History Bowl team takes strides, prepares for nationals

In hopes of continuing their success from the past year, the school’s History Bowl team is looking to succeed in the upcoming National History Bowl Tournament during the week of April 11 in Washington, D.C.

After class of 2015 alumnus Bruce Lou led the varsity team to first place last year, the team has tried to make its way without his guidance.

“Because of [Lou’s] absence, it's been hard to fill in the gaps that he left,” junior captain Bryant Chang said. “We [have] had to rely on constant practices and a good work ethic to make our current team strong this year.”

Captains senior Daniel Eem and juniors Mason Tian and Chang have contributed to the growth of the club as a whole. They have focused particularly on working with the JV members so that the team will stay strong in the future, according to Chang.

Throughout the season, the club attended five major regional tournaments, including Quiz and History Bowl competitions, to prepare themselves.

“It prepares you in that you can see where your team stands

compared to other good opponents and who your best players are,” varsity competitor Arjun Mishra said. “But nationals is much, much harder, [so these tournaments] also help you gain confidence in your own ability and the structure of the competition.”

One of the tournaments the team has competed in was the tri-annual Berkeley Quiz Bowl Cup on Feb. 20. Here, the varsity team compiled five wins and three losses, as they prepared for the nation competition.

Heading into the national tournament, the team is looking to not only try to place highly, but also prepare the team for future years, Mishra said.

JV:

Sophmores: Roy Shannon, Tiffany Huang, Kyle Wang, Tristan Xiao, Neil Rao, Jessica Wang, Angela Lee

Freshman: Matthew Graham, Kiran Rachamallu, Manit Sripadam, Anson Tong

Varsity:

Juniors: Bryant Chang, Mason Tian, Andrew Owens, George Wang, June Kim, Richard Wang, Arjun Mishra, Kevin Chow, William Hsiao

Seniors: Daniel Eem, Nate Ney, Allen Shen