreciating the context that made those clues important. Towards the end of sophomore year, I had to really hone in on my skills to make the A team, and I studied harder than I ever studied on anything. I got onto the A team in 11th grade, and from there, I had to be able to jostle with the best of the best lit players regionwide.
But there was something else that happened as I extended past my Yonville roots. I was starting to find lit I enjoyed. Sometimes I was reading for pleasure, knowing full well that it wasn’t gonna come up at a high school set. This culminated in RULFO, a set I had the privilege to write along with Michael and some of those same lit players I competed against. I had extra inspiration to read works that interested me, because at that difficulty, nothing was off limits.
When we got 5th at PACE NSC, it felt like an appropriate cap to a phenomenal quizbowl career. I made my deepest friends here, friends who made quizbowl fun. Really, I owe it to the people on my team. Without the drive to join them on the A team, I might have just dropped out of High Tech, gone back to another high school to see if I could bring my grades up. But I knew that I could bring those grades up, and I did. Soon enough, I was playing next to the same player who carried me in middle school. Now, I was being carried in high school.
Thanks for the memories, guys. Rutgers is gonna have a real good team soon.
Cole:
At the beginning of my sophomore year, after hearing good words about the academic team from my friends who had played during the year prior, I decided to dip my toes into the world of quizbowl. Being a major WWII buff at a STEM school with few related humanities activities, the presence of a history category drew me in. I only buzzed correctly once during my first practice session (I got my WWII question), but it was enough to kindle my interest.
I soon spent some time practicing online with protobowl before I was thrust into my first tournament, the NHBB C Set. Playing on the C team with some freshmen and having no idea of what to expect, our first game was against Hunter D. As it turns out, I ended up sweeping the lightning round on “Countries of WWII” and leading the team through the other quarters. Unfortunately, despite a hard fought match, things ultimately ended in a narrow defeat. But this game had piqued my interest as never before, and convinced me to stay with the club and improve, so that the next battle would be a victory.
Jumping forward to the end of senior year, through dedication and lots of studying, I had become the B team’s top scorer and an alternate for the A team, with my performance culminating in two semifinalist places in history bees, and with the A team, two top 5 nationals finishes. I would never have imagined that I could have come so far, especially considering I had been a late entrant into quizbowl. I have seen firsthand that with motivation and hard work, anything is possible.
I have spent many hours of my high school life, more than for any other extracurricular, involved with High Tech’s quizbowl team, and I do not believe I could have spent a single minute of that time in a better way. For years I had been interested in WWII and military history, but the things I learned in quizbowl sparked my interest in entire new domains of learning that I would never have been introduced to otherwise. It has provided me with a fun, academic activity related to my passion for history and has motivated me to study and learn new things about our past. It has allowed me to travel the world and form global connections (in Berlin for the 2018 International History Olympiad). And the many great memories and strong bonds that I have made with my fellow players on the High Tech academic team (as well as on those of our opponents!) are ones that I will always cherish. I plan to continue my quizbowl career at Yale, though I will certainly miss my time on the High Tech team with great emotion. The ride has been more amazing that I could have ever imagined!
Thank you to all my teammates, who have made this experience an unforgettable one; to Dr. Eng, for being such a dedicated and admirable advisor; to the chaperones, who have helped immensely with logistics; and to the High Tech community as a whole, for all your support. I hope future generations of High Tech quizbowlers will follow in our footsteps and enjoy the journey as much as we have!