Five AHS students competed in the Regional History Bowl on April 4 in Washington D.C. in an attempt to qualify for the National History Bowl. Unfortunately, none of the competitors were able to advance to the national level of the competition. Their sponsor, U.S. history teacher Joel Jepson, described the event as “heart breaking” because AHS was tied for ninth place out of the 12 competing teams, while the top eight teams continued to stay in the competition and compete in the National History Bowl.

There were two parts in this event: the History Bee and the History Bowl. Junior Andy Tran, who was part of the winning team at the AHS Black History Bowl, and senior Scott Fulton participated in the History Bee. During the History Bee, questions were given to each player to answer individually. Neither of the players continued on to the following level.

In the History Bowl, teams from different high schools competed against each other. The other three competitors that participated in this event were junior Leo Leksang, sophomore Alex Lash and freshman Amelie Trieu.

“At [the] competition, we were asked questions from both world and U.S. history. One topic that was touched on a lot, however, was the American Civil War,” Lash said.

AHS tied for ninth place with Northwood High School and had a tiebreaker consisting of two sets of questions. Ironically, each team won a set.

“Being tied for ninth place and losing in the playoff was a little disappointing,” Lash said.

Although AHS did not make it through to the next round, they still tried their best and are looking forward to next year.

“I was just happy to be able to represent my school in my first time at a Quiz Bowl competition,” Lash said.