Last month, the Gig Harbor High School Knowledge Bowl team won state championships for the first time in the school’s history. This was only the school’s third-ever appearance at a state tournament. The team initially qualified for state by having an undefeated season and doing exceptionally well at the regional level.

Knowledge Bowl is an academic competition played live with a buzzer, where teams of students answer questions about various school subjects. The goal is to achieve the highest score, which can make it a very challenging game, so what these students achieved was incredibly impressive.

This year, twelve members participated in the regular season, with six of them moving on to compete in the state tournament. The team members included Mia Columbo (10), George Will (11), Benjamin White (11), Emma Sebring (12), Liam Bass (12), and Henry Siegel (10), who were all aged from 10th to 12th grade. They started practicing soon after the school year began to prepare for competitions and other events and also worked with the school to plan several fundraisers earlier in the year.

Highlights from this season included hosting regionals, making an impressive comeback during the semifinals at state, and having Oreo cookies at many of the practices throughout the season. Siegel remarked that a key moment during the season that made him sure the team would qualify for state was when they began gathering enough points to advance, as he remembered thinking to himself, “We might qualify.”

The students prepared for competitions and the state tournament through biweekly practices and studying. A favorite study method for White was “honestly just paying attention in classes and taking good notes.” The club advisor, Kenya Houston, also made sure to emphasize throughout the year that students often know more than they realize and encouraged them to trust their instincts.

This year’s state competition took place on March 22nd at Wenatchee High School. One member shared that the primary goal she had was to have an undefeated regular season. Overall, these students did an exemplary job of representing their school and displaying the tide way through their academic excellence.