There’s a lot to learn through the Washington State Knowledge Bowl, competitors said, and one squad of Sequim High School students showed they have a good base to build from.

Sequim placed third in the 2A division on March 19 at Wenatchee High School after qualifying at three regional competitions, where they placed in the top three at each event.

Teammates included captain Richard Meier, Jackson Imholt, Dylan Jackson, Calem Klinger, Camber Mayfield, Ryan Schmitt and alternate Ruby Coulson.

“Schools in our area competed really well,” said Laura Gould, Sequim High science teacher and SHS’s Knowledge Bowl coach/adviser for eight years.

“We came in wanting to get in the top nine, and ended up going really far,” Jackson said.

He and fellow teammates said their semifinal round with 19 questions answered was probably one of their best ever.

Along with Sequim placing at state, Port Townsend High School and Chimacum placed second and third in the 1A division in their state competition.

For those not in the know, Knowledge Bowl is similar to “Jeopardy,” but “you confer with teammates, and give out an answer that hopefully will be correct,” said Meier, a senior who played on Sequim’s state team as a freshman.

The COVID-19 pandemic led organizers with the state’s Educational Service Districts not to hold events the previous two years.

“[Knowledge Bowl] is like you took every class available and then put them all into one test,” Klinger said.

“It’s any and every subject you can think of,” Meier added.

Each competition begins with 50 written questions. Teams have 35 minutes to answer, Meier said. The following four rounds are oral questions, with a proctor reading questions and teams buzzing in.

Once a team buzzes in, the question is stopped and that team has 15 seconds to answer, Meier said.

It’s rare for a question to be completed, he added.

After each round, those with the highest scores compete against each other.

Finishing any round with double digit answers is solid, Gould said.

Practice makes fun

Despite not having a Knowledge Bowl season in 2021, Sequim’s squads still met via Microsoft Teams once a week to compete.

Gould joked that whoever had the fastest internet speed typically won.

This year, 21 students practiced in four teams, three days a week, from November to March. Even with the season over, they continue to play on Mondays for fun, and not to get rusty, Gould said.

“What’s telling is that some people come to our practices and never answer a single question,” she said. “But they keep coming back. [And] if someone else [beats you to the buzzer], you can write it down, and we give out ‘good idea points’ for fun.”

Meier said he sees Knowledge Bowl as “a lot more than just a club that answers questions.”

“It’s also a community,” he said. “Practices are the most fun I’ve had in my high school career. It’s always a delight. I’ve met people here I wouldn’t have gotten to know otherwise.”

Klinger added that there are things that crossover between classes and Knowledge Bowl that help one another, too.

Looking to next year, Gould said she allows most students to pick their teams but she also moves some students around that may help those individual squads later on.

“There are freshmen and sophomore teams, and even though they sometimes get crushed, I want them working together so they can build camaraderie as they get older,” she said.

For more about the Knowledge Bowl, visit here and see results here.

Submitted photo This year’s Sequim High School Knowledge Bowl squad featured, from top left, Richard Meier, Brody Anderson, Gavin Mayfield, Ryan Schmitt, Jackson Imholt, Owen Nestork, Dylan Jackson; middle from left, Win Jones, Ruby Coulson, Danika Chen, Madelyn Pickens, Calem Klinger, Camber Mayfield, Charlie Logan; front left, Ann Marie Barni, Ayden Humphries, Mikah Coudriet, Kimberly Heintz, Georgia Bullard; not pictured Tyler Lawson and Hannah Hampton.