With the remnants of music blaring from the speakers and the chants from the interactive event, the reigning champions,  the sophomore class won today’s Black History Bowl for the second year in a row. The senior and freshman class came in second place with a tie, followed by the junior class which came in third. 

The much-anticipated event was plagued with numerous stops and gaffes by students who at times struggled to answer the highly selective questions. Split into five categories – Political Leaders, Inventors, Nelson Mandela and Amiri Baraka, Sports, and Music – the event was highly interactive with a dynamic MC found in Technology Education teacher and Track Coach, Philip Harris

Throughout the event, students were struggling to buzz-in correctly, only after the questions was finished being read out loud, could students buzz-in. Many then found themselves being disqualified from answering questions.

“We’ve studied like crazy,” freshman Rachel Soon said. “I thought it would be a good experience doing it and my friend is doing too.”

Nonetheless, the winning sophomore class remained consistent throughout the event, leading to their victory.

Before the competition, many competitors cited the senior class as their biggest threat.

“We’ve done scrimmages and practiced together,”  senior Elisha Musih said. However, due to numerous questions missed at the start of the event, the seniors struggled to regain their standing. Including their first missed question: Who organized the March on Washington in 1963? The correct answer, Bayard Rustin.

Hosted by the BCAA, or Black Cultural Awareness Association, the Black History Bowl is an annual event created to celebrate Black History month while raising awareness of the importance and impact of African-Americans.

“The bowl creates an awareness of history and culture, and the importance of the bowl is to deal with some of those stereotypes that say that African Americans are just interested or able to do certain things and not others,” BCAA sponsor Kathlyn Berry said.

“[They]show the broad pictures of not only contributions but experiences and how African Americans have contributed to American life and culture and society.”

According to Berry, the goal of the bowl, as well as gaining student interest in the topic,is to teach African- American history in a fun way.

“There are people that don’t know what we’ve done in other areas of academics,” event organizer senior Marilyn Quist said.

“There are people that have done things in math and science (other than George Washington Carver). There is more to it and [we] want to let people know.”

The Black History Bowl consists of four teams, one form each grade, and a teacher sponsor. Members of the BCAA work together to create questions, as well as a study packet for the event.

During the bowl, various questions are asked to the teams. Each round consists of direct questions, asked first to a specific class and if unanswered to all students. The second round of questions consist of toss-up questions and whoever rings the buzzer first and answers correctly gains points for their team.