With a second place finish at States last year still fresh on their mind, the Scholastic bowl team sets their sights on a new season. This is one of the most experienced teams Western has seen in years, with most of the players starting their career in middle school. Jack Emery has been playing since 7th grade and will be this year’s captain. He loves the game and enjoys the work it comes with.

“To study, I basically just read old questions. It can be boring at times, but it’s the best and only way to cover as much information as possible.”

When asked about the common misconceptions people have about quiz bowl, one stands out to Emery. “People will always ask you to ask a question they might ask during a meet. But we aren’t a trivia team, it’s all academic based so questions are usually 5 sentences or longer and very complex.” At the moment, the team holds preseason practices in preparation for the first national qualifier at UVA later this winter.

“Our current ranking depends on who graduated from which team and stuff like that because it’s preseason,” Emery says. “But overall I’m confident we will do great this year.”