Heading to Fruita 8/9 School I found a group of high school students walking back to the high school. They were the knowledge bowl students who had just finished a knowledge bowl meeting with sponsors Julie Blevins and Joe Mauch, teachers at the 8/9 school.

With over fifty teams participating in the State Knowledge Bowl Tournament April 16,17 and 18. The Grand Valley had the top two teams, these being first place Grand Junction High, and second place Fruita Monument. Grand Junction has hosted a team since 1996 or before. Fruita is hosting their team for the sixth year.

The two teams qualify for the National Tournament for Academic Excellence, open only to state winners. Some forty teams participate at that level. Both teams work hard as they host junior and senior teams in competitions. Junction’s State team will be practicing four hours daily during the summer to prepare for their national competition in Florida. According to one of the two sponsors for the Fruita teams, Julie Blevans noted that the students she and Joe Mauch coach work at lunchtime and Recs period.

“Our kids are active in so many other things too,” Blevins said. “They do sports, music and other clubs too. We like to see well rounded individuals enjoy what they can do.”

Fruita’s team will travel to New Orleans for their national competition. Finishing fourth overall in last year’s tournament, the team was pleased with second place and their qualifying place.

Team Captain, Kate Dusenbury, senior; James Mauch, Chase Martin and Chad Horimsky, juniors, and Thomas Scheevel, sophomore, are excited about the upcoming competition.

In case any reader thinks knowledge bowl is a piece of cake, think about answering some of the following questions and hitting the buzzer before the other team.

“What character in Shakespeare’s ‘Henry IV’ and ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ is especially associated with the philosophy of ‘carpe dien’?”

or

“What reduplicated compound word means pompous or snobbish?”

or

“What adjective that means characterized by convexity or protuberance routinely applies to one of the lunar phases?”

Good luck to both School District #51 teams.

Julie Blevins is pictures speaking to her students.