By Lori BODNAR, intern

The 31^st annual high school Scholastic Bowl participants and winners were recognized at the Glendale Unified School District virtual board meeting on March 23. The schools competing for the title of district champion were Hoover, Glendale, Clark Magnet and Crescenta Valley high schools. Five students from each school formed a team for their school. In the initial essay writing portion, Hoover High took the win, and CVHS won the overall 2021 Scholastic Bowl competition.

GUSD will be mailing certificates of recognition to the winners.

The CVHS Scholastic Bowl team included students Prashanth Bhaskara, Lindsay Thomas, Michelle Kim, Daniel Gamboa and Sofia Magdeleno. Prashanth Bhaskara was the lead for the math questions. The advisor of the CVHS Scholastic Bowl team was teacher Amanda Lyons.

“The kids are going great places with the kind of leadership and intelligence they showed in the Scholastic Bowl,” said CVHS Principal Dr. Junge. “We have brilliant, hardworking, exceptional students at CVHS. Thank you to the GUSD board and the CVHS committed teacher advisor, Amanda Lyons, for making this happen.”

GUSD Superintendent Dr. Vivian Ekchian expressed her sincerest thanks to the students, advisors, principals and GUSD staff, including Education Technology and Information Services (ETIS), that made the event possible.

“The pandemic did not stop the Scholastic Bowl teams!” Dr. Ekchian said. “The district used an innovative approach to have teams compete from separate rooms. Congratulations to both Hoover High and Crescenta Valley High School. I could not have been prouder. It means the world to me as your superintendent. If we can do it in a pandemic, then we can do it under any circumstance.”

The GUSD board of education noted that last year’s Scholastic Bowl was one of the last in-person events held as a district. Normally during the Scholastic Bowl, student teams from each high school are all on a stage where each team can converse with its members to answer questions in an array of topics; the five content areas focused on were literature and language arts, mathematics, science, art, and social science. There is a time limit for each answer – 30 seconds for math questions and 15 seconds for all other subjects. Notably, the Scholastic Bowl was the first in-person event held at Glendale High School, though without an audience, since the beginning of the pandemic. The teams were in separate rooms and showed their answers to the judges virtually. At the end of the evening, the winning teams walked across the stage to receive their awards.

The CVHS team answered the most questions correctly out of the four high school teams competing, becoming the 2021 Scholastic Bowl champions. This is the third consecutive time that CVHS won the overall Scholastic Bowl.

GUSD board member Jennifer Freemon introduced the CVHS team and its advisor at the virtual meeting. Freemon noted that, in past years, many attendees in the audience enjoyed watching the Scholastic Bowl in person, trying to be as smart as the kids … though they usually failed.

Teacher advisor Lyons congratulated the students on their hard work and preparation for the Scholastic Bowl. The team members had been meeting weekly over Zoom during their school lunch breaks to prepare for the rigors of the Scholastic Bowl competition.

“The students’ enthusiasm and knowledge brought everyone together and helped them ‘seal the win’ this year,” said Lyons.

For the Scholastic Bowl, it was the first time that the team was able to get together in a room (masked, of course) to work together, since all practices had been virtual.

Dr. Junge thanked the district leadership, which ensured that the Scholastic Bowl would continue to offer the special student opportunity during this extraordinary year.

“I am so proud of the students,” Dr Junge said. “They truly showcase the CVHS Falcon motto of pride, tradition, and honor.”