Sequoia sixth-graders take first place in Quiz Bowl

The school day was nearly over when Sequoia Middle School teacher Chris Turman logged on to her computer to see how the sixth-grade Quiz Bowl team had fared in the previous day's statewide competition.

Most of the 29 students who had taken part in the hour-long test of knowledge were outside for gym class and would be anxious to hear the results of what they felt was a strong showing.

With the click of a mouse, Turman suddenly realized her group had done even better then expected-far better. Sitting atop the list of 17 sixth-grade Quiz Bowl teams from throughout California was Sequoia Middle School of Newbury Park.

"(The students who participated) were so excited," said Turman. She immediately informed the principal, who then announced the results over the school's loud speaker system.

"They all came running up after P.E., when school was over, and were jumping up and down, just ecstatic, still wanting to know everything," Turman said.

Distributed by the Thinking Cap Quiz Bowl Company, the tests are self-scoring computer contests of 100 multiple-choice questions. A wide variety of subjects are covered, including math, geography, government, sports, spelling, science, literature, English, history, general information and just plain old trivia.

Students get two chances and one minute to answer each question. Each team designates one team member to read the test questions and one to select the team's consensus answer on the computer screen. As Turman explained, with 29 different minds going at once, it takes more than just "book smarts" to excel.

"It requires an incredible amount of teamwork and respect for one another," Turman said. "And the kids were very driven to win. So if one child didn't know the answer, or didn't think theirs was a legitimate answer, then they didn't yell out. We got down a routine where you only respond vocally if you're close to 100 percent that you know the answer."

Points are earned based upon two factors: accuracy and speed. The group from Sequoia got 94 of the 100 questions correct.

With a total score of 1272, the sixth-graders bested the secondplace team by more than 40 points. A team from Redwood Middle School in Thousand Oaks finished in third place. Sequoia had the largest number of students on their team, with 10 more members than the second-largest team.

Dean of Students Charles Parks praised the participants.

"It seemed like there was a lot of pressure and intensity-and they handled it very well," Parks said. "After each question, when they got it right, they would all applaud, cheer and encourage each other. Our principal, Vivian Vina, witnessed it and was very impressed with the caliber of sixth-graders representing our school."

According to Turman, every student on the first-place quiz bowl team will receive a congratulatory ribbon and the school is expecting a trophy.

It's important to note that all Quiz Bowl team members were volunteers, willing to give up four of their lunch periods to practice for what turned out to be a very rewarding competition.

"As a teacher, I was extremely proud of how well they did as a team, how they cooperated, and the leadership skills of those two particular students," said Turman, a sixth-grade math and science teacher who's been in charge of the school's Quiz Bowl team since 2003. "They're a pretty gifted group of kids."